Maverick and I just realized that he hasn’t published a “Backyard Naturalist” post all month. This is partially because Mav likes to do them as editions, so we kept starting and saving them to finish “later”, partially the fact that he will only work on them on Saturdays (two of which we spent at the beach, without access to my saved pictures), and partially the fact that I am lazy and bug identification is kind of hard.
We finished two tonight. Here is the “Tomato Plant Edition”.
Please remember to leave Mav lots of comments, they make him feel super special!
Thanks-
Robin
This is a long-legged fly. It is hard to tell which one because there are over 40 kinds and they are very small. You need a bug scientist and a microscope.
This is a katydid. He jumped around a lot and didn’t want his picture taken.
This is an Orb Weaver Spider.
You can find it in tall grass or in vegetable gardens with lots of weeds.
It eats its web every morning and spins a new one every night in total darkness using only touch.
This is a Tomato Hornworm.
He will eat your tomatoes, and your potatoes, eggplants, and green peppers!
But you should leave him alone if he has white things on him like this- those are cocoons and they will hatch and the wasps inside will kill more hornworms for you.
This one is the best. It looks just like bird poop. But when my mom turned the leaf over to look for more bugs, it grew antenna and wings and flew away!
It is called a clavate tortoise beetle and when they are young they hold their poop over their head like a shield so no one will eat them!
I couldn’t believe how many bugs were on this plant.
We didn’t even look very hard because we kept being bitten by mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes love me.
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