urbpan: (dandelion)
urbpan ([personal profile] urbpan) wrote2016-08-02 06:10 pm

Tiny life on the nasturtiums

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Until the drought killed them, our nasturtiums were a food source for many. This bejeweled true bug (hemiptera) is unidentifiable, but was probably drinking plant juice.

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Likewise these candy-stripe leafhoppers were using their beak-like mouthparts to jab holes in the plant and sip its fluid.

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And then underneath the leaves these black aphids were also settled in to drink.

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Enter the cavalry: ladybeetle larvae specialize on soft-bodied plant-feeders like aphids.

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Off they go to eat some aphids--ultimately the plant succumbed to the combined stress of drought and bugs, but it was fun to record the events.