Puppy update plus bonus tracking.

Still cute.


Belly still speckled.


Our street and sidewalks (where we have sidewalks--they end at our house, so we have about five feet of sidewalk and then it mysteriously stops) have been repaved. The town removed a strip of every lawn in the process, replacing it with new soil. Since then it hasn't rained much, so most yards still have a strip of bare loose dirt. This turned out to be a perfect substrate for catching these deer tracks, as the animal went up to investigate one of the neighbors' ornamental shrubs.

3:00 snapshot #1340 plus bonus vixen and wieners

Last Friday, the zoo hospital staff hiding in a darkened air-conditioned room.

( vixen and wieners )

100 more species #91: Entylia carinata

Treehopper Entylia carinata

This species of treehopper is one of about 3500 in the family Membracidae. All of them are little drinkers of plant juice, camouflaged to look like a bump or thorn on vegetation. E. carinata can be light tan to almost black, but the little round cut out notch is a consistent feature. They are frequently tended by ants, who lap up their nutritious waste products. Sometimes they are found surrounded by their wingless nymphs, which are homely, lumpy babies. (picture post of related unidentified species to follow)

100 more species #92: Speckled sharpshooter

Speckled sharpshooter Paraulacizes irrorata

Sharpshooters are a subset of the insects called leafhoppers (distinct from planthoppers and treehoppers). This group is distinguished by a relatively streamlined body shape, a tympanum, and the habit of laying eggs in the tissues of plants. The tympanum is a sound-making organ, famously deafening in cicadas--a cousin of the -hoppers--the songs of leafhoppers are inaudible to humans without amplification. Some sharpshooters are agricultural pests, notably the glassy-winged sharpshooter. Long time readers will remember my friend rockbalancer; for a time she worked with parasitic wasps which were cultivated to prey on the glassy-wing.

I can't improve on this explanation: "The name 'sharpshooters' refers to their habit of forcing excess water droplets out of the tip of the abdomen with an audible popping noise." - http://bugguide.net/node/view/52731

Treehopper roundup!

This robber fly has rounded himself (herself maybe) up a thorn-mimic treehopper. They're probably sweet and delicious.


On the underside of a nearby sunflower leaf, some unidentified treehopper nymphs group together waiting for ants to tend and guard them. Am I right? Lumpy and homely. But kind of cute.

Return of the Hummingbird Clearwing

My favorite diurnal moth paid us a visit this past Saturday! They sure do love the butterfly bush.


Charlie's not sure what the fuss is. Actually I was holding still pretty well, except for my camera hand. This moth was not too concerned with us.


It even allowed a dramatic 'from below' shot.