A Fly on a Day Lily

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American Oil Beetle

Meloe americanus

The reason these are called oil beetles is that if you touch them, they ooze a toxic oil from the joints of their legs. Another reason not to touch stuff in the woods! They are lovely beetles with iridescent legs and antennae. There are tiny purplish dots on its backend.

Identification confirmed at bugguide.net. The folks at bugguide tell me this is a male beetle.
There are fascinating photos and videos of the life cycle of this beetle at Arkive.

Butterfield Pond Hike

American Oil Beetle Set

Technorati Tags: Meloe americanus American oil beetle Del.icio.us Tags: Meloe americanus American oil beetle Flickr Tags: Meloe americanus American oil beetle Furl Tags: Meloe americanus American oil beetle
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Unidentified Green Bug

This little bug landed on my book while I was reading out on the deck. I used to know what these are but I can't remember and can't find the name of it.
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Camera Critters: A Big Flying Bug

I don't know what kind of bug this is but it was big. It is now in a kitty's tummy. It flew in the house Friday night when I was letting the cats in for the night. It looks like a little old man with fangs. To me, anyhow! When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.

My summer is over. I'm thrilled (yes, thrilled) to be back in school and am working hard on getting back to a normal blogging schedule.

Thank you so much for visiting!

To visit more participants, click the graphic above.

Camera Critters
You can see more of this bug in my Big Flying Bug Flickr Set

My other Camera Critters post features chicks from fellow teacher Kathy's coop.

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Fly on Phlox

When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.

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A Pollinating Bug

Slightly and maddeningly out of focus. I'm still having problems with this with the Canon.

When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.

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It's A Calopterygidae!

Do you remember this bug from the aquatic insect and crustacean expedition? It's been identified by John & Jane Balaban at bugguide.net as Calopterygidae — the larva of a broad-winged damselfly. I have played liberally with the white balance in order to display features of the larva. The full-size photos will open in a new window when clicked. This has been cross-posted at my main blog, meeyauw.

Technorati Tags: Calopterygidae, larva, broad-winged damselfly

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