I don't know how many years I have been writing my blog now, but it's a lot. In all that time it is quite possible, even probable, that I have duplicated something in an update. However, I am quite certain that not only have I never included my opening gambit for this update, anywhere else, but also that you will have never seen it anywhere on the internet, or I suspect in real life! Neither have I ever typed the following words until this special moment...
"Ever seen a dead aphid standing on its head, with a large hole in its ar*e?"
Today is your lucky day. stand by to be amazed...
Well, how can I possibly follow that? C'mon! May as well cut and run...
Oh alright then, who could resist such a cute kitty?
Shall we stay with the macabre for the next photo? I found this tiny flea beetle on the Gaillardia in the garden recently...
 |
| Longitarsus sp? |
It seems to be missing a tibia and tarsus (leg) on the right. Perhaps it had a run in with a wasp or some other nasty predator. Maybe it had just been to fill up with fuel and has an 'arm' missing on the other side? I know it usually costs me an arm and a leg!
Meantime, back in the house, I spotted an equally small jumping spider on the living room wall...
 |
| These pics were not taken while it was on the wall by the way. |
Yeah, I wondered at first whether this could be a fencepost jumping spider spiderling? I have never seen one and so cannot be sure, but somehow the shape and markings seemed to be about right. After some research though, I think that 'Pseudeuophrys lanigera' which is strongly associated with man, and is one of the few spiders that is characteristic of roofs and walls of buildings could be a much more likely choice?
Do you pick up the autumn leaves and turn them over to see what might be hiding beneath? No, thought not! You should you know: there are surprises unbounded awaiting you if you care to take a moment to study.
I once had a contact on my Flickr photostream who lived in Brazil and she had some amazing finds and photos. She told me that 90% of her finds were from the underneath of leaves. She's gone now, I probably got too weird for her! Anyhow, this next photo is of something that I found by doing just that...
It's a tiny barkfly nymph.
Something else that I regularly find under fallen leaves is Collembola....
 | ||||
A juvenile Dicyrtomina saundersi Springtail (Collembola)
If you have been reading my monthly articles for the Wealden magazine: it's okay, I know you haven't, so please don't be embarrassed. If you do feel the urge though, they are all on their own page, which you can access from the button at the top of the blog homepage. Maybe, just maybe, there was nothing worth watching on the telly one night, or you had to stay in to wash your hair, or do some grouting, and bored with all that you decided to brighten your evening by catching up with my published articles, then you would know that my latest one was all about craneflies. Phew! Was it worth that just to link into my next picture?
This cranefly was sitting on the patio window one day and so I took the opportunity to photograph it. Two full days later, it was still there, in exactly the same place; so why did I rush getting the photo?
Finally (yes, at last he says the word 'finally') as this has been an update of oddities, I thought I may as well see it through to the bitter end in the same vein. I'll leave you with a photo of something that I have seen before, even featured on my blog before with the hope of getting help with an identity, but it remains a mystery for now...
Is it a pupa? An egg sac? A seed pod?
Oh yes, before I get my coat: the answer to the mystery object in my previous update is that it is a moth egg. In fact an egg of the Puss moth.
  |
