bugs

The dragonfly that stood still and smiled

~ laura lecce ~ 2 Comments
The smiling dragonfly – Photography by Laura Lecce

It might not have been the prettiest of colours, but this dragonfly stood still long enough for me to get some pretty good photos. Not only did it sit for a while, but even smiled for the photo (well not really, its mouth parts just give that impression). If you Google “dragonfly faces”, you get quite a selection of adorable dragonfly closeups showing you the different expressions of various dragonflies, some are very happy and others are quite grumpy looking. It’s an odd sight considering a dragonfly face is not something many of us get to see, especially since they’re mostly whizzing around at top speeds between 30-60 km/h (19-38 mph).

The dragonfly that stood still – Photograph by Laura Lecce

A flag footed bug from Belize

~ laura lecce ~ 18 Comments
Flag footed bug – Photograph by Laura Lecce

This brilliantly colored bug from Belize is called a flag footed bug and is also known as a leaf footed bug (Anisocelis flavolineata). It is found throughout Central America and comes in a variety of brilliant colors. There is very little information about them online, except that they can fly and are relatively harmless to humans. Although they can bite if provoked and it will sting a bit. The festive colors of this insect make it the perfect bug for the holiday season. Enjoy!

Friday Flower – Yellow zinnia with a yellowjacket

~ laura lecce ~ 4 Comments
Yellow zinnia with a yellowjacket – Photography by Laura Lecce

This cute little bug might seem adorable sitting on a matching, bright yellow flower, but do not be deceived as it is a fearsome, predatory wasp. A yellowjacket wasp that lives in a colony underground and can pack a pretty nasty sting as many times as it wants. If you disturb or injure one of these wasps near their home, they send out a distress signal to all of their friends and relatives as a sign that they must attack and defend. At that point you have no choice but to make a run for it! Cute photo though.

Bark-mimicking grasshopper

~ laura lecce ~ 1 Comment
Bark-mimicking Grasshopper – Photograph by Laura Lecce

This sizable insect is commonly known as a bark-mimicking grasshopper (Coryphistes ruricola) and even its eyes look like they are actually made of wood. They are common in Australia and depending on location and surrounding environment, appear in various colors from grays to browns. Collectively they are an interesting view of natural selection at work. This grasshopper which was photographed in Western Australia was in an area where there weren’t many trees at all, but blended in very well with the sand it was sitting on. If I was a bird I would certainly think twice about whether I was about to eat a grasshopper or a piece of fallen tree branch.

For other insects please click here.

Flower Friday – Echinacea

~ laura lecce ~ 16 Comments
Echinacea with a Bee - Photograph by Laura Lecce
Echinacea with a Bee – Photograph by Laura Lecce

These lovely, pink, cheerful flowers are just one type of Echinacea, in which there are 9 different species. I took these photographs in the Spring of last year and on this particular day the bees were in out in overwhelming numbers. This made for some easy macro photography of these busy bees because all I had to do was point my camera at a flower and click. Echinacea may sound familiar as it is a herb said to have numerous health benefits such as cold prevention, boosting the immune system, anti-inflammatory effects, mental health improvement and many more. However, even though there are some studies which may show it is has beneficial effects, there are others which say that these effects are yet unfounded. Regardless of whether Echinacea is good for us, it is definitely beneficial to your garden to grow such happy looking flowers which encourage the bees to come and visit.

Echinacea flowers make the bees happy – Photograph by Laura Lecce

Friday – A Flower and a Fly

~ laura lecce ~ 18 Comments
A Flower and a Fly - Photograph by Laura Lecce
A Flower and a Fly – Photograph by Laura Lecce

Today I present to you this fly……on a flower. This fly is called a green bottle fly because of the shiny metallic green color of its body. Flies such as these have very important uses in both forensic science and medicine. They are often the first flies to arrive at a human or animal carcass, and this is where they can begin their lifecycle – A female will lay about 200 eggs which hatch and become larvae in 1-3 days, fully developed larvae in 3-10 days, and pupal development takes 6-14 days after which an adult fly emerges. Forensic investigators can use this knowledge to approximate the length of time a deceased has been dead.

These flies (or more correctly, the maggots) are used by doctors to treat wounds which are unresponsive to conventional treatments. They eat away the dead tissue and bacteria, and also secrete antimicrobial enzymes which together prevents infection and allows healthy tissue to grow successfully. Given the increasing resistance of bacteria to known antibiotics, this may just become the medicine of the future. Sorry to give such a literal example of making your skin crawl….

Happy weekend everyone!

Red-Banded Leafhopper

~ laura lecce ~ 11 Comments
Leafhopper - Photograph by Laura Lecce
Leafhopper – Photograph by Laura Lecce

Gary I found one!!! Australia definitely doesn’t have such boldly colored leafhoppers, they are mostly a boring green color, making them very hard to spot amongst the leaves. In contrast, this red-banded leafhopper I found in Central Park is incredibly colorful, and doesn’t blend in at all. Native to North and Central America, this insect is so teeny tiny, it makes some ants look big! I wouldn’t have even known what I was looking at if it wasn’t for a post by Gary on his blog called krikitarts showcasing this spectacular insect (click here for post), with a fantastic photo as well. As soon as I spotted it, I was so excited to see one for myself. It was incredibly hard to photograph as the breeze kept moving the leaf, and the little critter wouldn’t stay still at all, and he’s so tiny I kept losing him, so this is as good a photo as I could get. This colorful insect certainly brightened up my overcast and dreary Sunday afternoon.

A lucky Lady

~ laura lecce ~ 5 Comments
A Lucky Lady - Photograph by Laura Lecce
A Lucky Lady – Photograph by Laura Lecce

Life is supposedly based on a simple equation… Work hard and you will be successful. This may be somewhat true, but I believe that a whole heap of luck is also involved. There are many things you can do in life to increase your chances at being lucky – optimism, open mindedness and determination will go far in helping you live the life you consider successful, which of course, is very different for all of us. So today I offer you this lady beetle, which is considered a sign of good luck by many cultures. My grandmother strongly believes in luck, and would tape four-leaf clovers to all of the framed photos she had around the house. When I was a young child I would go hunting in the garden to find shiny red, yellow or orange lady beetles. After returning from the garden with one in my hand, my grandmother used to recite a nursery rhyme in Italian as she was tracing circles around the lady beetle on my palm. I no longer remember the words of the rhyme, but it was telling the lady beetle to fly away and find me a husband. As it turns out, a month after my husband and I started dating he went to Italy with his parents for 2 months. On his return he gifted me a necklace with a beautiful lady beetle charm attached, and 5 years on we were married. So, sometimes in life working hard doesn’t mean anything at all, you just need a little luck and a lady beetle.

Hiding in Plain Sight

~ laura lecce ~ 5 Comments
Hiding in Plain Sight - Photograph by Laura Lecce
Hiding in Plain Sight – Photograph by Laura Lecce

If I were a bug and there were frogs around trying to make a meal out of me, between the eyes is exactly where I’d be sitting! When I was young I was painfully shy. I was strictly an observer who hated being observed and was mortified if anyone noticed I existed. I was so much happier being invisible but still wanted to be part of the action…exactly what this bug must be thinking. I eventually had the courage to leave that shy child behind and grow into a much more confident adult.

Dance of the Dragonfly

~ laura lecce ~ 9 Comments
Red Dragonfly - Photograph by Laura Lecce
Red Dragonfly – Photograph by Laura Lecce

This one’s for you Walter… (for everyone else, if you want to see AMAZING dragonfly photos you should most definitely click here to visit Walter Sanfords blog). So here are my amateur attempts at photographing some dragonflies, and I’ve discovered that you need a lot of patience to do this. These first two are from Singapore, which were sitting in a giant lily pond in the national botanic gardens, a stunning place, especially if you like orchids.

Another Red Dragonfly - Photograph by Laura Lecce
Another Red Dragonfly – Photograph by Laura Lecce

The last one was from Costa Rica, and was continually circling a small pool of water outside my door. I stood for at least 45 minutes (felt like hours) in sweltering hot sun and ridiculous humidity, sweating like never before, all waiting for this dragonfly to land so I could take a damn photo. It actually did land every now and then, always in the same spot, but only for a second before taking off again and flying in circles. So I knew exactly where to point my camera and wait for the landing. Disappointingly, this was as close as I could get, otherwise it refused to land at all. So not a great photo, but I really tried!

Pink Dragonfly - Photograph by Laura Lecce
Pink Dragonfly – Photograph by Laura Lecce