Dragonflies
Twelve-spotted Skimmer. 20May2024. Variegated Meadowlark. 21May2024.
Twelve-spotted Skimmer. 20May2024. Variegated Meadowlark. 21May2024.
Beautiful.
IDed for me on iNaturalist as “Neotibicen davisi, the Davis’ southeastern dog-day cicada or southern dog-day cicada.” Songs of Insects says in Davis’ Southeastern Dog-day Cicada (Neotibicen davisi davisi) “An attractive small cicada with rich brown and green markings, the Davis’ Southeastern Dog-day Cicada may be heard singing in coastal plain forests from New Jersey …
In “Mantids (Mantises),” the Missouri Department of Conservation writes: “Mantids frequent open, highly vegetated areas such as gardens, old fields and pastures, thickets, woodland borders, and other places where an abundance of plant types attract a wide variety of insects. Mantids, like ambush and assassin bugs, crab and jumping spiders, and robber flies, wait motionless …
In “Common Thread-waisted Wasp (Ammophila procera),” they say on InsectIdentification: “The incredibly narrow ‘waist’ on this wasp led to its name. The glossy black wasp has a bulging abdomen with a red or orange band near the hair-thin waist. Long, skinny legs are black and allow the wasp to hold onto vegetation while it watches …
In “Dasymutilla occidentalis,” they say on Wikipedia: “Commonly mistaken for an ant, because of its appearance and its common name, it is a parasitoid wasp species in which the females are wingless, as is true for all females of Mutillidae. It can be recognized by its distinctive red coloring, with a black stripe that goes …
Houston Wilderness has a nice Houston Atlas of Biodiversity online, a 100+ page booklet about geology, history, plants, animals, ecological regions, and more.
Get out. Observe. You’ll no doubt find some species that are not commonly seen. For contrast, as of this date, taking the top three observations: there have been 274,000 observations of Mallards; 219,000 observations of Honey Bees; 184,000 observations of Monarchs. You can get more numbers in the Observations page of iNaturalist (but click on …