Sunday, June 11, 2017

Back to the "bug magnets"

 I never tire of wandering among daisies.  There's always something going on - bees feeding on pollen at the very least.  But several times this spring I have found a Goldenrod Crab Spider (above) and many different types of beetles.  The Goldenrod Crab Spider below is on Yarrow, and it's from my archive of last year's photos.  I include it here to show that the yellow and red can be very bright.
 These spiders can also be white.  You'll find I've photographed this spider every year since I started the blog.  A couple of years ago I included some text about the significance of their ability to change between white and yellow, and may or may not have the red "racing" stripes. Some clever scientific detective work showed that the color change is not likely an attempt to camouflage, but is actually the opposite, an attempt to be seen and mistaken for a flower.  You can probably imagine the rest of the story.
 The daisies are also visited by various species of Ladybird Beetles.  I don't know the species of the ones below.
 Last, a female of the Dimorphic Flower Longhorn Beetle.  The males are all black and a bit smaller than the females.  I've found several mating pairs so far this season, and not only on daisies.

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