Posts Tagged: predator
What's for Dinner? How About a Green Bottle Fly?
What's for dinner? A crab spider, camouflaged in our lavender patch, didn't catch a honey bee, a...
A crab spider dines on a green bottle fly in a lavender patch in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The crab spider is camouflaged, but its prey, a green bottle fly with its familiar metallic blue-green coloring, isn't. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Henrietta and the Drone Fly: The Predator and the Prey
Henrietta, our Stagmomantis limbata praying mantis, perches on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). She...
Henrietta, our Stagmomantis limbata praying mantis, lies in wait on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia.) (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A drone fly (syrphid) lands on the blossom as a hungry praying mantis watches intently. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
One quick move and praying mantis has dinner. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The spiked forelegs hold the prey in place. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's eat and be eaten in the garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Henrietta the praying mantis polishes off the last of the fly but a wing is visible evidence of what happened. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
How Do Insects, Spiders React to a Partial Solar Eclipse?
The sky darkens. The temperature drops several degrees. A breeze rustles the leaves of the African...
A honey bee nectaring on African blue basil during the partial solar eclipse in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A praying mantis, a female Stagmomantis limbata (as identified by Andrew Pfeifer) lurks beneath a milkweed leaf during the partial eclipse in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A pollen-coated honey bee ignores the eclipse and forages on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two stink bugs on a bluebeard,Caryopteris x clandonensis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An assassin bug looking for prey. It's on a tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee trapped in a web (and freed by the photographer). It was the spider's second catch of the day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
There's an Assassin in Your Garden
Ever seen assassination attempts in your garden? They are not pretty if you're the prey. Neither...
Can you find the nymph assassin bug on this Cleveland sage? This bug belongs to the genus Zelus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A nymph assassin bug strikes a pose on Cleveland sage. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This adult assassin bug, Zelus renardii, is ready to ambush prey on a double cosmos blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This adult assassin bug lurks almost unnoticed on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The predator: the assassin bug. This one is lying in wait on a nectarine leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gotcha! An assassin bug spears a male metallic sweat bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Not a Good Day for the Jumping Spider
Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you go hungry. Take the case of the huge jumping spider (a...
A honey bee narrowly avoids the outstretched jumping spider, a Phidippus audax. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oops, wrong direction! The jumping spider,Phidippus audax, is looking elsewhere as a bee arrives on the scene. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The jumping spider, Phidippus audax, climbs its mountain and lurks. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The jumping spider, Phidippus audax, exits its summit, the Spanish lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)