Local bug

A somewhat half-jumper legless grasshopper 

 

Banded grasshopper,  Orthoptera - Arcyptera fusca

Gouille, Valais, Suisse

September 2024

Chasing butterflies

 Chasing butterflies

A living painting! I find its scientific name quite appropriate, a daughter of a Greek river god.

Peacock butterfly, lepidoptera, aglaisio / inachisio 

And this one is a little sunset by itself.

Painted Lady, Cynthia cardui

Glengarriff, Co. Cork, Ireland

August, 2020

Summer bugs!

Summer time, bugs' time. Bugs, bugs everywhere, in all shapes and forms, crawlers and flyers alike, Nature's little living ephemeral jewels, battling the colours of seasonal wildflowers with the most diverse tints, tones and patterns of their own. Summer's fun and beautiful.

Garretstown Woods, Cork, Ireland

2020, June

Furry foxy crawler

An interesting find on a cliff cove, a furry fox moth caterpillar. I don´t know if it had fallen from the cliffs or if it was an instinctively searching for a rocky edge at the beach to start its metamorphosis. More interesting, there was more of them around, thus not a fluke

Fox moth - Macrothylacia rubi

Clonalkity (Cloich na Coillte), Ireland
2017, October

Don’t mind me, I’m just a stick

The season of heat and bugs is at its peak. Getting close to the ground and giving it a bit of attention, you can find a myriad of little crawling, jumping and flying buggers all over the place. Easily mistaken for a branch, I found this one moving around. The stick bugs are absolutely fragile. Their healthy presence is also an indicator of the absence of pesticides in the surroundings. While simple in its shape, it remains an amazing and curious form of life.

Stick insect; bicho-pau, insecto-pau  - Clonopsis gallica

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, August

A dangerous procession in my path

With the trail passing by woodland, I saw an interesting behavioural manifestation of a group of small but quite deadly creatures. Adult pine processionary caterpillars leave their nests up in the pine trees and crawl in large groups, forming a single line. They actually travel for lengthy distances, until finding soft ground to burying themselves, forming cocoons and, later, emerging as moths.

It is also in this later adult stage that they can become deadly as their only defence against predators is their hairy spikes. These, upon contact, can cause severe rashes and even allergic reactions. Moreover, when under stress, these caterpillars eject their hairs which cling to the predator’s skin, eyes and respiratory airways. Dogs, with their curiosity, easily fall severely ill and may perish from just sniffing these caterpillars. Fortunately, this deadly procession only lasts a couple days a year, commonly occurring in the first warm days of spring.

These caterpillars are a devastating plague for pine woodlands. However, they have become a plague because of former agricultural policies which replaced autochthones forests with monocultures of their preferred habitat: the pine tree. Moreover, the natural predators of these caterpillars, crickets, bats and several birds’ species, fail on having natural environments to successfully breed in sufficient numbers to control the population. One major issue of forest farming is that trees are taken down without aging enough to provide natural shelters, i.e. small cavities, for birds to nest. One possible contribution would be to provide, in the affected regions, artificial nests for predators such as the great tit.

Pine processionary / Lagarta processionária do pinheiro - Thaumetopoea pityocampa Schiff. 

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Autumn’s colors

With the end of Summer and first Autumn’s rains, colors change. Fallen leaves fill the landscape in a palette shifting from golden oranges to darker browns. In the wet and shadier grounds, fungi appear with their mysterious shapes and tones. Here, a Boletus edulis (porcini / penny bun) emerges through the fallen chestnuts. Interestingly, this large and edible mushroom attracts all sorts of insects, which seem to feast hastily on its meaty flesh.

Com o fim do Verão e as primeiras chuvas de Outono, as cores mudam. As folhas caídas enchem a paisagem numa palete variando dos laranjas dourados aos castanhos-escuros. No chão húmido e sob as sombras, fungos aparecem com os seus tons e formas misteriosos. Aqui, um Boletus edulis (Míscaro) emerge entre as castanhas caídas. Este cogumelo de grandes dimensões atrai todo o tipo de insectos que aparentam banquetear-se com a sua carne.
Não deixo de achar curioso a imensa e curiosa diversidade para os vários nomes comuns dados a esta espécie: Boleto, Bolo podre, Cabeçudo, Cepa, Cepe, Fedorento, Gordo, Míscaro, Moncoso, Níscaro, Níscarro, Pãozinho de centavo, Pé gordo, Tartulho, Tortulho.

Boletus edulis, Castanea sativa (and a fly…).

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2016, Outubro

Grasshopper (saltamontes) - Terras de Bouro

Going through last year’s photos, I had this one to edit and publish. This was a green grasshopper on the shores of Rio Homem. A simple but pleasant motif to photograph.

This genus of grasshoppers has more than 190 species. Hope I got this one rightly identified.

Dando a volta a algumas fotos do ano passado, encontrei esta por editar e publicar. Um gafanhoto (ou saltamontes como são conhecidos no Norte do País) nuns juncos nas margens do Rio Homem. Um motivo simples mas sempre interessante de fotografar. Espero ter acertado na identificação do bicho mas com insectos é sempre uma aventura.

 Common green grasshopper / Saltamontes verde comum – Chorthippus jucundus

Terras de Bouro, Portugal

2011, August

 

Eye stare: bush-cricket

Well… it’s just a bush cricket. But going macro on it reveals a scary (or somewhat psycho) eye stare.

Bush-cricket, Grilo-dos-arbustos (PT) – Ephippiger ephippiger

Lapela, Gerês, Portugal

2011, June

Weird populace - Rio Homem

Shifting to fauna and getting close to some of those that populate and give life to a natural spot, I leave the first series of photos taken on the same day. Gerês is very rich, indeed.

  Bocage’s Wall Lizard / Lagartixa de Bocage - Podarcis bocagei

 

 Ant / Formiga - Camponotus lateralis (might be Crematogaster scutellaris but by their behavior, I guess the first one). 

Well… the next one is a bee / abelha! Which species, I don’t know and the photo hasn’t enough detail to accurately identify it. But it was sunset and the colors where truly intense on this lavender. Out of DOF where yellow lirium (from a nearby residential garden).

 

Bee on lavander

North shoreline of River Homem

Terras de Bouro, Portugal

2011, June

P.S.: I am not and do not pretend to personate a biologist. I’m just curious about the weird beings I photograph and attempt the exercise of identifying them.