A lovely American Pelecinid Wasp, hanging out on a leaf. The elongated structure on the back of the abdomen, is in fact, a modified ovipositor, not a stinger! These wasps are incapable of stinging, and parasitize caterpillars.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/310689069 .
He is Neil. He’s got some life story there.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/310254259
I’ve never seen this guy in person! I had seen it a bunch on my states biodiversity but it was so tiny I didn’t even see it if I wasn’t just browsing the outside wall lining while I waited for a coworker that morning!
Real good beach day today! Got bored of sunbathing and got out in the open sea, in a deeper water. Here’s the best I got:
A garfish: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/311213091 , among other fishes.
Then, I got back to a rock I wanted to check, and it was worth it!
Lipophrys trigloides: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/311215950
Honorable mention, a Sphynx Blenny, so cute!
Two beautiful clown beetles! I thought they were ladybugs at first, then realized they were probably some kind of weevil. And yes! A lifer!
I found a Notch-backed Cuckoo bee and multiple Hump-backed Beewolf. I’ve become fascinated with Wasps lately, and it’s spiraled into a complete fascination of all Bees, Wasps and related.
Epeolus scutellaris
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/311329143
Philanthus gibbosus
This week I get to hike a part of a preserve that I had not hiked before. This yielded many new lifers, including this Acer spicatum (mountain maple) observation
It’s kinda crazy to think that a bumblebee that was once so universal in E. North American has become a lifer bee for me.
Either way, today I spotted an American Bumblebee queen hard at work before the cold sets in! I CAN’T STOP GEEKING ABOUT HER
I haven’t seen a Leopard Frog in a long time so this was an exciting sight for me.
I have been on the lookout for this ever since I started to use iNat and here it is:
Phytoplasma asteris, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Oh wow, I am envious! They are considered to be “likely extirpated” in New England. Guess I’ll have to come to your neck of the woods to see one!
And you got such nice photos…
Through the reading I have been doing, Ohio has very few of these lovelies too- but I am going to watch this area like hawk while the weather still allows it to see if there are signs of an established set of colonies in the preserve.
I and going to be doing a lot more running again, it looks like ![]()
It’s not often that I get a dragonfly lifer. I think this is a black meadowhawk, but my dragonfly identifying skills are next to nothing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I was wrong.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/312093009
Is a lifer something you’ve waited your whole life to observe, or just something you’ve never observed before in your life?
My first owl observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/310705999 (among crickets)
My first skink: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/311420396
And my first true toad: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/311811163
I’m pretty sure it’s just something you’ve never observed before.
This little guy that I escorted outside today! Not quite sure what he is, image searches keep suggesting different things, but I learned the hard way that he’s got wings! (He jump-scared me as I was setting him down, bounced right off my glasses
)
A brown wasp mantidfly; so incredibly cute and chill and was so much fun to watch. It crawled all over my hands, my camera lens, etc. I thought it was a wasp at first, but its little grabby front legs suggested mantis. What a cutie!!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/312256217
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/312260674
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/312312799
Canadian Imperial Moth caterpillar.
Not from what I can see. ![]()
So far as I know, both are right. The most important part is that it’s your first time seeing this thing.
Compare him to other members in the Neoclytus genus. Example from my own finds:









