Maybe make this one thread every monday-friday? It would be much more convenient.
Given that only a few people are answering it’s cooler to have it as it is, plus topic wasn’t founded on Monday or Sunday, when here’ll be more people it’d be even more practical to have answers disperced and not have a bunch of them on one day.
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But it seems to be hard to manage this thread and it would be confusing to read through…
Well, it’s up to author to decide! Personally it’s the same as other forum threads, they never stay strict if there’s nothing that can physically prevent doing the other way.
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In my experience threads on forums tend to take a life on their own. I personally prefer to keep track of the weeks for clarity sake. That’s why I have started to add an end date to my posts.
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For me it was Smooth Spider Beetle 
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most recent lifer is Eastern Giant Swallowtail: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/87602015
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Well, update: We just got back from observing our lifer Bobcat! https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89240276
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Week ending August 1, 2021: The amazing “adobe builders” cliff swallows!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89592436
I have seen cliff swallows before but never encountered a “nest formation” of this kind.
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Alright, week has passed and it’s time to talk about insects! I really tried to make the list short.
Of course from mountain steppe you can’t come back without many orthoptera.
First there’re two grasshopper that stridulate in flight! One is Angaracris barabensis which has white hind wings and second is Bryodema gebleri which is everywhere and has red and black hind wings! Plus there’re Eastern Banded Grasshopper and Large Banded Grasshopper. And quite pretty grasshoppers I was waiting to see: of course famous Gampsocleis sedakovii with unknown for me before Steppe Bush-cricket and wingless Intermediate Bright Bush-cricket.
Then it’s a beetle I was trying to find in the town I’m living in for two years, but found so far from home: Eurasian Bee Beetle.
I met tons of butterflies and moths, this place is just a Satyrinae mekka, they’re everywhere and all are new, but from my favourites are giant lowers of light The Lappet, common and delicate The Rosy Footman, a real beauty Lace Border, to Zygaena species – Mountain Burnet and Eastern Burnet, one of many nyphalids there Large Heath and rosy grass lover Rosy-striped Knot-horn.
And really unexpected, cicadas! Cicadetta yezoensis.
I think last time I was so excited is when we first came to Crimea, already wanna go back, more observations are needed!
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Did you post it to iNaturalist?
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@blazeclaw Firstly, congrats on some beautiful finds for this week! That orchid is stunning <3
My favorite lifers for the week…hmmmm:
My #1 is definitely:
Paonias astylus
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89190400
Also really cool:
Phyllobaenus verticalis
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89635503
Lapara coniferarum
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89466368
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Very nice! My partner and I saw one a couple of years ago but were unable to get any photos. We were driving on a highway, and it was crossing the road (from a forested area) to an agricultural area near chicken houses. Our first thoughts were “that is a really weird dog”, and then we realized what we were seeing! ;P
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Never thought I’d see a Mayfly in my suburban, desert yard. I’m two new identifications/observations away from recording 200 species of insects in my 1/4 acre. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89779830
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This Tuesday 3rd Aug by the Harlem Meer, I found long-nosed swamp flies for the first time:
And on Sunday Aug 1st on Randall’s Island I found several new lifers:
Conoytachelus fissunguis – several of these neat-looking true weevils were deep in a flower of Swamp Rose Mallow
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89546274
Jumping Bush Cricket – just one nymph
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89546121
Eutreta noveboracensis – a very cute little fruit fly
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89549908
Coenosia tigrina – a fly with stripes and hairs
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89553415
Vampire’s Bane – very delicate mushrooms growing under a log, but on my next visit I need to confirm the species by smelling it.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89549290
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Noticed this brightly colored milkweed assassin bug (I believe) nymph after I spotted a ladybug - glad the ladybug caught my eye.
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My lifer for this week isn’t one organism. Rather it’s that I found 8 organisms in one!! I just love finding evidence of a gastropod or other marine creature on a shell. And I do the happy dance -yes, I do!- when there are several. But EIGHT!!! Eight right here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90420460
This shell has so much going on!!! What a fantastic find! We’ve got the Strombus alatus (Florida Fighting Conch), 3 tiny Melongena corona (American Crown Conch), beautiful webs of Bryozoans, Serpulidae (Serpulid Tubeworms), some sort of small barnacles, inside are Crepidula plana (Eastern White Slippersnail), outside are perhaps Crassostrea virginica (Eastern Oyster) & the largest current occupant is the Clibanarius vittatus (Thinstripe Hermit Crab).
I’m wondering how long it took for this “community” to form.
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Peregrine falcon! Got one by the space museum in Alamogordo NM
For the week of 2 - 8 Aug:
- This labial-palpless Hesperiidae
- This rather flamboyant-looking yet unfortunately non-native Pentatomidae
- Another handsome orange Pentatomid
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If confirmed, my first Exomalopsini bee. Work errands aren’t bad when there are wildflowers everywhere and 1,000 native bees to observe. I’ve found about 80 species this year.
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