Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of pretty cool-looking insects in my garden landscape.
I think this insect below is pretty decorative. It’s a white, gold and black caterpillar that is all shiny and appears to be “dressed” formally for an evening out! Doing a little research, I found out it is a Milkweed “Tussock Moth” Caterpillar.
The female Hercules beetle is quite large — this one was 2.5 inches long. I found the beetle (in the below photo) stranded on her back on morning and thought she was dead. She wasn’t. I turned her over, and within about 5 minutes, she had wandered off on her way.
When I first saw this bug, along with several of its “friends”, I thought it was a tuft of cotton! Its white tendrils were blowing in the breeze. Kind of reminded me of a mop, too. It’s a Butternut Wooly Worm!
And one of my favorite beneficial insects in the garden is the Praying Mantis. This one below is brown and was moving around in the grasses. It kept looking up at me and moving its triangular head around. Pretty neat! Although as a side note, I found out recently that the green Praying Mantis is not native to the US and not beneficial as it can trap and kill a hummingbird!
This female Broad-Necked Root Borer Beetle is a scary-looking insect. Just look at that egg depositor on her posterior!
What cool garden insects are you seeing in your landscape?
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