Coenosia sp.
Tiger flies (Coenosia) are a speciose genus of predatory muscids related to house flies. Austin, Texas, USA.
Ceratina cobaltina
The long tongue of this small carpenter bee helps collect nectar from deep in a spring dandelion flower. Austin, Texas, USA.
One of the first spring bees of the season collects nectar from a dandelion. Austin, Texas, USA.
Phlaeothripidae
Austin, Texas, USA.
Honey Bee and Bumble Bee
What's the difference between honey bees (left) and bumble bees (right)? Honey bees are elongate and wasp-shaped, with a more obviously pointed abdomen and grayish stripes towards the tip. Bumble bees are more variable, but are generally robust with longer hairs. In this photo, both forage on fall goldenrod. Illinois.
Cyphomyrmex rimosus
A worker ant in the fungus garden. Brackenridge Field Lab, Austin, Texas, USA.
Cyphomyrmex rimosus garden
Some Cyphomyrmex grow their edible fungus in yeast form, rather than the more common hyphal sponge. Here, golden clumps of yeast adorn caterpillar droppings the ants have collected. Brackenridge Field Lab, Texas, USA.
Vespula squamosa
A southern yellowjacket queen overwinters in a chamber underground. In the spring, she will construct a small paper nest to rear out her first workers. Brackenridge Field Lab, Texas, USA.
Camponotus sansabeanus
Camponotus sansabeanus reproductives, like this male, overwinter as adults, ready to fly and mate at the onset of warm weather. Brackenridge Field Lab, Austin, Texas, USA.
Odontomachus clarus
After fatally striking a termite, a trap-jaw ant momentarily releases her prey. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Austin, Texas, USA.
A Texan trap-jaw ant captures a subterranean termite. Brackenridge Field Lab, Austin, Texas, USA.
Pheidole floridana
Both the larvae and the queen in this colony of big-headed ants are plagued by mites. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Texas, USA.
A queen ant carries a hefty load of mites. Ant colonies often host many species of mites, although the biology of each is typically unknown. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Texas, USA.
Dicromantispa sayi
The raptorial forelegs of mantisflies are used, like those of a preying mantis, to capture prey. This Dicromantispa has caught a small moth. Austin, Texas, USA.
Portrait of a small fungus-farming ant. Brackenridge Field Lab, Austin, Texas, USA.
Aphid live birth
A winged sexual morph of an aphid gives live birth. Stengl Lost Pines Field Station, Texas, USA.
Plecia nearctica
Lovebugs from a fall emergence mating on goldenrod. Stengl Lost Pines Field Station, Texas, USA.
Loxosceles reclusa
In nature, brown recluse spiders spin small webs in secluded, covered areas. I found this one living under an old log in an oak/pine forest. Stengl Lost Pines Field Station, Texas, USA.
Portrait of a brown recluse. Stengl Lost Pines Field Station, Texas, USA.
Eacles imperialis
An imperial moth caterpillar feeds on an oak leaf. Stengl Lost Pines Field Station, Texas, USA.
Polistes carolina
A late-season nest of Carolina paper wasps tucked into the needles of a loblolly pine. Stengl Lost Pines Field Station, Texas, USA.
Stiretrus anchorago
A predatory stink bug sucks the juices out of a caterpillar. Austin, Texas, USA.
Aedes vexans
An Inland Floodwater Mosquito takes a blood meal from the photographer. Austin, Texas, USA.
Misumenoides formosipes - white-banded crab spider
South Bristol, New York, USA
Phidippus audax
This bold jumping spider has caught a nymphalid caterpillar. Austin, Texas, USA.
Melanaphis sacchari
Sugarcane aphids are an introduced pest of many grasses in the southeastern United States. Austin, Texas, USA.
Sphaenothecus bilineatus
Austin, Texas, USA
Prenolepis imparis
Workers from neighboring Prenolepis winter ant colonies test each others' defenses in a tense but non-lethal confrontation. Ordway Reserve, Minnesota, USA.
Workers from neighboring Prenolepis winter ant colonies test each others' defenses in a tense but non-lethal confrontation. The ants assess the size and number of their opponents, sometimes lunging or lightly biting but holding back from untethered aggression. It is thought these ritualistic battles help ants adjust territorial boundaries while avoiding loss of life. Ordway Reserve, Minnesota, USA.
Strymon melinus
The gray hairstreak has an entire fake insect painted backwards on its wings, an illusion carried right down to realistic moving "antennae". This species is among the most common North American butterflies. Austin, Texas, USA.
Heraclides cresphontes
Larvae of the giant swallowtail Heraclides cresphontes mimic bird droppings to avoid predation. Austin, Texas, USA.
Carebara longii
The only member of the circumtropical genus Carebara found in the United States is Carebara longii, a subterranean ant known only from Texas and one of the most rarely-encountered species on the continent. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Austin, Texas, USA.
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From Cyphomyrmex
