The mighty power of tiny: ants may be small insects, but with collective power they can heft a load well above their body weight.
Insects
Psychidae – Bagworm larva
Mother nature and her bags of tricks has rustled up a delicious little surprise for this macro shot. A blob of moving twigs turns out to be a Bagworm (Psychidae). Neat! The larvae of this species constructs a spindle-shaped silk bag and then attaches pieces of twigs and leaves as a protective covering. This one is hungry extending it’s head through it’s covering and making good headway along the petals of this Moraea ochroleuca (aas-uintjie).
It senses my intrusion and withdraws behind it’s defensive bulwark, though you can still see it’s whiskery antennae.
Future: metamorphosis
An active little critter, this is the larval stage of a Mountain White spot moth. Researching it’s identification, I came across the description – a “ginger fuzzy-wuzzy”. It transforms through pupation into a gorgeously couture’d furry moth.
Take a peek at the “Future” here.
Ready for take-off
Solving the riddle of matching up moths and their larvae is always a nice little challenge. I haven’t yet got a positive identification on this moth which fluttered through the open kitchen window a couple of nights ago. I was chuffed to see it’s rather elegant markings and aimed to take photos the next day. It looked very sluggish in the morning and I didn’t think it would revive. Yet once outside I managed to take a couple of shots when it’s antennae started vibrating and with a revving up of the wings it was off, winging it’s way over the garden hedge. Meanwhile I’m taking a guess that this is the larva. I think the species belongs to the Tussock’s and that the colours and design cross match rather nicely. During autumn the caterpillars were pretty active devouring a patch of statice plants situated quite close to the kitchen so the odds are good that this could be a positive match.
UNLESS… Earth-friendly Chroniclers: Challenge 12 ~ Pollinator Portraits
Jane has chosen a fascinating subject this week: Pollinators She writes: “Beyond the crucial ecosystem services they provide, pollinators are a diverse and fascinating group of animals in their own right. They include bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, some bats, some beetles, flies and wasps.”
Jane calls for portraits, so to my delight that suggests up-close macro shots. I discovered a whole new world after i purchased a set of Vello extension tubes to fit on my 105mm fixed lens and starting delving into the ‘private world’ of flowering plants……
Proboscis deep in the nectaries – Common Dotted Border butterfly
Cape Honey bee – Apis meillifera capensis – gathering pollen from Morning Glory.
Flies in the stamens of a King Protea.
Honey bee, sage plant.
Ants and zebra cockroach.
Beetle
Pale Hairtail butterfly on honeysuckle
Monkey beetles in a gazania daisy
Young grasshopper in a daisy
Glittering Jewel beetles in a protea
Common Dotted Border butterfly
Blister beetle
Beetle variety
Ants raiding erica tubes.
Orange breasted sunbird. curved beak – fit for purpose.
Female sugarbird
Immature malachite sunbird
Cape sugarbird, champion pollinator of fybos species.
Southern Double-collared sunbird
Topical too – as here in South Africa we learn that our R20-billion agriculture industry faces ruin as foulbrood rips through the country’s bee populations. Bees are a critical part of our food cycle, with one in three mouthfuls of food reliant on insect pollination. It’s a wake-up call when too little attention has been given to the health of this humble but crucial insect. 40% of the bees in the Western Cape have been killed off and that’s a big worry for the farmers of the area.
But besides the roll of bees the Cape Floristic Region has a fabulous array of pollinators. The competition between flowering plants to attract pollinators has been one of the driving forces for the evolution of an amazing diversity found in the Fynbos biome. Bell shaped flowers provide the ideal shape for bees to collect nectar with their two sets of wings, while flies with one set can sneak into smaller spaces. In the Ericas, the tubular flowers of some species have strongly curved flowers that match the specific bill shape of the Orange-Breasted Sunbirds. Butterflies are also specialist feeders uncurling their long tongues to reach down like straws into long-tubed plants. To add to Jane’s list – rodents also have a specialised role in pollinating some of the low growing Proteaceae species.
I did a bit of research and found that 430 plant species are pollinated by birds, with the Cape Sugarbird and several of the sunbird species visiting as many as 300 protea flower heads every day during autumn and winter. Insects play a major role, with beetles coming in with an astonishing diversity. Currently, over 1 040 described species and 51 genera of monkey beetle are known from South Africa.
