bugs!!!

rónán, it/he, 23 🕷 bug blog! 🕷 i interact from my bird blog @ornithological

[eyed-hawkmoth]

welcome to my bug blog! i interact from @ornithological

disclaimer: this blog contains untagged photos of invertebrates. any hatred towards any invertebrate will result in a block! no TERFs, zionists, exclusionists or proshippers either

my favourite invertebrates are wasps, dragonflies, moths, spiders, scolopendromorpha centipedes and rove beetles so expect to see lots of those! though other bugs will pop up of course (i use the term "bug" liberally on this blog, pretty much any terrestrial invertebrate is fair game lol)

my tagging system wont be as organized as my bird blog but generally i will tag whether they're insects/arachnids/etc and general grouping. i will also tag specific families for moths (sphingidae is my favourite moth family!)

[michaelnordeman]

Purple Emperor/Apatura iris/sälgskimmerfjäril. Värmland, Sweden (2 July 2026).

[hideki-koga]

ルリモンハナバチ（Thyreus decorus）

[cathartidae]

[northerlyy]

Band-winged Meadowhawk (Sympetrum semicinctum), female, taken June 12, 2026, in Georgia, US

A golden dragonfly shining in the afternoon heat, guarding her fence territory and letting the sunlight warm her wings. I couldn't get iNat to give me a correct suggestion on this one, since it was convinced this was an amberwing, which it is not. I knew this was a meadowhawk, so I went through the genus until I found a match, and it turns out I wasn't getting the species suggested because it had only been sighted in Georgia 6 times previously! This female was the first GA observation in 6 years, followed by another the day after from another observer and then a male that flew right up to me a little over a week later. Hopefully this means they're breeding in the location I found them and will continue to show up here for years to come. They're gorgeous dragonflies!

[etcstims]

Catipillar nibbling and walking | source

[herpsandbirds]

Iridicolor Geometer Moth (Iotaphora iridicolor), family Geometridae, Thailand

photograph by Antonio Giudici

[northerlyy]

Thick-headed Fly (Physocephala tibialis), taken June 12, 2026, in Georgia, US

A very cool-looking fly resting beside a busy flower cluster! This species is such an awesome case of mimicry—I could tell what this guy was trying to be immediately. Most wasp-mimics go for parasitic species or paper wasps, but this species went for a potter wasp. The dark cells of the wing that form the shape of a wasp's wing are especially cool, likely to make it so birds will only see the wasp-like wing silhouette from afar and steer clear of this fly. Like most wasp mimics, they feed on the same plants as their models and likely move similarly, further selling the act!

[spidersdaily]

Orange-legged swift spiders

[eyed-hawkmoth]

bumble bee hoverfly (volucella bombylans)

[bugkeeping]

Prairie Boopie Boopedon gracile

i found more boopies

[hideki-koga]

ハッチョウトンボ（Dragonfly）

[bugkeeping]

Little Mesquite Cicada (Pacarina puella) and Superb Dog-day Cicada (Neotibicen superbus)

[thesingingbullfrog]

Harvester (The only carnivorous butterfly in North America)

[michaelnordeman]

Aelurillus v-insignitus/vinkelhoppspindel - a jumping spider, and Spotted Wolf Spider/Pardosa amentata/prickvargspindel. Värmland, Sweden (26 June 2022).

[michaelnordeman]

Pine Hawk-moth/Sphinx pinastri/tallsvärmare. Värmland, Sweden (26 June 2018).

[northerlyy]

Spangled Skimmer (Libellula cyanea), male, taken June 11, 2026, in Georgia, US

The silhouette of a hardworking dragonfly patrolling the grasses for both food and rivals! Spangled skimmers are one of many dragonfly species that are immediately identifiable at a glance. The bright white on their wings stands out on all backgrounds and in any lighting, unlike their plain-winged cousins, slaty skimmers. I particularly like this image because of how the lighting highlights the complexity of dragonflies' wing venation. All of those black lines provide structure, balance, and life to one of the dragonfly's most unique traits!