Fox In The Garden

Naturalist Vtuber

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Tonight, in the brief moment that I opened the back door while collecting laundry from my outdoor dryer, this little fellow slipped into the house, desperately trying to get at this lightbulb.

While I’ve been trying to get over my fear of bugs, this one, in particular, scared me and made me anxious with how intent she was on slamming herself haphazardly against anything in her general vicinity. Even still, I was able to capture her and release her outdoors after taking a few photos for identification purposes.

It turns out that she’s a Darwin Wasp, and she got the name from when Charles Darwin first observed her life cycle as a parasitoid wasp- she lays an egg inside a young caterpillar and her larva feeds on non-vital fats until the caterpillar reaches maturity, after which the larva consumes the vital organs and emerges from the carcass- which made Darwin reconsider his belief in a loving and beneficent god. Which, while disgusting and horrifying, is also p metal and kinda cool?

And look at her. She looks like a little puppy. You couldn’t stay mad at her, could you?

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An update! I posted about the Silver Garden Orbweaver that I spotted on my screen door a few days ago, and I’d like to fill you in on what she’s doing, now!

Later that same evening, she climbed up above the door and started building a web near the porch light in hopes of catching some insects that might be drawn to it. You can see one of the idiosyncrasies of this species in the web construction- she weaved some short zigzagging structural threads extending out in the four directions in which she will rest her legs in pairs of two.

The other evening, I struggled to capture some footage of her munching on a Green Lacewing she caught.

Could you imagine being her? Just browsing Tumblr and then finding a blog dedicated to documenting your every move, watched and read by 40,000 people? How terrifying.

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We’ve had some significant rains in SoCal the past few days, resulting in a dry streambed in the garden filling with water. To escape the rain, some critters climbed up blades of Common Rush, Juncus Patens, including these little Common Woodlouse isopods! I thought to move them from the grass and onto dry land uphill but ultimately decided against it, figuring that they’ve got things under control.

Despite being crustaceans who breathe through wet gills, these isopods are terrestrial and can’t survive underwater for more than a few hours, at best.

I like these pictures because you can zoom in to see that they’re grasping the grass with tiny hairs on their legs and not wrapping themselves fully around it. The distinct blades of armor that allow them to conglobulate into little balls are also clearly visible.

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The Silver Garden Spider is an orbweaver native to the land between Southern California and Chile. Uniquely, they attach ultraviolet-reflecting silk to their webs in order to lure in pollinating insects that use UV to find flowers. Not this one, though. This one is sitting on a screen door.

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Mexigonus Minutus is a tiny little jumping spider that I found, this evening, while organizing my outdoor gardening workbench! They’re mostly endemic to Mexico, and are v cute. I wish I saw them around more often. A different jumping spider had jumped onto my arm from a nursery plant I was handling, the other day, and I got some pictures of them on me, but I only had my phone to photograph with at the time, so idk if they’re really worth sharing.

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I noticed some white fuzz on a Sage I was pruning and, upon closer inspection, realized they were actually tiny bugs! Initially, I believed they were strange isopods that look like they’re covered in frost or battery acid, but they are actually a common cosmopolitan scale pest known as a Mealybug. Probably not a surprise to many, but I’d never actually seen one, before, so now I know!

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I found this little guy while pruning an overgrown non-native Sage (the only one in the native garden) that was encroaching on its native neighbors. They’re an omnivorous Plant Bug that iNaturalist identifies as “Creontiades rubrinervis,” with no common name. They’re native to the Americas and very small!

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We’ve had a little bit of rain the last couple days, and I didn’t want the rain barrel to overfill, so I had gone out, tonight, to let some flow into the dry streambed when I noticed a number of large Tropical House Crickets all hiding out on the rain barrel’s platform. Definitely not a rare critter, but I hadn’t taken the time to photograph one yet, so I figured now was as good a time as any.

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Do you know this caterpillar? I have no idea who they are. I found them on an Island Snapdragon in the SoCal native garden but I don’t really see discernible features in my photos that would point me in one direction or another.

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I found a Brown Widow hanging from a web, just spinning in circles the other night. I had no idea what they were doing, but I took some shots and headed back inside to get a cup to move them from their spot on the patio into the garden, but in the short time I stepped away, they had already vanished! They aren’t nearly as dangerous as their more famous relative, the Black Widow, but I figured putting some space between us as a precaution couldn’t be terrible.

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I found a tiny little Jumping Spider clinging onto the drapes, this evening! Smaller than a house fly, I had to get real close before I could tell who they were, even. Mexigonus Minutus makes for a fitting name. I used a cup to transfer them to a native Sage in the garden where I expect they’ll have an easier time finding prey to pounce upon. Despite being able to move VERY fast in short distances, they actually crawled into and out of the cup quite deliberately and at a very casual pace. Good luck out there, tiny dude!

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It’s Gulf Fritillary! They’re the most common butterfly visitor in the native garden. I caught this one sunning on some Coastal Buckwheat. I wanted to grab a few angles but they weren’t interested in a full photo shoot and took flight the second I went to re-adjust.

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Cabbage White! This butterfly is common and frequently finds their way to the native garden, though they’re usually too elusive for me to capture. Thankfully, I caught them trying to rest on Black Sage, which gave the perfect opportunity for a little photo shoot! Cabbage White! Look at all that cute fuzz!

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Yellow-Striped Armyworm Moth Caterpillar! I didn’t catch them munching on anything, just crawling around near some native Spiny Rush grass. I don’t know what they are doing or where they are going. Maybe they don’t either? It’s a feeling that I know well.

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I stumbled upon Salt Marsh Moth Caterpillar munching on a non-native sage, which speaks to their generalist diet. I captured some footage of them eating, too, but it’ll be a while before I have the time to review. If it’s cool, I’ll post it here, though!

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Tobacco Budworm Moth might not be the most exciting find- they’re easily the most frequently sighted caterpillar in the California garden- but it’s still nice to capture a moment of nature in action that validates the effort I put into creating a native plant garden. Here, they are munching on Western Redbud.

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I’ve seen two of these very hairy caterpillars, lately, on a very diverse array of plants- Spiny Rush, Baja Fairyduster, and our state flower the California Poppy. They’re Salt Marsh Moth caterpillars and they’re supposedly common, but taking a look at the moth, themself, I don’t recall ever seeing them hanging around. I hope I’m able to capture some footage of their adult forms after they pupate!