I'm no entomologist, although admittedly considered a little buggy by some, but
my first thought was that maybe she had escaped from a spider's web.
Yesterday, upon leaving Publix after doing our weekly foraging, we came upon a
5-inch preying mantis in the parking lot, obviously in distress from the hot
asphalt and blazing sun. My wife caught her in a grocery sack and we brought
her home and set her loose on a wisteria vine in the front yard, figuring if
she was going to die, she should do so in a natural setting instead of in the
middle of a 5-acre parking lot.
I went out to see if I could find her a while ago, and she's looking remarkably
healthy, happy, and definitely quite predatory, hanging under a leafy branch,
ready to pounce on an afternoon snack. I chose not to bother her during her
recuperation from her travails, but if she's still alive and where I can find
her tomorrow, I'll take a few shots. I don't photograph bugs when they're dead,
although I have been known to put the occasional one in the fridge for a while
before they "sit" for their portrait.
Walt
--
"Anything more than 500 yards from
the car just isn't photogenic." --
Edward Weston
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Robert Swier" <robert.swier@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> I consulted my father, an OM user and an entomologist at the
> University of New Hampshire. He suggested that the beetle could very
> well be covered in fungus. However, he also suggested that it could be
> covered in waxy filaments produced by planthopper insects. He said
> that ladybird beetles are predators, and the beetle might have crawled
> on a plant covered in the filaments, looking for prey (aphids, or the
> larvae or eggs of other insects).
>
> Cheers,
> Robert Swier
> Toronto
>
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