Bugs and such

If I had unlimited time and money, I think I would do a picture book of the ecology of the clover plant -- every day, I find new creatures who center all or part of their lives around clover. Such as this dinky fly which, like other flies I've seen, has balloon-shaped sacs behind its wings. Maybe someone can describe what they're for.

A leaf hopper nymph. The grownups look a little different.

A non-native insect that can be harmful to fruit trees and crops.

Another tiny beetle of unknown species. Tried to get around to take a picture of his face, but he dropped off the little flower head never to be seen again.

A little crab spider. In a yellow flower, this one would be invisible.

It is an unwritten rule (or maybe a written one I haven't yet read) that everyone must make a picture of a honeybee that looks approximately like this one. Though this one is a little thin in the fur department.

This clover head is the resting place of the juvenile grasshopper and a katydid nymph. A terrible confession: I didn't know there was a katydid in the clover head until I got inside and saw the picture on the screen. I was trying to photograph the one at top. So I grabbed the camera and went back out and took some more pictures of the katydid nymph, which I thought was a cricket -- the grasshopper was gone.

Less than a quarter-inch long.

When you consider how small the clover flower head is and how this character could crawl down any of the individual flowers, you realize just how little this bee is. The pollen on its legs suggest it's been hard at work, though. It is what is known hereabouts as a "sweat bee."