It's mad out there – lots of new species in the garden, but many of them proving photographically elusive in the warm, sunny conditions 😬

But it's only mid-April – there's time ... 🕰️👊

Among the cooperative ones: a very pretty juniper shield bug (Cyphostethus tristriatus; 🇩🇪 Buntrock [meaning "colourful skirt" 🙂]).

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Overnight action.

Spotted this heavy metal beast while walking to my car late last night.

It’s a blue ground beetle (Carabus intricatus; 🇩🇪 Dunkelblauer Laufkäfer) out hunting.

Flash photography with my phone didn’t work, so I used my laptop screen to illuminate the scene 🤷‍♂️

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A few more arthropods from yesterday's warm & sunny day at home 🌞

First, the garden is suddenly full of rose chafers (Cetonia aurata; 🇩🇪 Goldglänzender Rosenkäfer), as always at this time of year.

Slow & docile while foraging, when these giants take to the air, they don't so much buzz you as much as they dare you to stand in their way 😱

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Another mystery from up here in the forest.

This is evidently a damsel bug, subgenus Nabis (🇩🇪 Sichelwanze).

There are many species worldwide, but the closest visual match in this area at least would be N. brevis, although N. ericetorum & N. rugosus might also be options.

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Warm & sunny at 570m on the Königstuhl today too – a brief post-colloquium walk yielded two new species, with others too quick for me to catch.

First a green longhorn moth (Adela reaumurella; 🇩🇪 Grüner Langfühler). It certainly has the long antenna referred to in the German name, but the overall impression is metallic black, not green.

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#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲