Mark McCaughrean15h ago

Happy to spot one of these little jewels in the garden this evening.

It's a cuckoo wasp in the family Chrysididae, often in bright metallic colours due to light interference effects.

There are over 3000 species & many in this emerald-green & ruby-red scheme, so making an exact ID from a photo is challenging.

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Show threadMark McCaughrean15h ago

And this is a harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis; 🇩🇪 Asiatischer Marienkäfer).

This is the first time I've seen a pupa – within 5-10 days, it'll be an adult.

The metamorphisis is temperature dependent, quicker when warmer, & given this week's predictions, the adult will be here sooner rather than later 🥵

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Show threadMark McCaughrean

And another in my series of mysterious small yellow flies badly shot under very low light conditions ... 😬✌️

Except, I think, the four black spots on the abdomen of *do* allow me to make an ID: it's likely the fairly rare Sapromyzosoma quadripunctata, with only 26 prior observations in Germany on iNaturalist.

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7:25pmWeb
Show threadMark McCaughrean14h ago

Catching up on yesterday, this is a small leafhopper, likely genus Cicadula.

From the black spot patterns on the head & behind the scutellum, I suspect it's the fairly rare C. quadrinotata (🇩🇪 Gemeine Seggenzirpe).

That said, apparently it can be hard to distinguish from C. persimilis ... which is even rarer.

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Show threadMark McCaughrean14h ago

And from my ride yesterday, crappy phone shots of two rather more clearly identifiable insects, I think.

First, a common flathorn plant bug (Heterotoma planicornis; 🇩🇪 Dickfühler-Weichwanze), so-called because of it's broad, flattened antennae.

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Show threadMark McCaughrean14h ago

And finally for now, a rather startled looking little moth.

The pattern on the wings is quite distinctive, & I think it's a dusky grass-veneer (Chrysocramboides craterella).

It's mostly found south of the Alps & the only place it's seen in Germany is the Rhine plain between Frankfurt & Karlsruhe, i.e. here.

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Show threadsaarmuller13h ago
@markmccaughrean And that brown beauty?
Show threadMark McCaughrean12h ago
@saarmuller Not sure – a shield bug nymph of some kind, I'd guess.
Show threadAnita4h ago
@markmccaughrean Rather few people on iNaturalist bother with flys, because they are so hard to identify. I have mostly resigned to watch them, sometimes take a few photos, because it's a first of especially this species (a first for me I mean), and then don't publish it on iNat, thinking, it won't get a name anyway. But they are immensely fascinating creatures.
Show threadMark McCaughrean1h ago

@percaflu I hear you loud & clear. I tend to self-censor when it comes to taking pictures of flies, especially tachnids, because I can immediately see myself spending hours struggling even to get to genus level.

Same with the many tiny little black flies & bugs in the garden, which are also hard to photograph in the first place.

One tempting thing though is that many might be new species to science entirely, but again, how to ever know based on macro photos alone 😱