Tag Archives: nature photo

Photo of the Week – July 6, 2012

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Assassin bugs are one of many fascinating insects most people haven’t heard of.  This one was hunting in Sarpy County, Nebraska a few weeks ago.  Assassin bugs are active hunters, but this one was sitting stock still for the few minutes I was photographing it.  I’m not sure if it was waiting for prey or just trying to hide from me, but I liked the pose very much.

Assassin bug. Sarpy County, Nebraska.

Like spiders, assassin bugs inject venom into their victims, both paralyzing and liquefying them.  Then they suck the insides out of the hapless insect.  It’s interesting to me that these two groups of invertebrates (spiders and assassin bugs) independently developed similar strategies, even though they are not closely related.

The University of Kentucky has a fantastic entomology website, and has excellent information on assassin bugs, if you’re interested.

Photo of the Week – May 17, 2012

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It’s amazing what you can find when you’re crawling around on the ground…

A wolf spider stares at me as I take its (her?) photo. The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.  The leg span of this spider was only about 1.5 inches.  Certainly not the biggest I’ve seen, but plenty big to intimidate people who are already squeamish about arachnids!

As I was on my knees counting plants inside a square meter plot frame last week, this little (big?) wolf spider came crawling out of the litter.  I managed to corral it into the handy little ziplock bag I carry for just such emergencies, and a half hour later when I returned to my truck, I let it back out to see if it would pose for photos.  Not having my wheelbarrow photo studio handy, I had to make do with just blocking its repeated escape attempts with my hand until it got fed up and decided to sit still and consider its next move.  It gave me about 30 seconds to squeeze off a few shots. 

Then it dashed off again, and I let it go.  I had plants to count, and the spider had a meal to find.