Photo Essay
Insects of the Urban Forest
Midlander Briley Mitchell took the following photographs. He loves to take pictures of insects and arthropods. This sampling of his work reveals an incredible eye for detail. One of the species of fly he photographed is totally bizarre! He photographed all of these critters in his yard, vacant lots, and parks in towns of West Texas. Thank you, Briley!
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In the early morning, a bumblebee was asleep on a cattail stem. Notice how its stinger is propping it up.
A honeybee pigs out in an Indian blanket.
A leafcutter bee sucks up nectar from a dandelion
Another honey bee on a garden flower.
Assassin bugs are predators. This one waits on a goldenwave daisy.
This appears to be another assassin bug, but notice the small spines on its abdomen.
Mealybugs are pests to garden plants and after the plentiful rains in the spring of 2007, they were plentiful.
A cabbage white butterfly nectars on a huisache daisy.
A marine blue on the buds of an unknown plant.
In the fall, queens find the blossoms of liatris (gayfeather.)
Here three queens are on lantana berries. The one hanging down is a male attached to the female half hidden.
Gulf fritillary on gold lantana.
A golden skipper found a scabiosa flower.
Another skipper on an unknown garden flower.
A queen and a monarch nectar on blue mist eupatorium.
A painted lady nectars on zinnia.
A giant swallowtail finds a bluebonnet.
A hairstreak shows off its tail hairs - which appear to be antennae to a predator. When the predator bites it, it only gets a piece of the tail section, and the tattered butterfly escapes.
Briley photographed some dragonflies from different perspectives. This green darner is head on.
From the side and a little below the dragonfly appears threatening.
A dragonfly tries to hide behind a dead twig, peering around and down at Briley.
From above and to the side, the dragonfly looks delicate.
This perspective denotes the darting speed of dragonflies, even when sitting still.
Does this dragonfly have a mosquito in its mouth?
This is the unknown bizarre fly! What does it do? What does it eat? Why does it have a head shaped so strangely?
A bee fly waits half-hidden in a salvia, waiting for a bee on which to lay its eggs.
Syrphid flies love flowers.
The ailanthus moth is brightly colored, so it must taste bad as the tree (also known as tree of heaven) does.
Robberflies are great predators, even on honeybees.
When they are eating, a photographer can approach closely.
Robberflies mating.
This species of robberfly mimics a bumblebee, and it is also eating a honeybee.
There are at least 10 species of jumping spiders in Midland County.
A pale crabspider can stomach the bad taste of a lady bug.
Another crabspider eating a shiny skinned fly.
We are not sure how many species of crabspiders are in Midland County.
We hope someone will tell us what type of spider this is - there is not an identification guide to the spiders of Texas!
Inchworms are everywhere, but unless you are as observant as Briley, you do not see them often.
To identify caterpillars, one must raise them until they become moths or butterflies. Will we ever know how many species of insects and arthropods there are on the Llano Estacado?