Portrait of a Cratosomus weevil in Colombia

When he noticed that I was looking for insects to photograph, the gardener walked over to me with a bright red dragonfly.
Kolkata, India.

The vibrant red flower of the mistletoe attracts butterflies such as the Large Orange Sulphur (Phoebis agarithe).
La Paz, BCS, Mexico

Portrait of a freshly emerged Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly (Battus philenor)

A leaf-cutter bee (Megachilidae) visits flowers in Logan Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The scopa under the abdomen is brimming with pollen.

Happy Birthday baby bugs! Thirteen young true bug nymphs remain gathered around their egg cluster. Interestingly, they are of two different instars or molt development stages. The two paler baby bugs on the right side have freshly molted into the second instar and will soon darken like the others of the second instar. They were born on the underside of a redbud leaf in my backyard when I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

An Orb weaver rests ready and listening on her wonderfully woven web in a New Jersey backyard.

An earthy emerald (Phrudocentra janeira), which visited a porch light in Costa Rica

Once upon a leaf in Colombia.
Mesosemia mevania (Hewitson 1857) Family: Riodinidae

Protected by a shield of its larval hairs, a tiger moth goes through the incredible process of metamorphosis. While it looks inactive from the outside, there is an abundance of molecular activity inside pupa.

Perched so the wings are in full view. Butterfly wings are mosaics carrying all sorts of messages and purpose. The patterns of the scales range in purpose from defending the butterfly to attracting a mates.

Portrait of Macracantha arcuata. A spikey spider from the Bornean peat swamp forest of Central Kalimantan

On the western coast of Costa Rica, a butterfly catches the final glow of the day perched on top of a cactus

Dragonfly wings and color are dazzling indeed. Even taking those away and focusing on their other forms and structures, they are a sight to behold.

Costa Rica - Through the power of teamwork, ants take down prey ten times their size.

At Tuanan Orangutan Research Station in Indonesia, the laundry soap is popular among the resident bees and butterflies. They fly to the clothes and the laundry lines to lap up minerals.

As dusk falls in Palangka Raya, Indonesia, two butterflies mate upon a fallen and shriveled palm leaf. (Tribe Satyrini)

Strike a pose! Some insects run and others hide, but this raspy cricket stands her ground, flings open her wings, and lifts her front food like she going to stomp it on the ground. An impressive display!

The Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis) locks her spikey front raptorial leg around a cricket leg to secure it as she devourers it.

With her front legs raised and fangs bared, is clear that the tarantula wants no visitors. Be gone!
Tuanan, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

A non-native species on a non-native plant. The thistle tortoise beetle on thistle matches it’s host plant’s hue impeccably.
Backyard, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Native bee on a native flower. Despite having lost one antennae, the sweat bee is still going strong and engages her remaining antennae with the flower surface as she forages.

Eggs from the insides of her prey drip down as the mantis devours her feast.
Tenodera sinensis (Saurssure, 1871)
Backyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

While working outside on the picnic blanket during the pandemic, I had the honor of being joined by a crab spider.
Backyard, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

A native Pearl Crescent Butterfly (Phyciodes tharos) perched on a non-native Queen Anne’s Lace flower.
Backyard, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Once upon a cone flower in my grandmother’s garden.
You can clearly see the three ocelli on the ‘forehead’ of the sweat bee. These extra eyes help with detecting movement and light!
New Jersey, United States.

A robber fly rests atop a leafless branch close to the peak of Gunung Ungaran. The moisture of the passing clouds collects on its body.

Not an ant but an and-mimicking spider rests in its silky hide upon a leaf in a Yogyakarta backyard.