Sorting photos from last year, I found several folders of still-unprocessed raw files. I've been plowing through these, and struck gold:
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| 6 legs and 1000 eyes. (Or thereabouts.) |
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| Syrphid, or hover fly. |
These are from last July. In a later folder, of tiny critters holed up under rotting maple leaves, waiting out the cold snap, I found the next generation.
These are such pretty flies, but the larvae don't have any of the appeal of the adults. My photos are fuzzy; the larva was sopping wet, and I hadn't even seen it on the leaf until I was processing the photos. But I've looked them up on BugGuide and other places, and they don't get any better looking.
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| Spiky, splotchy, segemented larva. Eats aphids. Even in winter. |
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| We're looking at it from the rear. Those pointed tubes at the back are its spiracles, or breathing tubes. |
More discoveries to come...
That first image is beautiful!!! I must admit, I am less thrilled with the larvae...
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