It's a buggy time of year

I take a camera to bed with me. Because tiny critters like my night light and bask there, just beside my headboard. So I take their photos. Of course.

Here are some of the ones that have turned up recently.

One of the Gall and Forest midges. The arrow points to one of the halteres.

The Diptera (two-winged), are flying insects; most of our flies, crane flies, hover flies, mosquitos, etc. Most other winged insects have 4 wings, but in the Diptera, the second pair of wings has evolved to become tiny, vibrating clubs, the halteres; they work as flight stabilizers and may help with steering.

A tiny yellow fly with multi-coloured eyes. Chyromya sp.

A female Bee Moth, Aphomia sociella

On the lampshade; a small crane fly, infraorder Tipulomorpha. A male; females have a pointed tip to the abdomen.

A weevil, one of the Snout and Bark beetles.

And a couple of visitors from other spots:

A woodlouse spider on my carpet. Dysdera crocata.

And outside, on my garden wall; a Brown-lipped snail, Cepaea nemoralis.

More beasties to come; it's a buggy time of year.

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Llevo la cámara conmigo a la cama. Porque a muchos insectos les atrae la luz de mi lámpara de noche; se "asolean" allí, en la pared al lado de mi cama. Y, claro, les tengo que sacar fotos.

Estos son unos de los que me han visitado recientemente.

1. Un mosquito pequeño (jején). La flecha indica uno de los halterios. El orden Diptera (que significa dos alas) incluye los insectos voladores con 2 alas, como por ejemplo, los Tipula, las moscas comunes, los mosquitos, los sírfidos. Otros insectos voladores tienen 4 alas; en el orden de los Diptera, el segundo par de alas se ha convertido en estos halterios, que les sirven para estabilizar el vuelo y pueden ayudar a dirigir la dirección del vuelo.
2. Una mosca dorada con ojos de muchos colores. Chyromya sp.
3. Una mariposa nocturna, "Mariposa abeja", hembra, Aphomia sociella
4. Una Tipula chica. Este es un macho; el abdomen de las hembras tiene el extremo puntiagudo.
5. Un gorgojo.
6. Y en otro sitio; una araña Dysdera crocata.
7. Y en mi jardín, un caracol "Margen marrón", Cepaea nemoralis.

Para mañana, tengo otros insectos; estamos en una temporada del año llena de criaturitas.

Evening visitor

This teeny-tiny, orange and green midge turned up on my wall in the evening and hung around long enough for me to get a few photos. He didn't like the light when I aimed it at him, by which I gather that he's a night flier.

Non-biting midge, Tanytarsini sp.

He is about 2 millimetres long, or a bit less. I sent his photo in to BugGuide, and they identified him as one of the non-biting midges, of the sub-family Chironominae, and the tribe Tanytarsini. (Those people at BugGuide are amazing; I sent in the photo at midnight, and at 7 in the morning, they'd already moved him into the right place!)

The front legs are about half again as long as the total length of his body.

He. Because I think he's a male; the males have feathered antennae. Look at them in this next photo.

Front end in focus.

Midges are related to the mosquitoes. Some bite, like the noseeums that pester us in the summer. And then there's this whole harmless sub-family; they don't bite, but serve as food for swallows and frogs. And, of course, spiders.

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Este mosquito pequeñito, de colores anaranjado y verde, vino a visitar después de la puesta del sol, y se quedó un tiempo para que le sacara unas fotos. No le gustaba mi luz; ha de ser un insecto que vuela de noche.

Aquí es donde el idioma nos falla. En inglés, hay otra palabra distinta para estos bichitos. "El mosquito" es esa plaga que nos pica y nos deja llenos de hinchazones y que trae enfermedades como la fiebre amarilla. Este mosquito pequeño pertenece a una tribu de la misma familia, pero no pican, y les llamamos "midges". Algunos "midges" pican; por aquí hay muchos muy pequeños a los que les hemos dado el nombre de "noseeums", diciendo que no los vemos, pero sí los sentimos; sus picaduras son peores que las de sus primos grandes, los "mosquitos". Pero esta tribu es inofensiva.

Fotos: el "midge", la primera enfocando en las alas y el abdomen, y la segunda, para ver las antenas. Pertenece a la familia Chironomidae y a la tribu Tanytarsini.

Características: Mide aproximadamente 2 milímetros o menos. Las patas anteriores son tan largas como el cuerpo entero y otra mitad. Creo que es un macho porque los machos tienen las antenas emplumadas; las de las hembras son sencillas.

Estos mosquititos sirven de comida a las golondrinas y a los sapos. Y, claro está, a las arañas.

A well-behaved midge.

I thought this was a crane fly. A very small one, very green, but it was shaped like a crane fly; long abdomen, long legs, inflated thorax, big eyes, two wings and halteres.

Very green.

I sent it in to BugGuide. Where it was promptly identified as a midge.

I thought midges were small and black, and lived to bite me. This one is large, for a midge; I didn't get a chance to measure him, but they run from about 1/2 to 3/4 of a centimetre. And he doesn't bite.

Wonderful antennae! They identify him as a male.

He's a male, one of the Chironomini tribe, a relative of the mosquitoes, cousin to the no-see-ums that pester us around sunset, prettier than all of them.

I took his photos and went home for a ruler, When I got back, he was gone, probably looking for a mate. If he finds her, she will lay her eggs in water somewhere, which will be difficult to find since it hasn't rained here for ages. I wish them well.

Because Canucks fans are wearing mustaches these days

Hairy:

Purple dead nettle, Lamium purpureum

Luna in a rare quiet instant. At the Mothers' Day picnic, Queens Park.

Midge found drowned in my salt water reservoir. The hairy antennae show that it's a male.

Rex, sure, you're a hairy hermit, but don't you think wearing an anemone on your shell is going a bit overboard?

Not hairy:

Red-eared turtle, Cougar Creek Park. Not a Canucks fan.