Monday, October 4, 2010

Backyard "Arthropod Titans"

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Here are two standouts:



The praying mantis pictured measured about 5 inches in length (last year's specimen).



This orb-weaver spider's abdomen is about equal to a nickel in size (this year's specimen).



No stag beetles of note this year. Maybe next year.

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4 comments:

  1. Cool pictures. We have a lot of noteworthy bugs around our house too.

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  2. Yep, don't always have to go far to find interesting stuff.

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  3. Yeah, last summer we watched one praying mantis devour another one alive on the front porch. Gross and yet fascinating too.

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  4. I have a pic somewhere of this mantis facing another one, but they ignored eachother and moved on.

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