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Jon Wallach

@beetleboyjon

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A side account for my macro photos mainly around the Burbank/LA area! Come learn about bugs with me!!!
Art account is @camperjon!

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A gorgeous Johnson’s Jumping Spider (Phidippus Johnsoni) I found hanging out at the Hansen Dam Recreation Area last week! Everything about this spider is so striking, from those iridescent fangs to that bold red abdomen, I loved seeing this little fella!

Also known as the red-backed jumping spider, it mimics the look of a velvet ant and is one of the most common jumpers you can find in western North America!

#spider #arachnid #macrophotography #bug #jumpingspider by @beetleboyjon

The adult Pellaea Stictica shield bug! I posted some nymph photos of the same species a little while back and now I’m seeing a bunch of fully grown ones all over the bean trees in my neighborhood! (The last photo is a couple more nymphs I spotted for reference!)

These guys, along with all shield bugs and several other species, belong to the order Hemiptera, making them True Bugs! What sets them apart from other insects is their built-in bendy straw mouth tube (also known as a rostrum!) which they use to pierce their food and then suck fluids from! If you see a Pellaea Stictica, don’t be frightened, they’re most likely just enjoying a delicious bean smoothie!

#macrophotography #bugs #truebug #stinkbug #bugphotography by @beetleboyjon

Some highlights from the @arroyosfoothills bioblitz at Rubio Canyon this past weekend! It’s amazing to get to see how the canyon is recovering and the diverse array of life that’s settled back in!

Photo IDs according to iNat (Please reach out if you believe any are mistaken or if you have additional info!)-
1-7: Western Red-humped Caterpillar Moth (Oedemasia Salicis)
8: Everlasting Tebenna Moth (Tebenna Gnaphaliella)
9: A species of Cranefly (Subgenus Yamatotipula)
10: An Aphid colony (Tribe Macrosiphini)
11-12: A Beetle Grub (Genus Trirhabda)
13: Unkown Caterpillar (Order Lepidoptera)
14: Mecidea Prolixa (Order Hemiptera)
15-16: California Tree Frogs (Pseudacris Cadaverina)

#macrophoto #bug #caterpillar #frog #macrophotography by @beetleboyjon

A Western Giant Swallowtail (Papilio Rumiko) caterpillar found right on the lime tree outside my apartment! A very cool little guy with some very silly little fake eyes! What predators are you trying to scare away with that bashful look, buddy?

#bug #caterpillars #lepidoptera #macrophotography #bugphotography by @beetleboyjon

A Lesser Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia Longipalpis) I spotted eating a tasty bee breakfast over at Beaudry Loop!

I was so focused on the big momma, I almost missed the huge clutch of babies huddled near her! I’ve been seeing so many of these rad spiders on the trails this summer, it was amazing to come across a fresh batch of the little limes!

#macrophotography #bugs #bugsofinstagram #spider #arachnid by @beetleboyjon

A Tripartite Sweat Bee (Halictus Tripartitus) that I spotted over at @thesunshinepreserve a few weeks back! What a dazzling little fella to run into, that shiny emerald green coat sparkling like the most precious gem in this plants outstretched hand!

I think they might’ve gotten splashed with some water and were trying to dry themselves off, I got right in their face with my camera and they never flew off! What grace! What confidence! What a perfect model!

#macro #bugphotography #bee #insect #hymenoptera by @beetleboyjon

I was in the Betty Davis Picnic Area with @touchgrassbirding this past weekend, spotting all the warblers, woodpeckers and herons we’ve got hanging out by the river path! I do not have a birding lens for my camera, so you’ll just have to trust me that we saw a lot of wild and wonderful birds, but I did have my macro lens on me and I saw plenty of cool little bugs hanging out in the early morning sun!

Photo IDs as labeled by iNat (Please reach out if any are incorrect or if you know what something is!)
1-4: Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis Sennae)
5: Bougainvillea Caterpillar Moth (Asciodes Gordialis)
6: Lucerne Moth (Nomophila Nearctica)
7-8: A species of non-biting Midge (Genus Cricotopus)
9: A species of small Mayfly (Family Baetidae)
10: Some sort of grub or caterpillar, it was extremely small!
11: A species of Woodpecker Fly (Genus Medetera)
12: California Harvester Ants (Pogonomyrmex Californicus)
13: Buttonhook Leafbeetle Jumping Spider (Sassacus Vitis)
14-16: A young species of Stretch Spider (Genus Tetragnatha) by @beetleboyjon

A little roundup of the cool critters I saw at @thesunshinepreserve yesterday after their monthly habitat restoration event! They do such amazing work with the patch of land they’re caring for, bringing the community together to remove invasive plants and replace them with native ones; it goes a long way in helping maintain the rich biodiversity of Los Angeles and you can see how effective it is in the variety of creatures that flock to the preserve!

Photo IDs (please reach out if any are incorrect!):
1-3: Gray Hairstreak (Strymon Melinus)
4-7: Behr’s Metalmark (Apodemia Virgulti)
8-10: Mournful Duskywing (Erynnis Tristis)
11-13: Peridot Sweat Bee (Augochlorella Pomoniella)
14-15: Diabolical Ironclad Beetle (Phloeodes Diabolicus)
16: Datura Weevil (Trichobaris Compacta)
17-18: Trailside Grasshopper (Lactista Gibbosus)
19-20: Fontana Grasshopper (Trimerotropis Fontana) by @beetleboyjon

The Humped Trashline Orbweaver (Cyclosa Turbinata)! I saw a few of these teeny fellas out walking the Betty B Dearing trail recently, they’re known for the trashline they build into their web; little bits and bobs they find and set up in a line across the sticky silk which they then hide amongst, making it harder for predators to locate this neat little spider!

Photos 4-6 are a couple bonus Orb Weavers I found out on the same trip. No ID on photo 4 but it was an extremely small spider! Photos 5-6 I believe are a Gem-shaped Orbweaver (Araneus Gemma) I found hanging out at the start of the trail!

#spider #arachnids #macrophotography #bugphotography #orbweaver by @beetleboyjon

A Pellaea Stictica nymph I spotted over near the entrance of the Betty B Dearing trail this past weekend! I’ve seen a lot of nymphs of this species out around LA recently, but this was the oldest I’ve seen so far! (For comparison, photos 7-9 are of a younger fella I found walking around in Burbank!)

I love how vibrant and eye catching the red lines across its back have become as it’s started to mature, but this bug will truly be something to see once it’s fully grown!
Pellaea Stictica belong to the family Pentatomidae and are a species of stink bug (also known as shield bugs! Which I think, between the two, is much less likely to hurt the bug’s feelings.)

#macrophotography #bugphotography #stinkbug #bug #truebug by @beetleboyjon

Highlights from last nights Moth Hunt with @green.night.outdoor.club! It was still very warm and humid after the rains this weekend, even going out as late as we did, but the evening was plentiful with amazing critters I’d never seen before in LA! The mothing sheet was set up about a mile down our trail and despite the heat, it was so relaxing walking through nature in the dark, the shine of headlamps and flashlights the only signs that there were other people were around. The pleasant smell of petrichor on the air, the sounds of crickets singing their starry-skied songs, toads croaking in the gentle stream of the river as our shoes crunched into the earth that had disappeared into the black of night; it’s hard to believe you can find all of this in a city as big and bustling as Los Angeles!

Critters in order according to iNat (Please let me know if any of these are misidentified!):
1. Western Eyed Sphinx (Smerinthus Ophthalmica)
2. Aethaloida Packardaria
3. Western Underwing Moth (Catocalica Californica)
4. Neohermes Filicornis
5. California Anglewing (Microcentrum Californicum)
6. Arizona Mantis (Stagmomantis Limbata)
7. A gravid California Swollenstinger Scorpion (Anuroctonus Pococki)
8. A species of Small Dung Beetle (Family Aphodiinae)
9. Powderpost Bostrichid (Amphicerus Cornutus)
10. Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia Viridans)
11 & 12. Gem-Shaped Orbweavers (Araneus Gemma)
13. California Tree Frog (Pseudacris Cadaverina) by @beetleboyjon

Some highlights from today’s Creature Hike with @green.night.outdoor.club! It was my first time out on one of their events and I can’t wait for the next one, I found so many cool critters and I got to meet so many cool folks! What more could you ask for? by @beetleboyjon