October of 2014 was a tale of two months, it seems. The first half of the month continued the late wet season trend of several days with rainfall, which seems to have increased the number of dragonflies and damselflies in the yard compared to the second half of the month, which had about as many days with rain, but not clustered together as much.
New species for the second half of the month:
Hummingbirds returned; I actually got buzzed by one as I was out lamenting the latest scale infestation on the firebush; they love the red tubular flowers of this Florida native plant.
A syrphid fly that relies on the fact that it looks like a bee, Palpada vinetorum:
Also the Martial Scrub-Hairstreak butterfly (see my brief write-up):
And, let’s see, what else? An army worm caterpillar:
The smallest halictid bee I’ve ever seen. Species unknown (too many to choose from here in south Florida), but it’s in the genus Lasioglossum:
While I’m showing tiny hymenopterans, how about an in-focus (nearly) shot of a conurid wasp? These are also impossibly tiny, but this one, instead of hanging out in the mexican clover, spends its days cruising the wild lime and firebush in the back yard:
Looking for something even smaller? How about this agromyzid (leaf miner fly)?
This particular photo doesn’t count for the October report, since it was taken on November 1, but still, I saw this fly throughout the month and it fits here thematically as a tiny yellow flying insect with black markings on its back, so why not? Plus it provides a nice segue into the November report, which will be a-buildin’ over the next few weeks.