Black deer fly

The typical deer flies as today’s black deer fly (Chrysops niger) include about 100 species in North America alone. They are usually smaller than the horse flies, and they often have blotched wings and spotted eyes, which helps if you have to identify them.

Female deer flies are active during the day. These flies apparently are attracted to such things as movement, shiny surfaces, carbon dioxide, and warmth. Once on a host, they use their knife-like mouthparts to slice the skin and feed on the blood pool that is created. Bites can be very painful and especially cattle can be seriously affected by them. Numerous painful bites from large populations of these flies can reduce milk production from dairy cattle and interfere with grazing of cattle and horses because animals under attack will bunch together. Animals may even injure themselves as they run to escape these flies.

Glassy-winged sharpshooter

The glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis) is a large leafhoppers. Adults are about 1.5 cm long and are generally dark brown to black when viewed from the top or side. The abdomen is whitish or yellow. The head is brown to black and covered with numerous ivory to yellowish spots.

This leafhopper species is native to southeastern North America. It has wreaked havoc on vineyards in California where it is introduced. It also occurs in unusually high numbers in citrus and avocado groves. The name sharpshooter comes from their habit of expelling excess watery waste with such force that it spurts a fair distance with an audible popping noise. 

Females lay their eggs on young leaves that have recently expanded. When it is first laid, the egg mass appears as a greenish blister on the leaf. The female covers the leaf blister with a secretion that resembles white chalk, making them easy to see. Shortly after egg hatch, the leaf tissue that contained the egg mass begins to turn brown leaving behind a permanent scar.

Mining bee

Mining bees include about 1200 species in North America alone. They are solitary bees which means they don’t life in big colonies such as the honey bee but alone. Species like today’s Andrena spiraeana are springtime bees. Some even emerge before all snow has vanished. This might explain their little furry coat and which is very similar to the one bumble bees have.

Their nests are burrows in the soil, the entrance often hidden beneath a fallen leaf or other litter. Like any good homebuilder, the female waterproofs the walls of her brood cells using a secretion from a gland in her abdomen.

The individual species of mining bees are difficult to tell apart and in many cases they are best identified by looking at the flower species they pollinate as they seem to be very choosy when it comes to pollen.

Long-tailed Dance Fly

Dance flies are a very diverse group of predatory flies mostly feeding on other flies. They often gather in 'dancing' swarms you can see backlit in forests and meadows, though many other fly groups show the same behaviour.

Much more unusual is the practice of 'gift-giving' by males of some species. They bring a dead insect to the female for her to dine on while they mate. Some species even wrap their gift in a silken cocoon and believe it or not, in some of those species shifty males offer empty cocoons.  Females of the Long-tailed Dance Fly (Rhamphomyia longicauda) are completely dependent on male food gifts for nourishment. Since males bring prey only to females they think have eggs, females inflate sacs in their abdomen to appear egg-laden even if they don't have any.

Ground Crab Spider

Crab spiders got their name from the resemblance to crustacean crabs as they walk and and when they sit at rest. Their crab-like appearance comes from the longer sets of front legs than back legs. Ground Crab Spiders (Xysticus ellipticus) are able to walk sideways and backwards and of course forward.

Usually they sit on flowers and leaves waiting for their prey. Butterflies, bees, beetles and flies are their victims. The strong front legs are used to grab the insect which is then quickly bitten and paralyzed. 

The Ground Crab Spider does not belong to the spiders which build webs to trap their prey. The spiders of the entire crab spider family are not known to be harmful to humans.

The females lay their eggs in silken sacs that they guard until the little spiderlings hatch.

Flower longhorn beetle

Longhorn Beetles (Family Cerambycidae) have antennae that are as long or even longer than their entire body. They spend their larval life boring in wood. Some of the species can cause damage to live trees. Other species primarily bore into dead or down trees. The adults leave their protective tunnels and fly to find food, mates and colonize new trees.

Strophiona nitens is one of the so called flower longhorn beetles that frequently visits flowers to feed on pollen and nectar. The beetles do not damage the flowers. They contribute to the festive nature of a butterfly garden. Our insect of the day has distinctive black and yellow bands on its elytra (cover wings). A beautiful little beetle with many natural enemies, especially parasitic wasps and the larvae of certain other beetles. Many birds feed on adults and woodpeckers are fond of the larvae. Lizards sometimes lie in wait and capture adults when the beetles land on bark to mate or lay eggs.

Silver longjawed orbweaver

Long-jawed Orb Weavers are named because of their large chelicerae (fangs), which are, in some species, longer than the spider's cephalothorax (the fused head and thorax of spiders). This family and another one called true orb-weavers are the only kinds of spiders that make orb webs. The webs of most other kinds of spiders appear disorganized compared to orb webs.

Spiders like todays species (Tetragnatha laboriosa) build their webs in strategic locations to catch flies, moths, and other insects.  Birds and other small animals often eat these kinds of spiders. They are very common in tree branches that overhang lakes and streams.  Often, a long-jawed orb weaver will remain still in its web so that you can take a good picture.  If you are interested in collecting one of these spiders, remember that they can bite and should never be handled, although they aren't typically dangerous.

h/t @BIO_Outreach