Sculptured Pine Borer - Chalcophora virginiensis

This beetle is common in the area, about an 1 to 1.25 inch in length, with  bronze/metallic underside markings. The larvae of this insect feeds on live pines and can eventually kill the tree. I do not usually advocate destroying critters, but these really should be destroyed.

There will be less fungus to be found, even though the season remains rainy. It is not always the newly sprouted that is interesting, but the nearly gone. This snail-eaten mushroom was found next to the sidewalk at the entry of Osprey Glen.

oleander caterpillar, Syntomeida epilais Walker, these are very destructive to oleanders and can strip a bush in short time. The adult is called a polka-dot wasp moth.

Millipede, Narceus americanus, found throughout the community in planter beds and wooded areas. Although they look dangerous, millipedes are not poisonous, but they do secrete a substance that can irritate the skin, if you are sensitive to it. This one was found in the conservation area behind Eagle Ridge.

More photos recently submitted by residents!

 

Diane Steinbach met up with a black and yellow argiope, Argiope aurantia, these are common throughout FishHawk Ranch.

Greg Dean got a few shots of another critter that is plentiful in the area,  the sandhill crane, Grus canadensis 

Kannan Deivasigamani submitted some recently taken macro photos. The wasp is a cicada killer,

Sphecius speciosus, which are the large wasps that dig holes at the edges of our driveways and sidewalks. They paralyze cicadas with their sting, pull them into the burrow and lay an egg on it.