#Tag · Indieweb Studio

Seek & ye shall find ... even if it will take a while & ye shall also get cold 🥶

Little about in the garden today, apart from a few skittering spiders & an omnipresent firebug.

Plus this wintering-over native shield bug, Holcostethus sphacelatus (Offener Lorch in 🇩🇪).

Easily confused with H. albipes, but they're only found around the Mediterranean & that's not here 😬

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪳
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

A shield bug seen from above, sitting on an ivy leaf. The bug is mostly brown with some reddish tints on the side of the wing cases and the front of the pronutum. There is a straight white edge to the front sides of the pronutum, and black and white checkerboard around the fringes of the abdomen. The eyes are white and red, and the antennae are mostly black with white bands near the joints. There is a white C-shape at the base of the scutellum.

Mark McCaughrean

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social · 10 hours ago

Seek & ye shall find ... even if it will take a while & ye shall also get cold 🥶

Little about in the garden today, apart from a few skittering spiders & an omnipresent firebug.

Plus this wintering-over native shield bug, Holcostethus sphacelatus (Offener Lorch in 🇩🇪).

Easily confused with H. albipes, but they're only found around the Mediterranean & that's not here 😬

Photography Channel boosted

Mark McCaughrean

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social · 3 days ago

Doubly invasive 😬

The weather hasn't been great for insect photography of late, which may be why I found this brown marmorated shield bug (Halyomorpha halys) in the house today, not the garden.

They're from Asia & started appearing in both Europe & North America in the late 1990s, transported via shipping.

It's in the garden now – I'm ambivalent about its chances 🤷‍♂️

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪳
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

A close-up photo of a brown shield bug, seen from above on a sheet of white paper, illuminated partly by my phone light, showing strong shadows. It has the characteristic mottled brown pattern with darker brown where its wings are showing, and a light and dark checkerboard rim around the abdomen. There are some some splotches of red behind the main eyes and on the shoulders. It has some tangled fibres attached to its rear feet.

Mark McCaughrean

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social · 3 days ago

Doubly invasive 😬

The weather hasn't been great for insect photography of late, which may be why I found this brown marmorated shield bug (Halyomorpha halys) in the house today, not the garden.

They're from Asia & started appearing in both Europe & North America in the late 1990s, transported via shipping.

It's in the garden now – I'm ambivalent about its chances 🤷‍♂️