Friday My Town Shoot-out – Creepy-Crawlies

It was a brave soul who suggested creepy-crawlies as a topic for this week's FMTSO. Even the professional entomologists I know have an aversion to at least one type of creepy-crawly. I love most insects and invertebrates but earwigs send a shiver up my spine. My daughter is fascinated by dragonflies and many other insects but has a real aversion to spiders...

Here, I hope, is s selection of creepy-crawlies that will not upset anyone too much...

Even snails have a love life (and a complicated one it is, too).

Ants will save their larvae and pupae from harm if the nest is disturbed.

And they farm aphids – tickling them to extract honeydew.

Here are some bugs that I think are attractive...

Orthops campestris

Rhododendron Leafhopper

Corizus hyoscami

And some beetles - Seven-spot Ladybirds making more Seven-spot Ladybirds...

Green Tiger Bettle

Cardinal Beetle

Fourteen-spot Ladybird

A very pregnant Gastrophysa virida.

Strangalia maculata - one of the longhorn beetles.

Keeled Skimmer dragonfly

Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly

As you will have gathered I am mad about creepy-crawlies! To see what other creepy-crawlies have been chosen this week please visit this link.

And may I take this opportunity to thank Rebecca, Sarah and Doreen - the organisers of FMTSO for all the effort they put in to maintaining it. I know it's not easy committing yourself to doing something every week - posting assignments, keeping the link going and selecting ones for the FMTSO main site. So a big thank you to you all.