Alien Bugs

Black Witch Moth(This one is for you Ragged Robin:)

Here's a collection of interesting bugs I've found around Southern Arizona. The above was a great find.  This moth is found mostly in Mexico but it does make it's way up into Southern Arizona and what a find!!!  The name alone is fun:) It is considered a harbinger of death in Mexican and Caribbean folklore.  Glad I didn't touch it:)

And while the monsoon brings on the rain, you'll see many many beetles flying around our parts.  Some I like.  Some I don't.

Blue Mud Dauber Wasp

But this Blue Mud Dauber is something.  Here's why you don't squash this one.  The blue mud dauber is a metallic blue species of mud dauber wasp that preys primarily on black widow spiders. It does not build a nest, but uses nests abandoned by other mud dauber wasps. Like other mud daubers, it is rarely aggressive. Blue mud dauber wasps are generally considered beneficial, because they help to regulate the population of black widow spiders.

Giant Mesquite Bug

When I first met this bug, I thought, "Is that real?"  And yes.  Yes it is. They are harmless and don't bite.  And you can hold them in your hand.

Palo Verde Beetle

And this one.  This is the grand daddy of them all.  I'll tell you a short story for this GIANT bug.  This one looks like a cockroach, but it's not.  Here's one for the books.  I first discovered this alien bug while moving here in '96.  It was during monsoon and the thing flew into our apartment window.  I had thought it was a bird at first.  I opened the door and it got into our place.  I began to scream because I had never seen a beetle that big.  I would NOT put this guy in your hand at all.  They don't bite, but they do click and could pinch your skin.  But that's not my story:)  One of my friends came to visit from the Midwest during the summer.  They drove with their windows down probably listening to the Macarena.  It was evening time when these bugs like to come out and of course one flew into my friend's car.  Let's just say that a car crash almost happened from all the screaming and swirving on the road from this Giant Bug.  It was on Speedway and the monsoon storms were getting started:)  Thankfully no one was hurt and a hilarious memory still surfaces today in conversations:)  "Do you remember that time when that alien bug entered your car?" Evil laughs follow. And you should have heard her describe this beast.  It was the funniest thing ever. If you have friends in Arizona, ask them about the Palo Verde beetle and see what their reactions are:)  I've come across so many people with great stories of their first encounter because it's rather traumatic:) 

Figeater Beetle

Horse Lubber Grasshopper

This actor played Johnny Rico from the movie Starship Troopers which was a violent movie about humans fighting alien bugs. One of his lines was, "I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all!" His very American accent wasn't quite convincing to play someone from Argentina so I'm not sure his words should be taken seriously:) Everything has a purpose. More tomorrow.....

Cicada-when they emerge from their exoskeleton, you'd swear there was an alien in the garden somewhere

 Carpenter Bees(above).  They seem scary, but they're not:)