While out on maneuvers with the Catican Guards on Fiesta Island, we saw zillions of these little, red bugs. It turns out they're called ... red bugs. They're invasive, but I can't see that they're doing all that much damage.
Here's the scoop on that front.
Here are the photos, taken with my new Galaxy S5. I think the photos came out quite well. Enjoy!
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| They liked to gather in big piles in the shade amongst dried vegetation. |
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| Here's one racing across open ground looking for a pile to join. |
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| This was my favorite. A dog an dug a hole in the sand and these guys must have been drawn to the cool shadows. |
They certainly are pretty bugs. And it sounds like they won't be actual pests unless somebody has the bright idea of turning Knotweed into some sort of cash crop.
ReplyDeleteIf they go the same way as the non-native insects up here, I predict that they're going to be ridiculously common for a few years, and then there's going to be a massive population crash due to either disease, or a local predator developing a taste for them.
We've seen them on Fiesta Island for the last three years while walking our dog. They seem to be seasonal, around during the warmer moths, disappearing during the colder, wetter months. We're very curious about how two of them link up, apparently tail to tail, perhaps during mating. But the interesting thing is that one of the two bugs begins to walk backwards! I wonder if that is a sex linked characteristic. Are the two linked bugs different sexes, and if so, what determines which bug switches to backward locomotion?
ReplyDeleteDoug Smay