July 5, 2011
Mimicry
It moves like an ant and looks a lot like an ant, at first blush, but closer inspection reveals a beetle. The insect world is full of such examples of mimicry. In this case the Ant Mimic Beetle is playing the odds that there are less ant eaters than beetle eaters. It was a warm evening after another “beezy” day and I was spending a bit of shutter time in the garden. We have a bit of a weed patch in one corner but I prefer to think of it as my insect garden. Right now it has a lot of milkweed that I am loath to cut down because of the many Monarch butterfly caterpillars that are feeding. Such an incredible variety of life right under our noses… I won’t be running out of insect subjects for quite a while.
