Dog Days of Summer - Insect Edition

Ah the Dog Days...hot, sunny days that seem to go on forever. The short break of monsoon weather a week or more ago was welcome by most, not the gardeners who were hailed out. We've been in your garden clogs many times.

The cicadas are crooning by ten in the morning while Ferris is just settling in for his first nap of the day behind the patio sofa on the cool concrete - he knows where to take life easy. Speaking of cicadas, what interesting insects have you noticed this summer?  I've come across a couple of new ones, at least to my eyes - they may have been here before but they didn't catch my attention until this summer.

Agapostemon Sweat Bee

A metallic green bee stands out in any crowd of bees. This one stood out as much as the André the Giant sized bumblebees who are dominating our garden this summer. He was around in late June for several weeks. He's a sweat bee, Agapostemon in the large group of five hundred or so species found in North America.

I'm pretty sure this one is a male because of his metallic green head and thorax, with a yellow and black striped abdomen. Females are entirely green or blue and are super fast fliers. Males fly slower looking out for females who seem more serious about finding flower pollen. They can be solitary bees or nest in communities with others. They dig deep nests in areas with sloping soil. And not only are they good looking, but they aren't aggressive as their common name suggests - he was more interested in posing for me (this time) than seeking my gardener perspiration.

On first glance I thought this bug seemed like he might be a good bug - perhaps a predator of an insect that was chewing a plant that shouldn't be chewed. I was hoping he liked grasshoppers. He wasn't camera shy while he was resting on a stack of Smart Pot containers that I was shaking out and getting ready to plant. 

A camera photo text to a couple of garden friends led to the correct identification (thank you Susan and Peggy). He wasn't a good guy assassin bug, but rather a bad guy leaffooted bug who was probably nibbling on some close by developing tomatoes. If you check out this fact sheet from The University of California you will see photos of all the life stages of this nuisance Leptoglossus clypealis. I know without a doubt I've seen eggs and nymphs in our garden. I'm not too worried about on-going damage, but I'll keep an eye out for group feeding and wake Ferris for help if they get out of hand.