Hi,
Recently had the opportunity to live in Spain for over 12 months. The property we lived in was in the south. a few miles from Malaga. Attached to the villa was a large lemon grove and within walking distance several different habitats, ruined buildings, meadow, river, golf course and scrubby hills. The variety of insects that we turned up during our stay was amazing. Here follows a small selection:
Any corrections or observations on my ID's would be well received!
Spanish Festoon. Fairly common throughout the year.
Red Admiral.
Painted Lady
Gatekeeper.
Harnessed Tiger Moth.
Cream Spot Tiger Moth.
PineProcessionary Caterpillars on the move.
Hang in there, spider photos are included in this post!
European Mantis (Mantis religiosa), threat posture.
Empusa egena, mantis in hiding. Spain. Didn't find too many of these amazing little mantids. I think they are known as Crown Mantis.
Grasshopper (Acrida turrita).
Not sure of this one.
Red striped Oil Beetle (Berberomeloe majalis). We found many of these in the undergrowth during the Spring.
Rhinoceros Beetle (Oryctes nasicornis).
Scorpion (Buthus occitanus), fairly numerous under ground cover, especially around the golf course. I like the way the shadow falls in this photo, almost like I planned it.
Green Spider (Micrommata ligurina).
Banded Argiope (Argiope trifasciata)
Wolf Spider (Lycosa tarantula).
Andalusian Funnel-web Spider (Macrothele calpeiana). Found quite a few of these, this one was the biggest. Unfortunately the act of turning the large stone this spider was hiding under actually tore open its web. As you can see she wasn't very happy.
This small insect appeared one evening on the wall near the front door. I thought it was a species of bee and only took a couple of rather poor shots. I have since found out this is in fact a species of velvet ant and quite unusual. It was the only one we saw in the whole year.
And finally, probably my favourite shot. This small dragonfly landed on the tip of a leaf of a plant at the edge of the swimming pool. I crept round and took the shot with the water in the background. Im happy with the way it turned out.
Thanks for viewing.
Recently had the opportunity to live in Spain for over 12 months. The property we lived in was in the south. a few miles from Malaga. Attached to the villa was a large lemon grove and within walking distance several different habitats, ruined buildings, meadow, river, golf course and scrubby hills. The variety of insects that we turned up during our stay was amazing. Here follows a small selection:
Any corrections or observations on my ID's would be well received!
Spanish Festoon. Fairly common throughout the year.
Red Admiral.
Painted Lady
Gatekeeper.
Harnessed Tiger Moth.
Cream Spot Tiger Moth.
PineProcessionary Caterpillars on the move.
Hang in there, spider photos are included in this post!
European Mantis (Mantis religiosa), threat posture.
Empusa egena, mantis in hiding. Spain. Didn't find too many of these amazing little mantids. I think they are known as Crown Mantis.
Grasshopper (Acrida turrita).
Not sure of this one.
Red striped Oil Beetle (Berberomeloe majalis). We found many of these in the undergrowth during the Spring.
Rhinoceros Beetle (Oryctes nasicornis).
Scorpion (Buthus occitanus), fairly numerous under ground cover, especially around the golf course. I like the way the shadow falls in this photo, almost like I planned it.
Green Spider (Micrommata ligurina).
Banded Argiope (Argiope trifasciata)
Wolf Spider (Lycosa tarantula).
Andalusian Funnel-web Spider (Macrothele calpeiana). Found quite a few of these, this one was the biggest. Unfortunately the act of turning the large stone this spider was hiding under actually tore open its web. As you can see she wasn't very happy.
This small insect appeared one evening on the wall near the front door. I thought it was a species of bee and only took a couple of rather poor shots. I have since found out this is in fact a species of velvet ant and quite unusual. It was the only one we saw in the whole year.
And finally, probably my favourite shot. This small dragonfly landed on the tip of a leaf of a plant at the edge of the swimming pool. I crept round and took the shot with the water in the background. Im happy with the way it turned out.
Thanks for viewing.