Hoya Critters

 A lot of critters make the hoya garden their home. Some are on the leaves, some on the stems, some on the spaces between them, but most of them inhabit the umbels. These are parts of the flowers that could give them a lot of food as well as safety. There are those that do not anymore leave once they have experienced the luxury of living within the umbel.  And many of those are transient dwellers that only come at night when the nectar is available.

It is now raining once-in-a while in our area, so we are already considered at the wet season. More critters might probably be happier, however these are photos still during the dry season. You can see that the leaves are still dirty full of dust and debris. We have difficulty with water supply so the plants only receive them at the root areas, only at night. 

 This cotton bug, Dysdercus cingulatus, are common residents of hoyas. They normally stay on the stems and leaves, but this one lingered at the developing umbel. I sucks juices, but maybe if their population is not plenty they will not pose a big problem to the plants. I pity killing them, they are so lovely, so i just let them there. I hope there are predators, so only a few will be left sucking my hoyas.

Again here is the cotton bug now on the bigger buds. I cannot see the proboscis at the act of sucking, so i cannot fully say or judge it based on my suspicion. But i know it is a sucker for juices, so maybe i was just not able to fully document it in action.

Those white crab spiders are perennial residents inside the umbels. They walk slowly, but drops through their lifeline when provoked. I call them the smiling spider because of the smiling design at its back. They hide inside the umbel to ambush whatever insect they can hold on to. This time it was successful with a bee, as bees are nectar seekers at daytime. 

If you look closely there are very small flies that roam around the predator and the prey. I guess they are hoping for the leftovers of the spider. These small flies always immediately roam around during an ambush, trying to sip on maybe the crumbs! hahaha.

This one is a night moth, and i found it at the vicinity of the hoya garden. I also cannot say it is a perpetrator of the crime of stealing the nectar, the juice, or whatever. Nor will i be able to say it is an accomplice! Whatever is its purpose at the vicinity of the crime did not give me a is so faprima facie evidence. Whatever, it is a lovely moth with those lacey abstract design on the wings.  

This is a daytime visitor, very difficult to picture favorably as it is always fluttering non-stop. It can easily say it is exempted of any crime because the evidence shows it is sipping nectar only on the pentas flowers. Honestly, i haven't seen it on any hoya flowers yet. It is so fast and doesn't want to wander inside the hoya plants.

This is the most common sight during the dry season. And those millions of baby spiders or "spiderlets" sparkle with the morning sunshine. They stay in a small hanging area in space with only holds to the plants, but when agitated a bit even by the wind they start falling on the lifelines, like the photo above. If i don't stop agitation they will fully migrate to any objects around, but i normally stop after they scattered. Eventually when the nuisance stops, they all slowly go up again to a convergence. I just didn't observe if their mother or any adult is left there to tend to them. I believe they were left on their own for their own survival. The plenty of numbers ensure a few that will survive and continue the generation.

And if you think only the minute insects go to the hoya garden, oh no, you are wrong. This is the most intimidating or scary among the hoya visitors. It climbs and eat whatever that mouth can hold on. But in fairness, this is the mother who doesn't come near the garden because it is on leash at its own house. Its 2 kids are the most irritating, hard headed and stubborn among all them. Sometimes i get too mad at them that i throw small stones to drive them away! 

Floral Friday Fotos
Camera Critters
Saturday Critters