Sunday, March 2, 2014

Insects with Red Choices

Don't you get tired of so plenty of reds? I am, but I need not be! At this time of the year when our dry season is starting, our temperatures start to soar. It is just starting at mid 20Cs but with the high humidity, it is already difficult to stay outdoors at 9:00 in the morning. And with these environmental conditions, what we see among our plants are mostly reds and green. Being a hot color, it even magnifies the feeling of hotness in our consciousness! Thanks for airconditioned rooms, we go to our offices early and leave at late afternnons. That alleviates the intensity and let us escape our real conditions!

And during the height of our dry season, annuals are only seen in very well maintained gardens and parks.  Grasses at roadsides get totally brown. Flowers are very seldom seen too in normal habitats. Even residential gardes must be very well planned and maintained to get a semblance of normalcy, that is to produce some colors.

 Odontonema strictum or firespike is one plant that can grow even under moderate canopies. So in our yard they are found flowering under the mango trees, and they seem happy there. Insects also get some solace in those red flowers. I just don't know if they get the nectar or prey on some smaller insects there.

The insect above looks unusual with those very long hind legs. It looks still very immature because the wings are not apparent yet. Perhaps they are more of the predators than the prey, because they seem so obvious in that red background. Oh maybe it is preying on the mealy bugs or planthopper nymphs, which are on those whitish cottony stuff at the back. 

I've been looking for some more insects. but they seem not to be around.


10 comments:

  1. It sounds as though your dry season is a little like our winter, with everything brown and leafless! Maybe a bit of difference in the temperature, though! What an interesting insect. It reminds me of a prawn!

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  2. Fascinating insect on a beautiful flower! Great shots!

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  3. Beautiful tropical flowers, very welcome after a cold weekend. You mentioned our long winter - March and April are usually our snowiest months!

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  4. A very interesting critter. The red colour is also very pretty.

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  5. Such a vibrant red. It glows with beauty.

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  6. vibrant blossoms… so beautiful!

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  7. Beautiful color contrast (red and green) !

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  8. What vibrant and lovely red!

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