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Wildlife Spotting

Photo by ElaineWebb
Published on Project Noah
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41.8618, -72.5099

Field Notes

Description:

This isn't a very good picture; this creature is very small; in the photo he is suspended between two milkweed leaves. It is silvery in color, six legs.....appears somewhite spider-like. There are strands of "web" which are holding clear, round drops.

Habitat:

found on a milkweed plant

Notes:

very small, very unobtrusive....seen only this once.

Species ID Suggestions

Oleander Aphid

Aphis nerii

Comments (2)

The bad news, J, is that my milkweed plant was loaded with thise aphids. The good news was that the ladybugs moved in and cleaned them out. The plant was cleaned and survived and I got to watch ladybugs do their thing, then got to watch the ladybug larvae. The larvae also dined on the aphids. Even though the aphids have a destructive side; they also were a part of the life cycle of the ladybugs. Pretty good balance if you ask me! The spider-thing in the picture had that look of not being part of the daylight life. I spotted it early in the morning; perhaps it's nocturnal and was just late going to bed that day.
Nice spotting! Not sure of the spider-like thing, but the yellow bugs are Oleander Aphids, Aphis nerii. They are invasive critters which can decimate a milkweed plant.
Photographed
PublishedAugust 10, 2012

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