Yesterday evening, I happened to spot something on our little water fountain. I stopped for a closer look....and photos. Lots of photos. I also took some videos using Messenger (see below) to share with my daughter, who's into nature, too. There was something familiar about the insect, but I couldn't figure it out. A beetle? A bee?
And was it enjoying the bath? Or trying to survive? I'll never know the answer. I did turn off the water, and the critter began to run around and even groom itself. I went into the house, and it was gone by the time I returned.
As always, I sleuthed and determined that my wet friend was a tumbling flower beetle, likely Hoshihananomia octopunctata (try saying THAT three times, if at all!). In the past, I've found two other (unconfirmed) species in our Wildcape: Mordellistena comata and Mordella sp. Nature's so amazing! MYSTERY SOLVED!
2 comments:
What an interesting bug! So amazing that it would just stay underneath the water like that. He seemed perfectly fine when you turned off the water and maybe even no longer interested since it was off. Wonder if he was scavenging something off the rock? As you say, guess we'll never know but just such a curious creature!
Yes, the beetle was amazing. I love observing nature!!!
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