Eat, Prey, Love

As a Buglady, I tend to look over my garden with an eye for tiny things in the undergrowth and on the day I was looking over my Hydrangea bushes; noting their buds forming, there were many little flying insects flitting over it, landing on occasion and flitting off again. I saw a little black beetle larva first wandering on a leaf, noting that I must go in and get my camera to get a photo and wondering if it was a ladybird beetle larva because I noted some mildewed leaves and some species of lady(bird) beetle feed on fungi. Next I saw a ladybeetle; black with yellow markings so my thinking may have been on track.

As I followed the ladybeetle along through the foliage, I saw a spider and on closer inspection realised it was a salticidae or jumping spider. My favourite kind; I definitely need my camera but I couldn't resist looking further around the bush and then I saw it; a tiny brown insect on a leaf near the top of the bush. I thought it looked a little like a praying mantid but was it? A bit closer and yes! There was that characteristic pose with those raptorial front legs folded ready to strike should any prey come close enough! Now, I  have kept gravid female mantids before and seen how many tiny nymphs emerge from one ootheca and so straight away realised that there had to be a few of this guy's siblings around about. Time to get my camera!

When I returned with my camera, the beetle nymph was nowhere to be seen but I took some photos of the adult lady beetle which I have now identified as Illeis galbula, a fungus eating Lady Beetle.

Illeis galbula Ladybird Beetle feeding on fungus on Hydrangea leaf.

I found the mantid again and it seemed to have caught something to eat and was looking at me in a particularly suspicious way when I was taking its photo! It wasn't going to share its meal!

Mantid nymph with its catch.

While I was taking this photo and looking over the bush, I found another little mantid of much the same size. Hooray! I knew there would be more! More photos then onto the jumping spider which I had been able to identify as a male Helpis due to another Google Plusser posting the female of the same species. Thank-you Shane!

 Male Helpis minitabunda spider

So then, despite being very excited about all these buggy finds in one place, I was concerned about my two little mantids and how they would survive with a tenacious hunter like this in their midst. And not only that but right next door on the cumquat tree, I found a leaf with eleven round creamy eggs on it. What could they be and would the occupants become a threat to my babies? More about that when I find out about them. 

Mystery eggs on cumquat leaf.