Camouflage-y Fun
I became slightly obsessed with your site just before I went treeplanting in Northern Ontario this summer so I figured I may as well get a few pictures while I was up there and see if I couldn’t identify them. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time on the clear-cuts to take photos (especially with mosquitoes, blackflies, no-see-ums, deerflies, and horseflies chasing me around all the time!) so I missed many of the stranger-looking bugs (i.e. the phantom crane fly). Still I got a few nice pictures of moths and butterflies around camp. I also chased around the beetle in this picture. It caught my eye, I followed it for a while, took my picture and then when I looked at the picture in the tiny screen on my camera, I thought I must have missed the beetle somehow. I figured you might like a nice example of insect camouflage. Also, I have included a picture of what I assume is a dragonfly naiad. I am unused to seeing insects crawling on the bottom of a lake so it caught my eye.
Jorge
Hi Jorge,
As obsessions go, you could do way worst than us. This is some species of Tiger Beetle in the genus Cicindela. BugGuide has numerous species represented, but exact identification may be difficult without the specimen itself.