🌦🍂 Last day of September: This paper wasp (Polistes dominula) is dying. In September, all of them die, except for the young queens. It is cold and rainy, and it no longer has the strength to fly.

Wasps evoke different reactions in people. The paper wasp is very peaceful and rarely stings, even if you approach its nest. You can recognize it by its orange wings and legs.

I personally don’t perceive other wasps as aggressive either, as long as one respects their natural behavior and boundaries. I forgive and accept that they are not always capable of such foresight themselves.

However, many people react aggressively or fearfully at the sight of a wasp. These strong emotions limit compassion and make it easier to cause these animals harm.

But even if we try to cultivate compassion, true intentions and contexts can easily be misunderstood.

This wasp is visibly moving toward me. It does not want to attack me. Nor is it seeking contact with me as a person. It simply wants my body heat because, in its own perception, it is freezing and still fighting for survival in its final hour.

Yet I leave it to nature, because I understand that its desire, without its knowledge, would only prolong its own suffering.

A picnic beetle! 🪲 They are called picnic beetles because they often fly at you outdoors. After the end of the Second World War, Glischrochilus quadrisignatus spread from Berlin to almost all of Europe. They originally come from North America, where they already played a role as a plant pest, and were then probably introduced to Germany via supplies from the Western Allied airlift. While in America the damage to corn, tomatoes and various types of fruit (apples, pears, apricots, peaches, raspberries) can be quite high, in Europe the species has so far only appeared as a corn pest to a much lesser extent. The beetle bites into the young, still milky grains and eats them. Well, then fly on, little conqueror!

This green shield bug (Palomena prasina) has strayed into the stairwell... 🦸🪲

☠️ There was a risk of spiders, dehydration or drowning from the neighbor's dog's saliva.

🕸🕷🏜🐶💦

These and numerous other dangers lurk in the everyday life of this urban insect. 🚗🏡🌳

It lives in trees and bushes and sucks their sap.Actually, everyone in Germany should know it, with its bright green color and smelly secretion.

🛩🪂 It often just crashes into somewhere. Its flying abilities can certainly be described as enduring, but it lacks speed, precision and maneuverability.

☝️🔒My fingerprint has been manipulated.

🌤🌸🦗🪻 A fragrant summer sun spot for a tiny bush-cricket (Phaneroptera species) 😊

Drop it like it's hot 💩

A mirid bug (Deraeocoris ruber) defecates on a hemp leaf. In fact, insect excrement is about as warm as its surroundings.

“Inner Development”

Here artistic intent and unexpected influences merge. This work, originally intended as a print of a bare foot in dried and cracked paint, took a fascinating turn.

A vibrant palette of green and yellow tones, infused with traces of nature. It wasn't my hand, but beetles that found their way unnoticed that left their mark here. The original vision has been reinterpreted by nature, and the beetles' damage is now a powerful symbol of change and unpredictability.

In this unexpected collaboration I find an organic metaphor for metamorphosis and change. The traces of the beetle metamorphosis, as unintentional symbolism, tells a story of transformation and the unstoppable passage of time. Art and nature merge into a unique aesthetic fusion of planned creativity and spontaneous influences.

I consciously decided against the original footprint in order to preserve the traces of the beetles. This was not a defeat, but a choice that intensified the dialogue between art and chance. The work thus becomes a timeless testimony to the beauty that arises from the symbiosis of human creativity and the power of nature.

In ‘Inner Development’ we see, how the creative process goes beyond the boundaries of intention. The unintended elements are not mistakes but sources of inspiration. This work invites you to discover the beauty in the unexpected and experience the transformative power of art.

The painting is a 20cm x 20cm egg tempera on canvas. The beetles are drugstore beetles (Stegobium paniceum). These have gone through all stages of development inside the dried paint. I collected them and cleaned the painting. It was then disinfected in the oven and prepared with linseed oil varnish. What remains is a detailed landscape that tells a colorful story of life.

In contrast to most other tachinid flies, the larvae of the bug fly (Phasia hemiptera) do not parasitize on caterpillars but on stink bugs.

The male is easily identified by the wings with iridescent blue-black spots.

Beautiful! 🥰

This bug knows how to get through life.✌️😎

Brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) trapped by a garden spider (Araneus diadematus).

While people argue...✨💛🖤✨

Sun beetle (Pachnoda marginata peregrina) and Zophobas (Zophobas morio).

When I see them like this, I wonder what's going on in their heads.

How do others perceive the world? You never know. This applies to other people as well as to animals. The more egocentric you are, the more inclined you are to draw conclusions about others. But consciousness is one of the greatest mysteries. The fact that you cannot immerse yourself in the world of experiences of others is called qualia.

Qualia refer to the subjective, individual experiences of sensory perceptions and consciousness.

Qualia are inherently personal and cannot be fully communicated or understood by others.

This means there is no way of knowing what exactly is going on inside these cuties.

I suspect these beetles are trying to understand each other. At least their intentions. That's why they touch each other with their feelers.

But maybe it feels especially good when they do that. Similar to when people touch each other tenderly.

Biting Ladybug! Yes, I got bitten on the arm by a ladybug and it pinched a little! 🐞🤕

I last had a similar experience when I was six years old, when a ladybug bit me painfully in my best part.😅🤭

Until now I wasn't sure if the ladybug bit me or if its defensive secretion caused the pain. But it was definitely a bite both times.

🔍 So I did some research and it is actually known that the Asian ladybug (Harmonia axyridis) bites people from time to time. They do this from a lack of food or fluids. Allergic reactions are possible but very rare. It's very dry here at the moment because it's very warm and it rarely rains.

However, when I was bitten in 1992, the Asian ladybug had not yet been documented in the wild in Germany. The first record of free-ranging Asian ladybugs in Europe was in Belgium in 2001.

In the meantime, one finds almost exclusively Asian ladybugs (images 1 and 2).

⚠️ Two-spot ladybugs (images 3 and 4) and other native ladybug species are now classified as highly endangered.

This two-spot ladybug (Adalia bipunctata) got lost in my room yesterday. It is a rare color variant, found in 15 percent of the species. Two-spotted ladybugs are usually red with a black spot on each elytra. The black variant is black, with two to three red spots per elytra.