Yesterday I met this beautiful oak splendour beetle (Agrilus biguttatus) in the ruins of the Falkenstein Castle.🌞🏰🌳

Sun beetles and their cocoons 🌞
Pachnoda marginata peregrina

Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa)

I used to keep this species as a pet for many years.

They reach a size of about 5 to 8 cm and live up to 5 years. They don't have wings, but they can easily scale smooth glass.

The offspring looks cute. They are so-called nymphs, so they already look very similar to the adults. Only in tiny.

The tiny ones were always great escape artists. Again and again I collected the little adventurers and freed them from fluff.

The adults live in groups and communicate by hissing noises.
There are three different hissing sounds. Both sexes can do the disturbance hiss "F*ck off!".

Only males can make two more sounds: the female-attracting hiss and the aggressive fighting hiss. The males can be recognized by their horns and bushy antennae. There is one in the middle of the second picture.

The females have humps instead of horns.

Females carry their eggs (ootheca) internally, and release the young nymphs only after her offspring have emerged within her. After that, they usually stay close together for some time.

I have a larva for you!🤗

Sun beetle 🌞,
Pachnoda marginata peregrina

It's a species of flower chafers 🌸 (a group of scarabs) from west and central Africa. The larvae are called grubs.
I sometimes feed them to my animals.
Very rich food! 😋

Ichneumon wasp,
Ophion obscuratus

I found this male in the house last night and brought him back outside. It's a nocturnal parasitic wasp species. Females look for caterpillars and inject one egg per host. The caterpillars remain alive until the wasp larva reaches its final instar. The adults feed mainly on plant sap and nectar and continue enjoying their lives. This species is one of the few that fly around even in winter. It's distribution area includes the entire Palearctic and Indomalaya.

Some representatives of the ichneumon wasps (not this one) carry a special virus in their genome and use it to produce virions, which after injection influence the host's behavior, metabolism and immune system.

European hornet (Vespa crabro)

It's covered in dust.

Female Jamaican field cricket (Gryllus assimilis). This one has just reached sexual maturity. After its moult, the insect first has to harden and take on color. The long sting is called ovipositor and is used to lay eggs in the ground. But that will never happen, because crickets taste best that tender to my geckos.😋

Desert locusts (Shistocerca gregaria) only do two things 🤷‍♂️

I feed them alive to my animals.
I have also tried freeze-dried grasshoppers myself. Tasted a little like sunflower seeds. Did you ever eat insects and did you like it? 😋

Green shield bug,
Palomena prasina
(07/2021 in Oberursel)


Little stinker in its fourth instar. Two moults remain until adulthood. It's a very common European species. You can find them from North Africa across Europe to Central Asia. It prefers to live on deciduous trees (linden, alder), bushes, nettles and thistles. I found this one below a linden tree. In German we call them Grüne Stinkwanze (green stink bug). My friends from North America have a very similar bug with that name (Chinavia hilaris). But they differ much in color in their larval stage and have a few small differences as adults. Both species are member of the Pentatomidae family, generally called shield bugs or stink bugs. They have in common that they release a pungent defensive spray when threatened, disturbed or crrrrushhhhed.💚

Common darter (male),
Sympetrum striolatum
(09/2020 in Turnhout, Belgium)