Warm & sunny on this Baden-Württemberg state election day – my wife is working at the local polling station, but as I'm not a German citizen, I can't vote or help out 🤷‍♂️

[markmccaughrean@mastodon.social]

Warm & sunny on this Baden-Württemberg state election day – my wife is working at the local polling station, but as I'm not a German citizen, I can't vote or help out ‍️

So I'm in the garden, watching the arthropods

First up, a familiar friend, a peacock butterfly (Aglais io), which decided to pose nicely on the sage bush

#Heidelberg
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[markmccaughrean@mastodon.social]

Second, a mason bee of the Osmia genus, also enjoying the sun & sage.

I couldn't get very close before it flew off, so the picture isn't great. And while I'm tending towards a female Osmia cornuta, the European orchard bee (Gehörnte Mauerbiene in ), it could be O. bicolor, red-tailed mason bee.

The length of the antennae favour the former though, IMHO.

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#BugOfTheDay
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[markmccaughrean@mastodon.social]

Now this one's trickier. Just a few millimetres in length, it's very likely a metallic flea beetle in the Alticini tribe & the Phyllotreta genus.

But is it P. cruciferae, the crucifer flea beetle (Grünglänzender Kohlerdfloh in ) or P. nigripes (Blauseidiger Kohlerdfloh in )?

The dimpled shell suggests the former, the all-black antennae the latter. Hmm.

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#BugOfTheDay
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[rinaldo75@mastodon.social]

Préservons notre magnifique faune et flore sauvage !

@markmccaughrean