Turnip Reflex
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turnipreflex.bsky.social
Turnip Reflex
@turnipreflex.bsky.social
130 followers 83 following 82 posts
Photography, primarily nature & macrophotography. Plant native! All photos are mine. @zhimbo_photos on IG.
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turnipreflex.bsky.social
The Jagged Ambush Bug: Ambush predator (pic 1) and also a nectar drinker (pic 2)
#insects #macrophotography
A jagged ambush bug hangs on to its prey, a bee about the same size as the ambush bug itself, or a little bigger. An ambush bug has its rostrum (it's long, sharp, mouth part) extended into the blossom of a mountain mint flower.
December 27, 2025 at 9:33 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Brave little crab spider crawling on a jagged ambush bug (sitting in pearly everlasting flowers). #insects #spiders
A small juvenile crab spider crawling up the side of a jagged ambush bug, holding perfectly still and apparently ignoring the spider. I've seen ambush bugs eat all sorts of arachnids so that spider was playing with fire.
December 20, 2025 at 12:57 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
My mountain mint has some of the most numerous and diverse visitors in my yard's plantings.

#insects #plantnative
A bumblebee and a beetle (Macrosiagon limbata, a species of wedge-shaped beetle) share a cluster of mountain mint blossoms.
December 3, 2025 at 3:03 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Lacewing larva hunting among pearly everlasting flowers (Anaphalis margaritacea) #insects #macrophotography
November 18, 2025 at 1:12 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
The appropriately named Long-necked seed bug (Myodocha serripes). #insects #macrophotography
November 15, 2025 at 3:43 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Monarch butterfly on swamp milkweed flowers #insects #butterflies
November 15, 2025 at 3:41 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Early instar planthopper nymph - some sort of flatid planthopper. I couldn't really tell for sure when I photographed this what I was photographing, I just had my suspicions. #insects #macrophotography
Hidden in white fuzz on a plant stem, a white planthopper nymph sits mostly hidden. One of its eyes and some of the body markings are visible through the fuzz. The fuzz is a waxy cotton-like material produced by the nymph.
October 28, 2025 at 2:35 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Female parasitoid wedge-shaped beetle (Macrosiagon limbata) laying eggs in mountain mint #insects #macrophotography
October 10, 2025 at 2:41 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
On the move! Bumblebee working our bee balm patch.

#insects #bees
A furry bumblebee in flight from one bee balm flower to the next.
October 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Red squirrel in the clover

#squirrels
October 5, 2025 at 1:41 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis), beautiful new regular resident on our property.
#insects #macrophotography
October 3, 2025 at 5:31 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Four-eyes

Red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus)

#insects #macrophotography
Face-on view of Tetraopes tetrophthalmus (common name: Red Milkweed Beele), whose Genus and species name means "four-eyed four-eyes" more or less. It's antennae completely bifurcate the eyes into two parts each.
September 21, 2025 at 1:09 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Small ant on a butterfly weed flower.

#insects #macrophotography
September 18, 2025 at 4:17 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa)

#insects #dragonflies
Close-up of a widow skimmer dragonfly perched on a chain-link fence.
September 15, 2025 at 1:52 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Honeybee checking out the milkweed flowers #insects #bees
A honeybee (Apis mellifera) caught in midflight while it chooses a spot to land among a cluster of milkweed blossoms.
September 13, 2025 at 10:37 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Honeybee with milkweed pollen slippers #insects #macrophotography
Milkweed pollen is contained in waxy little packets called pollinia. They commonly get caught on the feet of bees and other insects that feed on milkweed nectar.
September 12, 2025 at 2:48 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Saw a weird looking moth on the side of my house and took a closer look.

Zebra Jumping Spider feasting on a Labrador Carpet Moth.

#jumpingspiders #spiders
A zebra jumping spider (Salticus scenicus, top) holds onto and feasts on a much larger moth, on a rough vertical surface.
September 9, 2025 at 1:13 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
I saw a lot more of these Milkweed Leaf Beetles (Labidomera clivicollis) in my yard this season. Here's a couple of them helping to ensure I see even more in the future. #insects #macrophotography
A mating pair of milkweed leaf beetles facing the camera.
September 7, 2025 at 8:20 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
That's a lot of legs. #macrophotography
Harvestman (member of order Opiliones), AKA Daddy Longlegs in some parts of the world, including mine while growing up.
September 5, 2025 at 1:55 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Graceful garden tendrils
Close-up of tendrils and small leaves of a squash plant
September 3, 2025 at 12:24 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Center of an early season Echinacea flower. #macrophotography
August 28, 2025 at 1:12 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Hoverfly on fleabane - little fly, little flower. #insects #macrophotography
August 21, 2025 at 2:06 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Cribellate orb weaver (Uloborus sp.) #spiders

They can do a good job of looking like a bit of debris stuck in their web, but you get up close and they're fancy little spiders.
A spider in its web, its long front legs extended and held tightly together, and its shorter rear legs held against its abdomen. It's abdomen has two distinctive "knobs" or "horns", and it front legs have a feathery texture about two-thirds of the way down. Its tiny black eyes are just visible on its mostly hidden head.
August 18, 2025 at 3:03 AM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Peekaboo! spider.

Dimorphic jumping spider (female). #spiders
A closeup of a jumping spider covering its eyes (in the process of grooming itself). A closeup of a jumping spider, seeming to peer out over a pedipalp (in the process of grooming itself).
August 15, 2025 at 2:40 PM
turnipreflex.bsky.social
Small carpenter bee (Ceratina calcarata - Spurred Ceratina) on Fleabane flower #bees #insects
Ceratina calcarata, the spurred ceratina, is a species of small carpenter bee. It's foraging on small daisy-like flower of a Fleabane plant (Genus Erigeron)
August 7, 2025 at 2:42 AM