The Insects and Animals of Texas

     Over the past few days I was able to join my girlfriend in a leadership retreat for her business. The retreat was on the outskirts of the Dallas / Fort Worth area, and I have to admit, it was my first time to Texas.

     There were a lot of interesting creatures that are either rare or not existing back at home, so needless to say, the camera was always out and my eyes were constantly scouring my surroundings. Within the 50 feet from the main lodge to our cabin door, I found a surprising amount of life. These same 50 feet were walked by many people over the several day sojourn, however it always took me pointing the creatures out before anyone would notice them. I attribute this heightened sense of animal awareness to looking for bugs all my life.

     The very first bug I saw was during the evening we arrived. Just sitting on a bush off the main path was a wheel bug.

Arilus cristatus, or more commonly know as the Wheel Bug

     One of the largest true bugs in North America, wheel bugs measure up to 1.5". This guys was a bit shy of that, coming in around 1.25". The wheel bug can be identified by it's characteristic wheel or cog shape protruding from its armor. These carnivorous creatures can give a nasty bite if threatened, and even has a stink glad for emergencies. However, they aren't bad creatures; wheel bugs will feed off of garden pests and if given their space, they wont bother you.

     During the next day more insects came out, and the largest concentration of life was around a landscaped island of several flowering bushes and hardy shrub of rosemary. Butterflies danced around, flower to flower, uncurling their straw like mouth parts to sip the sweet nectar. The most impressive lepidopteran was the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.This butterfly had a 6" wingspan and quickly caught my eye as it's large yellow wings lifted him from flower to flower.

Papilio glaucus, or more commonly know as the Easter Tiger Swallowtail

There were several other interesting things I found right off the main path:

• The frame of the main door to our cabin had a collection of moth eggs, which were all empty. This was particularly cool as I've only seen moth eggs one other time! About 10 years ago, when I knew much less and was accidentally destroying more then helping, I found a collection of moth eggs on my bedroom window. I eagerly stuck half my body out of one side in hopes to gather the eggs and place them in a container where I could watch them hatch. Unfortunately, to remove the eggs, I scraped them all off the glass, crushing all of them. Lesson learned: if you ever find bug eggs, don't remove them from the surface you found them on! Either move the leaf or bark into a container, or let them be. 
• The only reptile I found (I don't just talk about insects here) was a small Texas spiny lizard. I saw this guy a few times, and every time he saw me he would scamper back to the bushes. 
• A bumble bee covered in pollen.
• A regular ol' grasshopper which was, of course, much larger then the ones up here near Chicago. 

Lots of interesting animals!

     Now Texas is an interesting environment compared to the Midwest biome that I'm used to. The summers are longer and hotter, and droughts are more common. With an arid environment you'd expect to see smaller dessert creatures, but instead I found the insects to be quite big and well off. There were some, however, that succumbed to the heat. I found a deceased praying mantis on our porch, as well as a dying beetle that I took back to my room and tried to save with some water (but was unsuccessful). 

     Another cool creature I saw that I normally don't see much of at home is the praying mantis. This one was positioned right underneath a collection of flowers, laying in ambush to catch any unsuspecting pollinator. I actually got a video of it trying to catch something, but until I figure out how to slow down the video and zoom in, it wont look very good. Disappointed? Here, have a picture of the little guy instead.

A clever green praying mantis patiently awaits its next meal

     Still aren't satisfied? How about some spiders. I have never, in all my years, seen spiders as big as the ones in Texas. I was in awe of their size and colors, and the only think I kept thinking was "Man, I want one of these as a pet".

What appears to be a corn spider. While it may look small in this picture, this 3" behemoth enjoyed the lacewings I threw into its web.

A beautiful green lynx spider, roughly the same size as a rose flower (2.5")

     Texas has a surprisingly diverse fauna despite the arid temperatures. Larger species thrived and the wildlife made for a very interesting trip. Oh, and the leadership retreat was pretty awesome too. Now all I need to figure out is how to get one of those green lynx spiders up here...