THISTLE ON THE EDGE OF THE RECENTLY PLOWED FIELD.

It was a hot mid-August day. After an hour of swimming and snorkeling, I went walking along the dusty roads that lead through the fields and meadows not far from the shore.

At one point I came across a pretty tall thistle that was constantly attracting plenty of insects ...

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... and I spent all afternoon observing and photographing what was going on around that plant.

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The thistle has grown by the side of the narrow path. It was the tallest thistle in the five to six meters long line of thistles along the edge of the field. Across the path, the terrain was covered with tall dry grass and various, equally dry, herbaceous plants, while on the other side, behind the thistle that ended up becoming the main protagonist of today's post ...

... you could see the reddish soil, recently prepared for planting cabbages.

The thistle in question is the Onopordum illyricum, the most common type of thistle here in the area around my hometown. In the following set of four photographs ...

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... you can see the most impressive insect I encountered today.

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This is the Megascolia maculata ...

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... commonly known as the mammoth wasp. It's big, hairy, and its long mandibles can look a bit like tusks from a certain angle.

Adult mammoth wasps feed on nectar, and big thistle flowerheads offer plenty of it. They are also the right size for the wasp to land on. This heavyweight insect has a bit of a problem when dealing with thin gracile stems and small flowers. Here in my area, I see them almost exclusively on thistles. I saw them feeding on the flowers of the blackberry shrub on a few occasions, and they were moving very clumsily in that environment.

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In this photograph, besides the wasp that's collecting the nectar in the foreground, you can also see a bit of the summer scenery, blurred in the background. The little white thing behind the meadow is a camper parked closer to the shore.

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In this set of six photographs, you can see the Megascolia maculata feeding by rotating on the flowerhead and exploring the tiny flowers.

You can see a different kind of wasp in this shot. This is the Polistes gallicus paper wasp.

This female is probably searching for a place where to build the nest. The thistle, with its thorny leaves, offers a nice, protected hideout.

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This is the Papilio machaon ...

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... commonly known as the Old World swallowtail, one of the biggest butterflies that can be seen in Europe. Here where I live, it's getting rarer every year.

This bushcricket is also pretty big.

Here you can see it presented in a horizontal shot, because the insect looked better that way, but ...

... but this is how the scene really looked. You can see the bushcricket feeding on some gelatinous substance in this shot.

That thing is called spermatophylax. Is produced by males that offer them to females as nuptial gifts before the mating. The bushcricket shown in this segment of the post is a female.

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The name of the species is Dinarippiger discoidalis. In the adult stage their atrophied, barely recognizable wings are unfit for flight but work very well as an instrument for the emission of chirping sounds. The bushcricket shown in the following photograph ...

... also has very small wings that can't be used for flying but that's only because it's a nymph, the young, not completely developed version of itself.

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As an adult, this Tylopsis lilifolia bushcricket will be able to jump and glide due to its well-developed hind wings.

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Here you can see the butterfly that regularly visits the thistles in this coastal area.

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The name of the species is Vanessa cardui.

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Quite a few species of bees can be seen feeding on the Onopordum illyricum thistle. Today. I was able to photograph only three of them. In these two photographs and in the following set of six consecutive shots ...

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... you can see a male of the Halictus scabiosae.

This is the Colletes hederae and in the following photograph ...

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... you can see a species that I wasn't able to identify,

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This is the Carpocoris purpureipennis, a bug from the Pentatomidae family.

Here you can see the Carpocoris purpureipennis bugs mating. The interestingly shaped bug shown in the following photograph ...

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... belongs to the Coreidae family. The name of the species is Syromastus rhombeus.

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This is the young wingless nymph of the Spilostethus pandurus, a bug from the Lygaeidae family.

In this photograph, you can see a jumping spider with its prey. The small spider has caught a fly.

Another fly was resting on a nearby leaf.

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When it comes to the jumping spider, the name of the species is Heliophanus requester. Can't tell you the same kind of information when it comes to the flies.

As the evening was approaching, some usually fast & frenetic insects were starting to slow down. Here you can see a wasp resting on the ear of grass.
This is the Scolia fuciformis, a species relatively closely related to the mammoth wasp, but much smaller in size.

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As the diurnal insects were getting ready to sleep, some nocturnal ones started to appear on the scene. Here you can see a moth from the Erebidae family. The name of the species is Catocala nymphaea.

This is a detail from the dry Centaurium erythraea plant ...

... photographed ten minutes before the sunset ...

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... on the ground near the thistle.

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The light was pretty low at sunset.

I had to use longer exposure when photographing small details so this small, juvenile Thomisus onustus spider ended up slightly blurred in this photograph.

Megascolia maculata has decided to spend the night hidden under the wild carrot flowerhead on the other side of the narrow path that leads through the fields toward the sea. I used the flash in this photograph.

The night was very near so I decided to go home.

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AND THAT'S IT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS OUTDOOR ENCOUNTER WITH THE PLANTS, SPIDERS, AND INSECTS FROM MY AREA. AS ALWAYS HERE ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK.