Life on a Thistle

[tamrock]

I took these two pictures out walking my dogs yesterday. I tried to get a good closeup of what was going on with these ants and a boll weevil as the ants apparently did not want this boll weevil on this flower top of this thistle. These ants are about a millimeter long and the boll weevil is also a very small insect. Shortly after I took the picture the boll weevil and the ants all fell off the tip. It looked as this boll weevil was way too tough for the ants to pull apart. If you enlarge this 2nd picture you'll see it hadn't lost a lot of resolution as this camera I have has a lock on target macro feature. You can even see the little hairs on the boll weevil under larger magnification.

 

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[austin]

I've never seen a boll weevil before. Nice, but I learned somewhere along the line that they can't live at certain elevations. That's the reason that cotton was so successful in the Texas panhandle(Lubbock area). Surprised they are in Colorado...

 

[tamrock]

I've never seen a boll weevil before. Nice, but I learned somewhere along the line that they can't live at certain elevations. That's the reason that cotton was so successful in the Texas panhandle(Lubbock area). Surprised they are in Colorado...

I'm not positive that is a bonafide cotton eating boll weevil as found in the south, so maybe it's better to call it a boll weevil looking kid of bug for now?. It's really small and I've noticed them on other plants in the grass fields around. What ever it is, these ants sure didn't want to share any of their real estate with it. If my dad was around I could maybe ask him his thoughts, as he did study entomology at the University of Iowa and later on his career included working with Monsanto in the business of getting rid of bugs.

 

[BosnMate]

Interesting shot, good picture. Did you notice the drama first, or were you going to take a picture of the thistle flower and then noticed the fight going on?

 

[tamrock]

I was first attempting to just take a close up of the thistle head and noticed all the ants with in the flower. That boll weevil was attempting to leave and when he drug his way to the tip of the pedal he and what ants were after him went down with him. This is the first time I've tried this macro feature and this close up was the better out of the two I took. I didn't expect to see such great detail until I downloaded the photo and zoomed in on it. All of the ants on the boll weevil and him could fit on a dime with room to spare. I think I'll pan a little Arkansas River gold and post some pictures of the finds using this camera. ��

 

[kcm]

From what I've read and the pics I'm seeing, that definitely is a boll weevil. I've seen very similar insects up here but hadn't paid much attention. Will look much closer next time. I mean, THIS far north?!?!?

Boll Weevil: pictures, information, classification and more

 

[VERDE]

Hey tamrock!! At least everything is Green up there!! Dusty down here in LA with temps in the high 90's or 100!! Nice Pics!! Anyway, GOOD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[BosnMate]

I think I'll pan a little Arkansas River gold and post some pictures of the finds using this camera. ��

You have given me an idea. I have some gold panned long long ago and far far away. In fact some was panned out of the Merced River in Yosemite Park, right in a camp ground, and the park ranger encouraged us. This was darn near 70 years ago, I bet now days we'd be cuffed and stuffed for doing something horrible like panning gold in the park. Shucks, in those days the rangers would tell you where to go look for arrow heads. Anyhow, I think I'll try my micro lens and see if I can make it look like a 5 oz nugget.

 

[tamrock]

Oh the ways they use to encourage a young boy to get out and explore the world he'll have ahead in life. Now many believe that life ahead is simply a depressing thought and the doctors prescribe medication to cope with all that depression, they'll be dealing with down road. I still know where I can get some color in the first pan, but dang I wish I knew where I could pull a nice picker of gold every ever now and then around here.

 

[tamrock]

From what I've read and the pics I'm seeing, that definitely is a boll weevil. I've seen very similar insects up here but hadn't paid much attention. Will look much closer next time. I mean, THIS far north?!?!? View attachment 1329711

Boll Weevil: pictures, information, classification and more

They're up there Look'n for a hoo-whao-oh-ho- home, they gotta find a home.

 

[tamrock]

Hey tamrock!! At least everything is Green up there!! Dusty down here in LA with temps in the high 90's or 100!! Nice Pics!! Anyway, GOOD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

Dry in Louisiana? I always thought the humidity alone down there would keep everything green?

 

[old digger]

Now that is almost as enlightening as National Geographic. I was actually hoping to see the end results of the trilogy of life and death.

 

[Old Dude]

That thistle is one tough looking plant. In Kentucky, the state has decided thistles are such a nuisance, they will pay for the spray ( up to a certain acreage's worth anyway ) and provide the sprayer for any farmer trying to rid his land of them. Of course it does no good if their neighbor doesn't spray also.

 

[kcm]

Yes, a lot of the gov't programs make no sense - especially many of the ag programs.

 

[tamrock]

That thistle is one tough looking plant. In Kentucky, the state has decided thistles are such a nuisance, they will pay for the spray ( up to a certain acreage's worth anyway ) and provide the sprayer for any farmer trying to rid his land of them. Of course it does no good if their neighbor doesn't spray also.

When I was out on my bike I went by a thistle that was maybe ten feet tall and I'm not kidding. I had it in my mind to put the bike next to it and take a picture on the way back,but I forgot. I'm sure it'll be there the next time I go by it, unless the county runs their big mower over it. Invasive weeds is getting to big a big problem all over the country. I can actually notice over the years how they migrate by the interstate system as they're blow along the roads by all the vehicles moving along around the clock these days. I see many what look like private contractors with a spray rigs going along the highways spot spraying the undesirable plants. I should look into getting me a rig to do something like that, but probably be a lot of red tape and things like that in order do that kind of work for the county's and state? But it sure sounds like it be a good job driving slowly out in the middle of nowhere hitting those buggers along the way.

 

[tamrock]

Now that is almost as enlightening as National Geographic. I was actually hoping to see the end results of the trilogy of life and death.

The exoskeleton of that boll weevil was too tough for those ants to cause him any harm it appeared. The ant on top was trying to crush in to the back of that bug, but his jaws kept sliding over and were unable to puncture his armor, plus the boll weevil was slowly dragging all the ants along as they did what they could to hold him down. Looked like the ants were trying to hold back a tiny little tanks is the way I'd describe it. I"m thinking if it was a caterpillar, those ants would have ripped him into it's soft tissue.

 

[tamrock]

Not to drag this posting out and all, but I zoomed in on the thistle head picture and as you look closely at the 12 o'clock area of the red part in the center you can see why all these ants have colonized this one particular thistle plant. It's full of tiny aphids and I think ants have some kind of purposeful need to herd aphids?. Sure is a lot going on in the small world of a thistle head.

 

[Old Dude]

Macro photography is a whole other monster! We don't realize just how little of the world we see around us. When I was taking the DSLR class back in spring, one of the ladies brought in some of her favorite photos. My favorites of hers was a 2 pic set of a praying mantis and it's adversary ( another mantis ). The winner was holding the severed head of the other and was staring at it in the first pic. It had turned its head and was staring into the camera in the second. Very creepy but what a couple of photos!

 

[kcm]

Am not certain on this cause it's been a long time, but I "think" that the female eats the male after mating.