My, what lovely Ocelli you have!

(C'mon, haven't you always wanted to say that?)

I only recently learned that bees have five eyes:  two big compound eyes that they use for seeing, and three smaller "primitive" eyes (Ocelli) that they use to detect light movement. These eyes are helpful in knowing when the shadow of a predator passes too close.


Anyway, I thought this male Eastern Carpenter bee, in addition to being rather handsome, also showed all five eyes to good advantage.  The ocelli are in a triangular patter above his white "nose".  And, because the temperatures never got out of the low 50's today, all the carpenter bees were unable to fly, staying tucked onto their flowers waiting for some lucky photographer to come along.  Regrettably, one unlucky lady carpenter was being drained of her essential fluids by a Spined Soldier Beetle (one of the predatory stink bugs), who was evidently not impaired by the cold temps.  If you'd like to see the predation action, click HERE

I took Monarch #224 over to my friend, Barbara, today so that he can travel with her to N. Carolina tomorrow.  With the cold temps today and a forecast for frost tonight, there isn't any way he would have survived if I released him here.  He has a nice supply of flowers and a sugar-water soaked cotton ball to eat on his trip, so he's all set.  

Thanks every so much to WWombat for hosting TinyTuesday this month, and for this week's "freestyle" theme.  As most of you know, I love photographing arthropods, so this was an easy choice!

xo
Debbi