I have seen reference to abundant white deposits on plants in a couple Texas blogs I follow. They seem to be appearing in greater number this summer. One said it was mealy bugs. Another delved a little deeper and with the help of iNaturalist identified them as Citrus Flatid Planthopper larva. (Her blog is here). She had a video of the planthopper moving away from its wooly nest, then going back. So I had to go prod and the ones in our yard to see if there were critters. Yup! Same behavior too, moves away from contact, but then eases back into the cottony camouflage.

It seems that it is the year of the pill bug. Rollie pollies are everywhere. Well, OK, everywhere that is outside and slightly moist and dark. So many more, though, than we’ve witnesses here before. We even found one that had a different colored front and back. I couldn’t find any studies or speculation on why it is two colors, but did find other photos of the same phenomena. Interestingly, the head is not always the lighter color. Sorry the photo is slightly blurry, by the time I zoomed in to check the photo, the land crustacean had scurried off to hide. There were other creatures in the decaying branch to catalog as well; a wolf spider with an eggs sac, several grubs, and a millipede.

How exciting to see a dragonfly nymph at the lake! This one was probably headed for its final molt, since they are aquatic until adulthood. My eagle-eyed eldest spotted this one and watched it for awhile while my youngest pulled in fish.

My eldest found the coolest looking snail in the back yard. This is not our typical slug or long coned snail! It looks like it could have a role in Hollywood. It was that bold too, it didn’t hide in its shell when she picked it up. Hm. There are parasites that change snail behavior. Perhaps that is this one’s story.