An Encounter With Bed Bug Eggs in an Accommodation Facility

Just a tiny space on a bed frame corner can harbor hordes of bed bug eggs

The white barrel shape eggs looks like rice grains splattered on the dark metal frame

BED BUGS, Cimex hemipterus (HEMIPTERA: CIMICIDAE) 

 

An Encounter With a Defoliating Caterpillar in Maleha, Sharjah

A super voracious caterpillar on a leaf surface

 

An Encounter with a Robberfly Couple Engaged in a Fatal Embrace at the Maleha Desert, Sharjah

A Robberfly couple locked in a fatal embrace

A relationship that lead to a gruesome end

 

An Encounter with Green Conehead Mantises at the Maleha Desert in Sharjah

A ferocious side view of a ferocious female predator

Strategically positioned on top of a flowers in anticipation of prey

Carefully camouflaged on the rows of dark green leaves

Notice the cone like protrusion on its head that looks like a horn

I was back in the Maleha desert trail in Sharjah trying to observe the movement and numbers of locusts and grasshoppers on the desert grassland, when I stumbled upon an evergreen Sodom's Apple Tree adored with its radiant violet colored blossoms. Hidden among its branches, dark green leaves and the bundles of flowers were ferocious predators, Conehead Mantises on the hunt. Their sleek bodies and deep green coloration strategically allows these insect hunters to be camouflage in the chambers of this abundant green spot in the desert. Noticeable as well is the distinct cone like horn protruding on top of  its head. The cone shaped horn gives it a more ferocious appearance! The mantises where strategically positioning itself among the bundles of the violet flowers in anticipation of flying in pollinators. I forgot about my photo hunt for locusts and grasshoppers for a while, these praying predators took my full attention on the cool and windy morning out in the desert.

CONEHEAD MANTIS, Empusa pennata (MANTODEA: Empusidae)

Mantises always reminds us that sometimes beauty can be also ferocious and deadly!

Awesome creatures! Awesome CREATOR!

Thanks for your support and careful attention. 

If you need Pest Management Training, Technical Field Support, On-Line and On-Site Consultancy, please feel free to send me an email: odelon.reyes@gmail.com 

Awesome Termites Mud Tunnel Encounter in Deira, Dubai

Termites workers speedily walking a mud tunnel super highway 

An exposed chamber of the mud tunnel in a heavily damaged cabinet

An armed column of soldier termites moving along the tunnel

In terms of patience, persistence and the power of a growing population (wow I got to express it in 4Ps!) nothing beats the movement, tenacity and determination of  termites colonies on the move. I was conducting a site visit and inspection for a prestigious facility in the heart of the commercial area in Deira, Dubai when I was awestruck by the level of infestation and sporadic movement of termites in the facility. By simply feeling off the paint of the exterior portions of cabinets and walls, the severe extent of years of damage to the wooden panels and structures is quickly revealed. The exposed mud tunnels looks like a super highway where numerous termites criss-cross and encounter each other as they go about their assigned task for the colony.  

Termites reminds us that thru patience, cooperation and focused determination (especially in sheer high numbers) can change 

Awesome creatures! Awesome CREATOR!

Thanks for your support and careful attention. 

If you need Pest Management Training, Technical Field Support, On-Line and On-Site Consultancy, please feel free to send me an email: odelon.reyes@gmail.com 

A Lynx Spider Encounter at the Creek Park Dubai

A Lynx Spider setting up to ambush its next prey

Holding on as the wind swings its leafy hunting perch 

It was a casual early morning walk around the outskirts of the Creek Park that I got to see flowers and leaves having feeding marks. Keen to check out what was the herbivore doing all these random damage I was surprised to see not the potential beetle or lepidopteran larvae causing the mayhem on the leaves but to spot a lone predator setting up in ambush position. As the soft wind causes the leaves to sway, the lynx spider was determined to hold on and search for potential herbivore targets.

LYNX SPIDER, Oxyopes spp. (ARANEAE: Oxyopidae) 

Awesome creatures! AWESOME CREATOR!

Thanks for your support and careful attention. 

If you need Pest Management Training, Technical Field Support, On-Line and On-Site Consultancy, please feel free to send me an email: odelon.reyes@gmail.com 

 

An Encounter With A Growing Arabian Paper Wasp Hive Inside A Cave in Wadi Showkha

An Arabian Paper Wasp Nest being build inside a cave

Busy inside the cave attending to their growing nest

I was spelunking in the mountain caverns along the Wadi Showkha trail in my search for wild honey from Arabian Dwarf Honeybees hives when I came upon a wide and deep cavern. These wide and deep caverns serves not as safehouses for honeybees but also for foxes, desert owls and vipers. Amazingly and thankfully, I did not have an encounter with a resting fox inside its den or a viper. What I found inside was not my target sweet loot of fresh honey but a growing nest of Arabian Paper Wasps. They found the cool cave and established their colony inside!

ARABIAN PAPER WASPS, Polistes watii (HYMENOPTERA: VESPIDAE)  

Awesome creatures!  Awesome CREATOR! 

Thanks for your support and careful attention. 

If you need Pest Management Training, Technical Field Support, On-Line and On-Site Consultancy, please feel free to send me an email: odelon.reyes@gmail.com