Today I spent all my time in Marlera around only one plant. The scientific name of that plant is Dittrichia viscosa, and if you're wondering what Marlera is, well, here comes the answer to the question you may or may not have just asked.
"Marlera is a coastal area situated near the village of Liznjan, only a kilometer or two from there, and about four to five kilometers from where I live." Borjan Radolović
The answer is in quotation marks becouse I'm quoting myself. I copied those words from one of my previous posts.
The lovely yellow flowers shown in this opening photograph belong to Dittrichia viscosa, arguably the main character of today's story. I mean, it is more of an ensemble thing, with some insects equaly prominent in the post, but everything takes place on that plant, so... let's say that Dittrichia viscosa has a very special place in this. In the following photograph...
...you can see two tiny beetles exploring the nectar-rich flowers.
These are the shining flower beetles. The scientific name of the family is Phalacridae.
The scientific name of the species shown in these photographs is Stilbus testaceus.
In this wide shot, you can see Dittrichia viscosa in its environment, and most importantly, you can take a short break from small things before we continue with hardcore macro stuff.
Like all the members of the Phalacridae family, Stilbus testaceus is a very small insect. When on flowers, this beetle feeds on pollen and nectar, but it can also be found on decaying vegetation, in the hay, moss, and leaf litter, where it feeds on microfungi and spores.
Dittrichia viscosa has composite flowers. Which means that...
... what appears as a single flower is actually a complex inflorescence, known as a capitulum or flower head, made of several tiny individual flowers called florets packed tightly together, and often surrounded by what looks like petals. Those petals that aren't the classic petals are what make the whole thing look like a single flower at first sight.
In composite flowers, each "petal" is a single floret called a ray flower or ray floret. The tiny, tubular flowers in the central disc of the flowerhead are called disc flowers or, yes, you guessed it right, disc florets. In the following photograph...
...you can see a Stilbus testaceus beetle half-buried in a disc floret to get the nectar at the bottom of the tiny cup. I don't know; to me, this is kinda cute. It is like a scene from the Maya the Bee cartoon.
In this shot, the same beetle is out of the floret.
On the leaves near the bottom of the plant, I photographed this much bigger insect, a well-camouflaged bush cricket.
Phaneroptera nana, that's the scientific name of the species, looks like a real giant compared to a shining flower beetle.
Shining flower beetles aren't the only insects attracted to what the Dittrichia viscosa flowers have to offer.
Here you can see a fly from the Bombyliidae family. Bombyliidae are commonly known as bee flies.
The scientific name of the species is Phthiria vagans.
This much smaller fly from the Hybotidae family wasn't there for the nectar. Hybos culiciformis, that's the scientific name of the species, is a predator that feeds on very small insects.
Here you can see another predator. I photographed this spider from the Oxyopidae family on one of the leaves under the flowers. The scientific name of the species is Oxyopes heterophthalmus.
This small bug from the Rhopalidae family feeds on the developing grains, seeds, and flowers of various plants. Dittrichia viscosa is one of them. The scientific name of the bug I'm talking about is Liorhyssus hyalinus. The bug shown in the following photograph...
...belongs to the Pentatomidae family. In other words, it's a shield bug.
The scientific name of the species is Carpocoris purpureipennis. This is a wingless nymph. Adults are quite different.
Here you can see another Carpocoris purpureipennis nymph. This one was posing on the stem of Dittrichia viscosa.
Carpocoris purpureipennis feeds on sap, juices, and nutrient-rich fluids from all parts of the plant. It uses the proboscis to pierce leaves, stems, soft, developing seeds, and various parts of the flower.
The dense clusters of yellow flowers on Dittrichia viscosa provide a nice hiding place as well.
Here you can see another Phaneroptera nana. This one was posing among the flowers that will soon transform into fluffy seed heads.
There is only one insect I prepared for today that wasn't photographed on Dittrichia viscosa. You can see it in the following photograph.
This is the mint leaf beetle. The scientific name of the species is Chrysolina herbacea. I included it to give this post a bit of iridescence.
And that's it. The post ends here, with a shining flower beetle. As always on Hive, the photographs are my work.
The following links will take you to the sites with more information about the protagonists of today's post. I found some stuff about them there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dittrichia_viscosa
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/132036-Phalacridae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilbus_testaceus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaneroptera_nana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthiria_vagans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybos_culiciformis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyopes_heterophthalmus
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/133207-Liorhyssus-hyalinus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpocoris_purpureipennis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysolina_herbacea