Cotulla, Texas:
"Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly crawly."
~The Who, Boris the Spider lyrics
Tonight, this is not about spiders. It's about beetles. South Texas has a record number of beetles, not to mention other bugs. Working on the night shift, I see many bugs under the tower lights.
I am not paranoid. When I feel something crawling on me, it REALLY is a bug. Tonight each time I have come in I have felt AND FOUND bugs crawling on me.
One time in, I felt something on my ankle. In the dim light of night time, I saw a relatively large bug crawling on my left ankle. The bug took flight and landed on our dining room table light. The cats went nuts. The bug looked like a dragonfly while in flight, but wasn't because its long wings folded down at its sides.The bug got stuck in our lamp fixture, so I unscrewed the glass fixture and got the bug out...took it outside. It was harmless.
Next time I came in, I felt something crawling on the front of my neck. I swiped at it and a longish, thick, segmented black beetle fell onto the table. That one got smooshed by me. It was a black blister beetle.
A little bit later I felt a bug on my forearm. A small, reddish beetle was walking down my arm. Haven't identified that one yet.
Just now, while typing, I felt something on my left ankle. I looked down and it was long, white and had a hard shell on the end...my shoelace. Ha ha. Maybe I am a little paranoid.
Here are pics of some nighttime bugs:
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| Field cricket--multitudes of these all over. Roadrunners love them! |
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| Field crickets congregating at the watering hole (AKA where our air conditioner condensation drips) |
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| Katydid?? Not sure what this is. |
This web site from Texas A&M University is a wealth of information for identifying Texas bugs: Field Guide to Common Texas Insects. There's a lot to learn. Most insects are harmless to people. Although one bug we've seen a lot--a blister beetle--has a toxin in its body that can cause blisters on the skin. One of the cats tried to eat a blister beetle one night, but didn't. They backed off from it. Smart kitty kitties.
Also see my blog from May 26: Schuhplattler Polka for more on Texas bugs.
I can't believe I spent a whole blog on BUGS. Ewwww.
Speaking of which, Travel BUG out.
