Another porch light visitor (I have a happening porch at night!)…when I first saw it and went to grab my camera I thought it might be a hooktip moth, but now I am pretty sure it is a Large Maple Spanworm moth. I don’t know much about them, but I’m guessing they like maples

Below is a lovely Dogbane beetle who decided the hood of my truck was the place to hang out this afternoon. This was convenient for me, I actually like taking pictures on the hoods of vehicles because the lighting is amplified.

Speaking of light reflectance, IA State has a little blurb on their IPM page about the striking colors of the beetle:

“One of the most intriguing characteristics of the dogbane beetle is the kaleidoscope of brilliant colors. The Illinois State Museum explains this phenomenon. The dogbane leaf beetle has a special type of color that shines and changes as the insect changes position or as we change position while looking at it. This changing color is called iridescence. The beetles’ iridescence is produced by special body structures and light. The surface of the body parts of this beetle is made up of stacks of tiny, slanting plates, under which is a pigment (substance that produces color). Some light rays reflect from the surface of the plates, and other light rays reflect from the pigment underneath. At different angles, the light reflects at different speeds, causing interference that result in our seeing different colors that shine.”

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