Wakabagumo

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes - green leaf spider: a crab spider from Japan. It has no web, instead grabbing prey with its long, hairy front legs. 

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes

Sometimes it lies in wait, hoping for an insect to alight on its leaf. Other times it hangs in mid-air, from a tree, looking to grab something on the wing.

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes - hanging from a thread.

Ramiikamikiri

 I found this beautiful longhorn beetle down by the river yesterday. It is sitting on a plant from the nettle family called a ramie which is its staple food, and also where its Japanese name comes from.

Ramiikamikiri - Paraglenea fortunei

Ramiikamikiri - Paraglenea fortunei

Ramiikamikiri - Paraglenea fortunei

Daimonjiyama Forest

Shady forest path on the edge of Kyoto, Japan.

Ant Mimic

Here's an ant mimicking jumping spider from japan:

Myrmarachne Spp. Ant-mimic Jumping Spider

And an ant one branch over:

Chinese Pond Terrapin

Pootling about in a canal in Kyoto:

Chinese pond terrapin - Mauremys reevesii

Chinese pond terrapin - Mauremys reevesii

Skink Vs. Centipede

Nihon tokage - Japanese Skink - Plestiodon japonicus

The early skink catches the big, scary centipede: https://vine.co/v/iUU2pxbtnQP (video)

Nihon tokage - Japanese skink - Plestiodon japonicus

Greened Up Brackets

Monday Mushroom #103

Bleached, old bracket fungi - a fertile substrate for algae.