}

Saturday, April 08, 2017

Little green visitor


There are a number of bugs I see in Auckland that I never saw in the USA, either because they’re not native, or they just didn’t seem to be around. The photo above is one of them.

Some people who love bugs, and others hate them, but I think most of us aren’t on that continuum, but a different one: Some bugs we tolerate just fine, and for others, well, we become Thanatos—we are the bringer of death. For me, cockroaches and most spiders are in that last category.

However, bugs like the one above don’t bother me. Part of that is probably because they’re not a threat to humans, and also because I know they eat “bad” bugs like mosquitoes. I saw a bug very much like this one outside the house recently, and the one pictured may be the same one for all I know. But it’s a fairly common bug, really.

This was one bug I was happy to help continue doing its job eating “bad” bugs, so I escorted it outside. I used an envelope to carry it mostly to avoid hurting it—I have no idea how delicate they are—and because I didn’t want to risk “upsetting” it—or whatever the right word is. I really don’t have much experience with all creatures great and small—just mammals, especially people, dogs, and cats. And mice—I’ve caught a fair few of them over the years.

I wrote bout bugs in New Zealand exactly twice before, as far as I can remember, in 2010 about some sort of stick insect, and also last year about Asian paper wasps as part of my photo challenge that year. Clearly I’m not a bug person.

Still, this little green visitor dropped in and I made sure it could live to catch another mosquito. I like to be helpful.

I had this ready to post yesterday, and then forgot, since I’m swamped with work at the moment. Which is a pity because there are so many things I’d like to comment on…

3 comments:

Arthur Schenck (AmeriNZ) said...

I agree (with both), though interestingly, the daddy longlegs here are a different species, and different in appearance, to what I grew up with. I had an ongoing war with cockroaches and mice about a decade after you first encountered the bugs. I journalled about it at the time, and I'd share it here, but it's probably a bit too graphic…

rogerogreen said...

I have a mice story myself, c 1985. Hey, you can take your journal and catch up on your posts! GRAPHIC, yay! (I think)

rogerogreen said...

I like the daddy longlegs spiders, but I HATE cockroaches, which I had never see before until I moved into an apartment in Kingston, NY in 1972.