Thank you for contributing your photo(s) for this peculiar post. Captions show the photographer first, to honor your efforts! Entries range from Florida to New Jersey, from Texas to Illinois, from Las Cruces to Capulin Volcano and from the 1990s to last month. Go ahead, enter the House of Lepidoptera Horrors – if you dare!
Spooky Spiders
Kelly Ricks, Capulin Volcano National Monument, Union CO., NM; May 18, 2025: “On my hike today I observed a tiny jumping spider (probably Habronattus clypeatus) catch a duskywing: probably Sleepy…VERY sleepy that is.Marc Bailey: female crab spider with tiny male aboard grabs Silvery Checkerspot; Rio San Antonio, Jemez Mtns., Sandoval Co., NM; June 23, 2025Mike Toliver: spider (maybe genus Phiddipus?) gets Red Admiral; Eureka, Woodford Co., IL; June 2, 2016.Jane Ruffin: Green Lynx Spider eating Southern Dogface; October 26, 1995; La Gloria, TX.Jane Ruffin: White-banded Crab Spider (Misumenoides formosipes) and salt marsh skipper; Emerald Isle, NC; August 3, 2024.Jane Ruffin: a tropical orbweaver wraps up a buckeye; Sanibel Island, FL, 1/13/94Simon Doneski: Oarisma garita nabbed by spider at Valles Caldera Nat. Preserve, Sandoval Co., NM; July 24, 2025Jane Ruffin: White-banded Crab Spider feasts on American copper (Lycaena hypophlaeas)Jane Ruffin: Crab spider captures Cloudless Sulphur; La Gloria, TX; October 26, 1995.
The Very Small Gallery of Wasps
Marta Reece, June 30, 2022; Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park, Dona Ana Co., NM. Unknown wasp snatches Cabbage White: “the wasps waited in ambush on saltcedar and grabbed the butterflies as they came in to feed.”
Danged Darner Dragonflies
Mike Toliver: Green Darner snags Monarch; St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Gulf Co., FL; 23-x-2016.
Munching Mantises
Mike Toliver: Preying mantis munches Monarch; Evergreen Lake, McLean Co., IL; Aug. 19, 2020.Janet Ruth: Mantis gets Painted Lady; Santa Fe, NM; August 2023.Mike Toliver: another mantis gulps down another Monarch; Evergreen Lake, McLean Co., IL; Aug. 19, 2020.Jane Ruffin: “I saw this happen at Cape May Point, NJ, and there would be little piles of wings on the ground in the reeds and a Mantid above them eating another Monarch.”Jane Ruffin, La Gloria, TX; October 26, 1995: “What’re you lookin’ at?”Gordon Berman: mantis gets Southern Dogface; August 13, 2025; Las Cruces areaGordon Berman: mantis gets Pipevine Swallowtail; September 12, 2024; Las CrucesJane Ruffin: mantis grabs Silver-spotted skipper; Cape May Point, NJ. September 1990.
Robberflies and Their Ill-gotten Gains
Marta Reece: August 20, 2025; robberfly nabs moth. Marta Reece: Robberfly pilfers Southwestern Orangetip
Our Feathered “Friends”
Jim Stuart: Say’s Phoebe gets a Bordered Patch; Albuquerque, September 15, 2024.by RileyWyna: see iNaturalist sighting 295910656; July 26, 2025, in Los Alamos. Western Flycatcher (?) feeding West Coast Lady to the little ones. Image found and shared by Simon Doneski. I’m not sure what will become of the wings, but the rest is pretty clear. Maybe it will taste bad and future West Coast Ladies will benefit.
Angry Ants
Marta Reece: ants attack moth on mesquite flowers
Zombie Frit by Jim Von Loh. As I exited the northern pool area of the La Mancha Wetland Restoration Site (adjacent to the western Rio Grande levee just south of the I-10 overpass) on September 23, 2025, a Gulf Fritillary (Dione incarnata) with its wings expanded wide open, was on the ground in the shade of a cottonwood tree. I rarely have an opportunity to see, let alone photograph, this species so I took advantage of my good luck and started snapping the shutter button! It didn’t take long to see that this frit was not going to fly away, however, as it appeared to have been forced to the ground by a predator – perhaps a bird (still red-winged blackbirds at this site) or a robber fly.
…my initial image of the frit was wings flat in full dorsal view, but the wings would lift a short distance and the hind wings would ruffle…Two things I noticed right away were the significant scrape on its left dorsal wing surface (led me to think bird capture attempt) and the red ants already beginning to collect parts from its antennae, face, and head…
Most literature discussing this frit goes immediately to a statement something like this: “Gulf Fritillaries are not to be trifled with! When birds attack, they cloak themselves in a smoke-screen of bad smells”.
…in its last struggle, the frit flipped to its dorsal side as more and more ants arrived……Finis: the frit’s last submission to the ants was its wings relaxing to fully expose its ventral surface in a hauntingly beautiful ‘death mask’…
Back to Wasps
Gordon Berman: A Thread-waisted Wasp paralyzed a Sphinx moth caterpillar, lugged it to a nesting site, dug a hole, placed an egg on the caterpillar, entombed it, then sealed the crypt. On the west slope of Baylor Canyon Trail, Organ Mountains, Dona Ana County. September 29, 2025.
Thanks to all who contributed images to this year’s Halloween amusement, enjoyment, and disgust. Next year’s 2026 Halloween challenge will be along the same lines – butterfly predation – but with encouragement to document more examples of parasitism, particularly of immature stages, following Gordon Berman’s example above. You have a year to build your portfolios. We all look forward to seeing what you can come up with next Halloween!
2 thoughts on “No Bed of Roses: 2025 Halloween Post”
Love it love it love it! So many great photos! Not that I delight in the demise of our beloved lepidoptera of course, but I can’t help but be excited by these moments captured by fellow interested observers. Attention can have its rewards. Thank you for the prompt Steve!
Very entertaining…and uncommonly observed.
Love it love it love it! So many great photos! Not that I delight in the demise of our beloved lepidoptera of course, but I can’t help but be excited by these moments captured by fellow interested observers. Attention can have its rewards. Thank you for the prompt Steve!