In South Africa, there are about 36 species in this genus.
Carpenter bees tolerate higher ambient temperatures during foraging and most species are inactive in lower temperatures.
They provide better pollination service than honey bees.
Most species lay their eggs in nest of solitary wasps and bees. The larvae feed off the provisions of the host.
A close-up of the body shows the roughness of the shell.
The two pictures below are a good example of this and how careful I have to be. See if you think they are the same......
Both these belong to the Pieridae family, genesus Mylothris. The one above is a Twin Dotted Border (Mylothris rueppellii haemus) and the one below a Common Dotted Border (Mylothoris agathina)
If you look at the beetle above and below this, you can see how similar the markings are and yet they are two different beetles.
The third one below also has an almost identicle patterns but at least the rest if him is lighter in color and is easier to tell apart.
The next two can be quite similar to the untrained eye......
yet once again, they are two totally different beetles.
It seems that nowdays, I leave in the dark and get back in it too. The only nice thing about this time of year is that when I leave in the mornings, I see my beloved animals on the road and slow down to watch them a while.
We have had more than our fair share of rain the past few weeks and this poor man got stuck crossing the stream so I stopped to ask if he needed any help.
The best thing about rain storms is always the sunset. The colors are always so striking and rich.
Poor old frog!! Even though they are supposed to like water, I think the rain had become too much for him and he decided to take shelter in my kitchen. :)
A Damselfly finds a place to rest for the night.
A skipper hides in the grass where the predators cannot see him.
A very young cricket comes out to look for food or a mate. They make just as much noise as the bigger ones. :)
A lovely moth clings to a wall as the sun goes down on another day.......
The mealworm is not a worm; it is a larva. Any similarity to a true worm is incidental. mealworm larvae are golden yellow and have 13 segments—a head, three thoracic segments, and nine abdominal segments Mealworm larvae are the counterpart of the familiar caterpillar in the butterfly story. They pull themselves around on six stubby legs, one pair on each thoracic segment. Mealworms are the larval stage of Darkling (aka Tenebrio) beetles. Beetles, along with all their other insect kin (true bugs, flies, bees, wasps, ants, on and on), are members of the phylum Arthropoda, a word meaning jointed legs. Like all members of their phylum, insects wear their skeleton on the outside like a suit of armor. This is practical when they are under attack, but very inconvenient when they are trying to grow. Arthropods solved this problem by molting (shedding) this outer shell-like cuticle periodically. Immediately following the molt, the soft white larva expands before the new larger cuticle hardens. For mealworms this process repeats five times over a 2-month period, after which the larva is about 3 cm long. The final larval molt reveals the next stage, the pupa. 
Life cycle Darkling beetles follow a life history known as complete metamorphosis. Like butterflies and moths, they go through four distinct stages during their life cycle. A female beetle lays eggs, as many as 500 in her brief lifetime of a month or two. The eggs are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. After a couple of weeks the equally tiny larvae emerge from the eggs. The larvae are known as mealworms, but of course they are not true worms. The larvae are golden yellow and have 12 body segments. They are the counterpart of the familiar caterpillar in the butterfly story. Mealworms pull themselves around on six stubby legs that are all crowded at the front. 
The larvae seem to have two purposes in life: eat and grow. Beetles are arthropods, and like all members of their phylum they wear their skeleton on the outside like a suit of armor. This is very practical when they are being attacked, but very inconvenient when they are trying to grow. The arthropods have solved this problem by shedding (molting) their shell periodically. Immediately following the molt the soft, white larvae expand before the new larger shell hardens. This process may repeat half a dozen or more times over a 3-month period, after which time the larvae are about 2 cm (3/4″) long. The final larval molt reveals the next stage, the pupa. 
The pupae don’t eat and they don’t move except for a twitch or two when disturbed. Inside, however, the mealworm is turning into a beetle, much the same as a caterpillar turns into a butterfly while sequestered inside the chrysalis. In 2 or 3 weeks the pupa splits open and out walks a beetle, white at first, but soon turning to brown and finally black after a day. The beetles mate and lay eggs, and the cycle repeats. 
