Three Feet of Fallow Land in Palombara Sabina

Parsnip flowers (Pastinaca sativa) attracted as always many pollen gathering insects, like here Mordella sp., the Tumbling Flower Beetle.

A crab spider (here Misumena vatia) was well hidden below the flower...

This little bee only escaped at the last moment...

The caterpillar of a moth living on parsnip, Depressaria pastinacella (Parsnip webworm), felt still young and beautiful.

Graminaceae, even dry, attract numerous visitors. How could such unstable constructions be the result of the sole action of wind?

As usual, a ladybeetle was hunting (Hippodamia variegata, spotted amber ladybird).

On the other hand, this ant had been caught by a spider and was left hanging as a food reserve.

On the left, probably the nest of a bee, Anthidiellum strigatum, with its aeration chimney toward the ground. On the right, two case moths, or bag worms, in their wonderful vegetal clothes.

I then discovered the eggs of the green lacewing, the golden eyed fly which feeds on aphids, scales and even ant larva...

After latching, the lacewing larva climb down to hunt. They return to the vertex to rest, to protect themselves from cannibalism.

I finally discovered one cousin larva, Dichochrysa sp., with the characteristic camouflage on its back, made of rests of its preys.

It was just a couple of photos showing some aspects of the intense life in those three feet of fallow land between the lawn and a vineyard.