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Project Noah Nature School
Meloe sp.
Medium sized insect (as you can see by the edge of the quarter in the first picture) - but, rather large for this area. Black, armored, large rear end.
I found this one on the sidewalk of a highly manicured college campus, in mid November 2011. I picked it up, on a piece of paper, and moved it to the grass so it wouldn't get trampled ... who knows if that was best, considering the amount of chemicals on that grass, though ...
This guy was very interactive, like preying mantises are, but didn't seem to be trying to threaten me (as mantises often seem to be)
Spotted on Nov 16, 2011
Submitted on Dec 6, 2011
