Spotting

Description:

A colony of insects showing diverse phenotypes. Among these were small, round, geometrically patterned insects either in shades of red and white or black white, larger insects showing similar carapace patterns, and a few insects largest of all with varying shades of rusty coloration, and 'organically' patterned carapaces. The large rusty insects also showed more prominent heads and slightly more angular bodies. I hypothesize that these distinctions are primarily those of life stages, with red variations indicating genetic diversity within the population.

Habitat:

These insects were found in a huge group in the weedy edge of a pasture adjoining woodland in the Gulf Coast region of Texas.

Notes:

A few individuals flew short distances when disturbed, but most simply shifted position slightly away from my finger as I moved or apparently ignored me.