Death Cucumber

No, I’m not talking about my high school band (we were a Mr. Speed tribute band), I’m talking about the cold blooded indifference of Mother Gaia.  Below are the hollowed out corpses of some sort of insect on top of my cucumber leafs.  I discovered them one morning before watering.

More than likely a parasite suckling on the thick, syrupy goodness of my container garden.

The trick to being a crazy person is to really lean into it.  What you’re seeing growing in the crime scene storage container (left foreground) is white wonder cucumbers along with American Groundnut.  The frankly hilarious trellis that the mass hangs off of is a combination of galvanized wire panels, bamboo, gardening poles, and rope.  Naturally this is in my front yard.

But back to nature.

What perpetrated such a thorax-shattering acts of violence?  This cute little fella:

That is a wheel bug nymph  and this must be it’s momma.  She lives in same garden of Eden.

That thing on the front of its head is the proboscis that it inserts into the prey or your meaty tenderness.  Once the proboscis (or beak if you prefer!) is inserted, a soup of chemicals is injected that paralyze and liquefy the insertee.  At that point there is nothing left to do but to drink down the room temperature essence of life.

Good nigh sleep tight!