Favoritos de bugornot

This Western Velvety Tree Ant was in the Coast Live Oak tree I was photographing. It wandered onto my hand while I held a leaf.

Host plant observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/195444238

Photo 2 was edited to have a Custom White Balance in Photoshop (Photoshop's preset).

I discovered a large aggregate nesting spot in an alkali flat with dozens of bees swarming frenetically just above the surface of the soil, where there were many nest mounds with side entrances. This particular bee landed numerous times, looking like it might be attempting to excavate a nest. In the general area were many Coastal Goldenbushes (Isocoma menziesii), some of which had numerous males and females flying around them, but seldom lighting, possibly due to the windy conditions.

There were several of these hanging out on the rocky bank of the Neuse River near a bridge. Light was too harsh for good photos, but I managed to shade the beetles with a white umbrella. If I moved it slowly over them, they did not shy.
Bronzed Tiger Beetle (Common Shore Tiger Beetle) - Cicindela repanda (~12 mm)
References:

• BugGuide bugguide.net/node/view/591 (species)
• Choate, Tiger Beetles of Florida (University Press of Florida), pp. 73, 124
• Evans, Beetles of Eastern North America (Princeton Univ. Press, 2004), p. 69
• Pearson et al. A Field Guide To The Tiger Beetles Of The United States And Canada (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 64-66, plate 4(1)

Zebra Flower Longhorn - Typocerus zebra (8-12 mm)
Likely a bee/wasp mimic, but I'm not sure which one!
On Queen Anne's Lace, Daucus carota.
References

• BugGuide bugguide.net/node/view/2957
• Dillon and Dillon, A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America (Row, Peterson, and Company, 1961), p. 611, plate 60(16), (p. 612)
• Evans, Beetles of Eastern North America (Princeton University Press, 2014), p. 401
• Yanega, Field Guide to Northeastern Longhorned Beetles (Illinois Natural History Survey, 1996), pp. 42-48, 68-69, plate 8, fig. 93.

Phidippus whitmani (female, ~8-10 mm)
References

• BugGuide bugguide.net/node/view/2031
• Edwards, Revision of the Jumping Spiders of the Genus Phidippus (Araneae: Salticidae); (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 2003), pp. 79-80; figs. C49-51, 254-260
• Rose, Spiders of North America (Princeton Univ. Press, 2022), pp. 553-4

Prey is a Tree Cattle - Cerastipsocus venosus
BugGuide bugguide.net/node/view/83280