The wheel bugs are thriving, and have grown quite a bit since I last took their photos on April 26th. They look like tiny roma tomatoes pulled by ants now...

The eggs are hatching!





Apparently the orange/red ones are newly hatched; when they dry they turn black with red bums and go off to eat garden pests (of which I have tons). When they grow up, they'll look like this.

The original journal entry is here. There are a few more photos of the hatching on my flickr site. Best viewed large! ;)

Found on the ornamental bush out back (the branch is as thick as my finger in reality):



Closer:


Obviously it's the eggs of some sort of insect, but I know not what. I was just fascinated by the intriguing geometric quality.

Edited to add: mojosmom and madhatte just directed me to www.whatsthatbug.com, where it turns out they are "Wheel Bug Eggs, Arilus cristatus. This species of Assassin Bug is beneficial in the garden as it preys on many destructive pests". Another mystery solved! I took this photo of an adult wheel bug on the side of the house in November: