Top Photo: Male common whitetail. Common whitetails are everywhere. Ponds, lakes, even slow moving rivers and streams are home to this ubiquitous skimmer. The standout white/blue abdomen and dark marks on the wings lend to the easy recognizability of the male. The female too, is easily recognized by the three dark markings on each of her four wings. They both tend to perch low to, or directly on, the ground. Another early season dragonfly making an appearance is the blueRead more
Posts filed in: Insects
Spring Appearances
Top Photo: Fatsia japonica or Japanese Fatsia, fruit. Not native but planted on the Dinosaur Trail to enhance the sense of a long ago tropical realm, fatsia is in fruit, but going fast. The plant’s name is derived from the fact that fatsia, in an old Japanese language, means eight, presumably referring to the number of lobes on the plant’s large palmate leaves. This, even though the leaves never have an even number of lobes, or points. I’ve consistently countedRead more
Four Serendipitous Encounters
Top Photo: Centipede crosses path in front of me. At the end of the day while doing my routine walkabout to insure there was no one left behind as we closed for the day, a large centipede crossed the dimly lit path in front of me. The long, thin, multi-legged creature seemed in a hurry to get to the other side of the path. Then again, most centipedes discovered out in the open are in a hurry to get somewhere.Read more
How do they do it?
Top Photo: Banded sphinx moth caterpillar barely hanging on. Following the night of our first frost of the season I ventured out to the Floating Walkway in our wetlands to see if I could find a banded sphinx moth caterpillar that had been seen the day before. I was interested in learning about their behavior in regard to pupation, where, when and how they go about that process. The caterpillar was still there. It was, however, only hanging on byRead more
Another Sphinx?
Top Photo: Fourth instar banded sphinx moth caterpillar (photo – Ranger Lauren). What at first appeared to be a new species of sphinx moth caterpillar on the quickly fading wingleaf primrose-willow (Ludwigia decurrens) in our wetlands here at the museum, turned out to be another of many banded sphinx moths (Eumorpha fasciatus) seen this year. It was a 4th instar caterpillar, and so, different in pattern than the preceding 3 stages and the following and final 5th stage of caterpillarRead more
Seeds, Leaves, Two Volunteers, and a Flower
Top Photo: Tiny seeds from pod of wingleaf primrose-willow in wetlands. Wingleaf primrose-willow (Ludwigia decurrens) is sometimes called seedbox because of its seed pod shape, square in cross section. Other names include, wingstem water primrose, willow primrose, upright primrose-willow. The alternate leaves of Ludwigia decurrens are “decurrent” – the leaf base extends down the plant’s stem as “wings.” This herb grows in wet or marshy areas, and is sometimes aquatic. Fragments of the plant will root in a day or twoRead more
Borers, Bees, Pods, Sunflowers, and Nest Box Maintenance
Top Photo: Locust borer on goldenrod. Each year as goldenrod puts forth flowers, I expect to see locust borers actively feeding on nectar from the bright yellow florets. The beetles are rather well camouflaged among the flowers and not always easy to find. In late summer through fall, the adult beetles lay eggs in cracks of black locust bark. The hatching larvae burrow into the inner bark to overwinter. The warm temperatures of spring bring about renewed larval activity, andRead more
Another Stinkhorn, 4 Butterflies, 2 Wasps, Young Anoles, a Groundhog, and a Blooming Redbud
Top Photo: Devil’s stinkhorn. The spreading of mulch is a common chore here at the museum. What with new plants going in, exhibits being installed or altered and multiple other projects going on, mulch is a common sight. Following the mulch, sometimes months later, comes fungus. Various mushrooms rise up out of the decaying organic material in the mulch. Pictured, we have what looks like devil’s stinkhorn (Phallus rubicundus) which is not a North American species. It’s similar to nativeRead more
Some Insects To Keep An Eye Out For
Top Photo: European hornet inspects bark of tree where hive is located. While you’re walking along the paths of our outdoor loop through the Dinosaur Trail, Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind keep an eye out for large yellow, black and brown wasps, European hornets. The wasps are large and intimidating but are considered non-aggressive. I agree. They’re social wasps. Here at the museum, all of the nests, or hives, of these vespids that I’ve seen were in aRead more