Top Photo: Mimosa leaves with mimosa webworm infestation. Both mimosa the tree and the webworm are non-native and considered invasive species. The tree was introduced into the United Sates during the mid 18th century. Most sources quote 1745 as the year of introduction as an ornamental. Mimosa is a legume and produces copious amounts of long, seed containing pods. The seeds are very hardy and stay viable for years. New trees pop up all around the mother tree, even sproutingRead more
Posts tagged: #psyllid
What’s to Eat
The grasshopper in the above photo is being disassembled by a yellowjacket. The meaty parts of the hopper will be transported back to the hive where it’ll be placed in cells containing larvae within the hive. The female wasps are busy this time of year as the hive is perhaps at its largest of the season. I found the parts of a red swamp crayfish on the railing of the boardwalk leading to the Black Bear Overlook. It too hadRead more
Early Fall
The bullfrog in the top photo was one a four spotted yesterday at the end of the boardwalk in Explore the Wild. Bullfrogs can sit very still while waiting for prey to come along then spring forth with lightning speed to capture and swallow that prey. They eat just about anything that comes close enough to snatch, insects, fish, smaller frogs, crawfish, even birds. Up until this week I’d only seen two snakes in our wetlands the past season, anRead more
Another Psyllid Update!!!
Last week, after photopraphing the adult psyllids that are on the Museum’s mimosas in Explore the Wild, I posted the images at BugGuide.Net in hopes that someone could identify them. There was indeed a response and it seems as though the psyllids may be Acizzia jamatonica (scroll down on that page to read the comment). It also seems that the psyllids are fairly host specific and that the invasive, Asian mimosa is the host with the most. The mimosa is non-native,Read more
Psyllid Update
Since posting “What are those Birds Eating?” about the psyllids on the mimosa trees here at the Museum, I’ve photographed some of the adults. The nymph at right is less than half the size of the adult (photo from original post). But, you still have to look closely to see the adults of these little insects. You won’t see them though, if you don’t look. Enjoy!Read more
What are those Birds Eating?
As you walked along the trail through Explore the Wild on your last visit to the Museum, you may have noticed tiny “wet” spots on the pavement on the north side of the Wetlands and again past the Lemur House on your way to Catch the Wind, as if it had been lightly raining. If, when you saw the “wet” spots, you looked up you would have seen a branch of a mimosa tree above you. The wet spots cameRead more