Top Photo: Male flowers of eastern red cedar or juniper. Pollen Red cedar is in bloom, and the male flowers are sending out pollen for the fertilization of female flowers, and for the rest of us to breathe in and sneeze. The local elm trees are in bloom as well. Elm is another tree, like the cedar, whose pollen is carried by the wind. Butterflies Not strictly an indication of spring, but of warm days throughout the winter and earlyRead more
Posts tagged: #question mark
Caterpillars Eating Elm Leaves
Top Photo: Polygonia interrogationis on Ulmus. The caterpillars in these photos are question marks (Polygonia interrogationis). They’re butterfly caterpillars. Looking at the photos you may think they’re named for the shape they sometimes assume when disturbed. Not so. They are, in fact, named after the punctuation mark (?) but not because of the way the caterpillars scrunch up when hassled. No, question marks are named for markings on the underside of the adult butterfly’s hindwings which are roughly the shapeRead more
Due to the Revolution…
Frogs and toads are breeding, butterflies flying, groundhogs foraging, birds migrating and early season flowers are blooming. The white common blue violet in the above picture has been blooming for over a week on the path leading away from the Lemur House. There are also many of the blue form of violet along the same stretch of path. American toads and pickerel frogs were vigorously calling and mating on the warm afternoons of the second full week of March. ManyRead more
Caterpillar Time
It’s that time of year again when caterpillars seem to be everywhere. Oh sure, caterpillars can be seen from spring till late fall, sometimes in huge numbers. How can you forget those cankerworms that dangled on silky threads from every tree branch by the thousands, no millions, last April. No, what I’m talking about is the huge variety of species that can be viewed at this time of year. Both moth and butterfly species have been busy all summer producing youngRead more
A Question Mark, a Comma, and a Question of Origin
Over the past few weeks I’ve seen several species of butterfly winging through the outdoor exhibits. Two of those species are very similar in appearance and both, if you’re hearing them for the first time, have rather odd names, Question Mark and Eastern Comma. Even their Latin names reflect the strangeness of the common names, Polygonia interrogationis and Polygonia comma respectively. How did these butterflies get the names Question Mark and Comma? The underside of the hindwing tells the story.Read more