splashing around, checking out the limpkin and keeping an eye on me
emerged today from a Polistes fuscatus I collected from goldenrod in my yard on 8/27
Additional emergence from stem swellings on Q. macrpcarpa: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155287279
Appears to be a different genus than the initial emergers. Females + males, sexgen.
Found the caterpillar on an ash tree. Reared to adult and released.
x4, x10 and iPhone
Mites from the mite gall. Excited to see them for the fist time!
cv suggestion for now
~1-1.5cm long
Saw something like this last year in the same damp area of rotting wood, fungus and slime molds.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54411364
That one was sliming its way across fungus. This one was on a suspended sheet of slime on the underside of some wood. It was super clear like plastic wrap (aka cling film) so the larva looked like it was levitating. From the side it looked like a snake moving across crystal clear water. I tried taking a video, but the autofocus wasn't cooperating unfortunately.
Looks a lot like this other one
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118562806
location is approximate
specimen uploaded to AntWeb: https://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=antweb1041651
Dug up by accident! The first photos are as-found, with the Sandalus larva curled around the Cicada nymph's legs.
Q. alba - adult reared 5/4
Check out the neat, tidy little exit hatch she created!
2021-08-27 #6
Observation Group #91682219
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=any&place_id=any&field:Observation%20group=91682219
This trickster wasn't as chilled as I thought and ended up on the kitchen ceiling! I used the old cup and paper trick and got it outside in good health.
Continued observation of a sample collected 20210314 from a river tributary, scoop of sediment near the bank.
this specimen is Id´d as Turbanella hyalina. more images here:
http://www.plingfactory.de/Science/Atlas/KennkartenTiere/Gastrotricha/e-Gastrotricha/e-source/Turbanella%20hyalina.htmll
Attached to submerged water meter 1 - 3 feet deep in North Shore Channel at Church St. Was in place for 4 weeks. I will preserve then in ETOH
Iron oxidizing microbial biofilm in a seep-fed stream on the edge of a moraine
Slender black worm 200 mm long, with yellow stripe along dorsal side, and yellow stripe underneath. On walking trail near Point Lookout.
The second photo is my best of it.
I know that in some situations there just isn't much of a choice, but please, if you are fishing and your line breaks off, try to retrieve your lost lure, hook and bobber. For about an hour we watched this Redhead struggle with a fishhook through it's face with the line frozen into the Calumet River. (Animal Control was called and the bird has been taken to a wildlife rehab center). The bird also had ice covering a good portion of its feathers. We tried ourselves to get the bird free using wire-cutting pliers to try to clip the hook behind the barb, but the bird freaked out too much and we didn't want to have it rip the hook out of its own face by struggling too much.
Goldenrod Gall Fly, larva
St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota
TL=6mm
Found inside of a Eurosta solidaginis gall (see observation here). The observation date is when I found the galls, I'll annotate the observation as larvae but include photos of the pupae/adults that came out of them too. The gall was kept in a relatively cold closet, but not as cold as outside.
I first saw the pupa on June 7, 2020.
5th photo was taken on June 13, 2020.
The adult eclosed on: June 19, 2020.
Crab zoea, first larval stage of crab. Ftom cansl off Caloosahatchee River in Cape Coral, FL
Emerged from red oak acorns collected off the ground. Hopefully I can rear this and see what emerges. A gray moth, I suspect!
Yes, a gray moth emerged: observation set: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=any&place_id=any&field:Similar%20observation%20set=37191663
Mouse recovered from an owl pellet.
Very near complete skeleton.
I believe one of the eyes may have survived the ordeal. The spherical object was found in the eye socket with matted hair around it, seemed to be connected to a "cord" of some sort. I wouldn't think a soft tissue like that would survive, but that's what it seems like.
found as epibionts on a copepod.
More on this here:
http://www.plingfactory.de/Science/Atlas/KennkartenProtista/01e-protista/e-Ciliata/e-source/Trichodina%20domerguei%20megamicronuleata.html
the only Philodina species with appendages on the 1st foot pseudosegment; see here:
http://www.plingfactory.de/Science/Atlas/KennkartenTiere/Rotifers/01RotEng/source/Philodina%20childi.html
Bluebird that caught a snake (Thought he had a worm at first until I zoomed in and saw the tail narrow at tip)
5-legged mutant!
Juvenile Komodo Dragon, Komodo National Park
Good biological indicators.
Microscopy done on abdomen and hind legs. Front legs did not show signs of mycelium. Small dots (spores) were flowing off abdomen and are captured in one of the image. Fly found in my apartment on the ceiling. Months ago I had brought home an infected house fly from Pt Reyes and the fungus appears to have taken up residency on my fruit flies
red-tan fungus growing from between the body segments of blow fly
Calliphoridae sp.
The fungus enters the blow fly's brain and causes it to land upside down on the bottom of leaves and spread its wings before the fungus kills the fly.
I had hundreds of flies like this in my front and back garden. A friend 6-7 blocks away did not so the epidemic may have been highly local. Since blow flies love our compost bin when meat is put into it and the highest concentration of dead flies was very near our compost bin, perhaps the flies were infected in our compost.
the photo with the desicated eyes (5th) is the most spooky
Entomophthora sp.?
Collision witnessed by students in Microbial Sciences Building. Bird was dead by the time Facilities Planning and Mgmt employee arrived. FPM employee transferred bird to Forest and Wildlife Ecology dept for salvage.
Predator
5 mm male, green body, legs black, segments 2-3 of fore tarsi short and 4 longer (4th photo). Fore basitarsus with row of bristles on outside (5th photo).
Growing on oak bark in a shady spot. Most of the oaks in this park are covered in this stuff.
Observation for photobiont: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27680113
I'm not sure if the last 3 images are part of the mycobiont for this lichen, but they were all found in my sample.
Yellow-Bellied Marmot exhibiting cannibalistic behavior. I did not witness the killing of the younger marmot so I can't say whether this is opportunistic or aggressive cannibalism. Marmot ran across the path behind me and proceeded to tear at the prey marmot after getting far enough away from me to feel comfortable.
Continued from here – https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8442265
The eggs hatched on August 16, 2015.
As an experiment three gravid female Gray Cross Spiders (not a known host species) were introduced among the larvae, unknown if any spiders were boarded.
The larvae were released at six locations (near the co-ordinates on the map), know to be inhabited by Lycosidae, Phidippus sp, and (less commonly) Clubiona sp.