Granite glade.
Probable Quercus georgiana × nigra.
A few small trees along power line trail border. I think this might be the remains of a historic Q. georgiana population that has dwindled and hybridized with Q. nigra.
Unusual red oak that I suspect to be the unnamed hybrid Quercus coccinea × falcata.
This tree caught my eye because its drooping leaves were reminiscent of southern red oak, but they were not turning the characteristic chocolate brown of that species and had an irregular shape.
The upper canopy leaves, despite favoring southern red oak, especially with the deep yellow petioles, were entirely glabrous besides small tufts of hair in the vein axes. The petioles and twigs were also glabrous. Only the bud scales remain densely hairy.
The lower canopy leaves, however, look very uncharacteristic for southern red oak. They're closer to the lower canopy leaves of black oak, or perhaps enlarged versions of the lower leaves of scarlet oak. They're also hairy on the underside, with the hairs clustered in the vein axes but also sparsely distributed over the whole leaf surface. This hair distribution is very similar to that of Garland's oak, another southern red oak hybrid. The lower twigs and petioles are also pubescent.
Few acorn remains were present and only one that seemed well-developed and intact. The cup has loose scales that resemble black oak, but they're rather wide and cover most of the nut as with scarlet oak.
The only mature red oaks in the immediate vicinity were scarlet oak, but southern red oak and black oak are abundant in the general area.
SPECIMEN COLLECTED with the great help of @coolcrittersyt - Currently in possession of Dr. Fassbender of FGCU to look further into the identification.
roadside ditch in farm complex. roughly 3 individuals in same ditch.
With fasciation
Found on roadside near large river
Both Photinus and Photuris, at least.
Every time I see this photo it cracks a smile... this is probably one of the funniest photos I've ever taken.
iNat's recommendations (without location):
Chimpanzee
Tasmanian Devil
White-lipped Peccary
Binturong
White-faced Saki
Emu
White-bellied Spider Monkey
Domestic Dog
Abundant flying by day in diverse cushion-turf of mostly indigenous plants
A reverse one!!
Found in a bird bath, still alive. Moth is in water, first image.
Drawn to 10W UV LED light at Moturau Hut on the Kepler Track. Several of these extraordinary moths seen, only one captured to photograph.
Possible American toad X Fowler’s toad hybrid. The paranoid glands are greatly reduced, no “warts” on hind limbs, colouration darker than other observed Fowler’s toads and markings present on the underbelly. This location has been documented having F1 and F2 hybrids in published papers
Photo shared with me from anonymous source, confirmed found in Bell Canyon vicinity. The only case of bicephalia I’ve seen confirmed in the Santa Monica Mountains vicinity. Can’t confirm date/year of original observation. Animal was supposedly donated to an Audubon Zoo facility after being kept in captivity, can not confirm this or current status of the animal. Apparently likely no longer living but lived at least 14 years in captivity supposedly.
multiple fasciated branch
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY
GEDSC DIGITAL CAMERA
Appear to be eggs. Remote area corps of engineers land.
Top one.
Bottom one is a S. lacertina for comparison.
BIDENS ANDICOLA H.B.K., Nov. Gen. et Sp. 4:237 (186). 1820; B. andicola H.B.K. vars. normalis and heterophylla O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 3^II^: I36. 1898; B. fruticulosa Mey. and Walp., Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 19 Supplem. I. 271. 1843.
Descript. amplific.- Herba perennis, semi-procumbens vel etiam erecta, valde hispido-pubescens vel fere glabra, ramosa, 2-8 dm. alta, caulibus parce angulatis. Folia 1-7 cm. longa, valde polymorpha; nunc indivisa, ovata, serrata, sessilia vel alato-petiolata, ad apicem obtusa vel subacuta; nunc tripartite vel 1-3-pinnata foliolis ovatis vel lanceolatis vel linearibus et ad apicem sensim vel abrupte apiculatis. Capitula ramos terminantia, longe pedunculata, radiata; pansa ad anthesin 2-4 vel rarius etiam usque ad 5.5 cm. lata, 0.7-1.4 cm. alta. Involucrum perspicue hispidum, bracteis ex-terioribus 8-10, lanceolatis vel lineari-oblongis, ciliatis, supra saepe glabratis, apice plerumque obtusis, quam interioribus lanceolatis dense hispidis plerumque multo brevioribus. Flores ligulati saepius 8, lutei, ligula elliptico-oblanceolati, apice plerumque minute 3-denticulati, 1.2-2.5 cm. longi. Achaenia tenuiter linearia, inferne sensim attenuate, obcompresso-quadrangularia, sulcata, supra plus minusve erecto-hispida, fusco-nigra, corpore 0.7-1.4 cm. longa et 0.4-1 mm. lata et paleas demum superantia, apice bi- (vel pauca tri-) aristata, aristis tenuibus, brunneo-stramineis vel rubescentibus, re-trorsum hamosis, 1.7-3 mm. longis.
BIDENS ANDICOLA var. DECOMPOSITA O. Kuntze, I.c.; B. macrantha Griseb., Abhandl. Goett. I9:I38 I874; B. grandiflora Balb. var. breviloba 0. Kuntze, I.c.-Folia 2-3-pinnatisecta, usque ad I dm. longa, achaeniis superne valde attenuato-elongata.
For many years the identity of the South American Bidens andicola has been obscured for herbarium workers by the great multiplicity of foliage forms encountered. WEDDELL, as early as 1856 (Chloris And. 1870) described it as a polymorphous plant ("Plante polymorphe et très repande dans la chaine, mais presque exclusivement alpestre"). Later, OTTO KUNTZE, who like WEDDELL had collected in South America, commented upon the variability of the leaves ("Eine robuste Art mit einfach oder mehrfach ternatisecten Blättern, mittelgrossen gelben Strahlblüthen, ziemlich grossen Blüthenköpfen, äusseren zottig behaarten Involucralbracteen etc., aber in Bezug auf Blatttheilung wie manche andere Bidens-Art sehr variabel"; Rev. Gen. Pl. 3^II^: 136. 1898). In herbaria the numerous foliage forms are seen to simulate corresponding forms of B. triplinervia H.B.K. (B. humilis H.B.K., B. crithmifoliac H.B.K., etc.), and this has led often to confusion between the two species. Recently I was enabled, through the courtesy of OTTO BUCHTIEN (cf. SHEREFF, BOT. GAZ. 76: 151. 1923), to study a great number of specimens collected by him and displaying a wide range of variation. From these (all in Herb. Field. Mus.) and many others, totalling more than two hundred specimens, the preceding descriptions are drawn. It was found that sometimes, in poorly developed material, distinction from B. triplinervia is apparently impossible. In well developed material, however, the distinctions are usually very definite, B. andicola being coarser, its thicker heads having commonly about eight instead of commonly about five rays[4], etc. B. andicola has the paleae shorter than the mature achenes and this character separates it from the surprisingly similar aggregation of Mexican forms (Purpus 1547, 1548, 2637, 4135, 5089, 5620; Rose and Painter 6666, 7949; Pringle 4915; E. W. Nelson 3220, etc.) that in late years have passed erroneously under the name B. daucifolia DC. In the latter[5] the paleae are usually very blackish above and commonly surpass the mature achenes.
Occasionally a form of B. andicola is found with the leaves highly compound and the achenes strongly narrowed above, somewhat like those of Cosmos. If it were not for various connecting forms this would seem to be specifically distinct. KUNTZE, who himself collected specimens of it, referred at least one of them, a plant from Cochabamba, Bolivia (Herb. N.Y. Bot. Gard.) to B. andicola, naming it var. decomposita. In a careless moment he named a precisely identical form from between Cochabamba and Rio Juntas, Bolivia (Herb. N.Y. Bot. Gard.) B. grandiflora Balb. var. breviloba, although B. grandifjora is a Mexican species and is not known to occur in South America.
[4] Unfortunately, B. triplinervia produces at times an 8-rayed form. Discussion of this form must be deferred until a later date.
Sherff, E. E. (1926). Studies in the Genus Bidens. VII. Botanical Gazette, 81(1), 25-54.>>
Nugget, aka National Geographic Tree, the 3rd tallest redwood and 3rd tallest tree in the world
This species has been extinct for at least 70 years.
Parasitic earwigs on a Cricetomys gambianus ssp. ansorgei. See record https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/53042479
Female with forked tail. Never seen this.