TWENTY PLUME MOTH
Alucita hexadactyla
© Kim Tarsey, Marshland Fen
The Twenty-plume Moth is a moth of the family Alucitidae. It is found in Europe. The wingspan is 14-16 mm. The moth flies the whole year depending on the location.The larvae feed on Honeysuckle.
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alucita_hexadactyla
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Female COCHINEAL SCALE INSECT
and Mexican Rug using Cochineal Dye
Dactylopius coccus costa
Insect photo ©callnorthwest.com
Carpet photo ©Laura Quick
A scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the crimson-coloured dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico, this insect lives on cacti from the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and nutrients.
The carmine dye was used in Central America in the 15th century for coloring fabrics and became an important export good during the colonial period. After synthetic pigments and dyes such as alizarin were invented in the late 19th century, natural-dye production gradually diminished. Health fears over artificial food additives, however, have renewed the popularity of cochineal dyes, and the increased demand has made cultivation of the insect profitable again, with Peru being the largest exporter. Some towns in the state of Oaxaca (in Mexico) are still working with hand-made textiles using cochineal dyes — as in the Oxacan rug shown above.
The host cactus Opuntia (also known as “Prickly pear”) was brought to Australia in an attempt to start a cochineal dye industry in 1788, when Captain Arthur Phillip collected a number of cochineal-infested plants from Brazil on his way to establish the first European settlement at Botany Bay (part of which is now Sydney, New South Wales). At that time, Spain and Portugal had a worldwide monopoly (via their New World colonial sources) on the cochineal dye industry, and the British desired a source under their own control, as the dye was important to their clothing and garment industries (it was used to colour the British soldiers’ red coats, for example). The attempt was a failure in two ways: the Brazilian cochineal insects soon died off, but the cactus thrived, eventually overrunning eastern Australia. The cacti were eventually brought under control in the 1920s by the deliberate introduction of a South American moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, whose larvae fed on the cactus.
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal
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Stalk-eyed Fly - pushing eye distance from the head to new limits (also video)
BLACK BACKED JACKEL, SILVER BACKED JACKEL or RED JACKEL
Canis mesomelas
©Charles G Summers, Jr.
The scrappy Black-backed Jackal will give you a run for your money. AKA the Silver-backed or Red Jackal, this species of jackal inhabits two areas of the African continent separated by roughly 900 km. One region includes the southern-most tip of the continent including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe (I believe this photo is of a Cape resident as they are redder in color). The other area is along the eastern coastline, including Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia (Jackels I saw in this region tended to be more golden brown in color). The Black-Backed Jackel is listed by the IUCN as least concern, due to its widespread range and adaptability, although it is still persecuted as a livestock predator and rabies vector.
Fossil records indicate that the species is the oldest extant member of the genus Canis.
Although the most lightly built of jackals, it is the most aggressive, having been observed to singly kill animals many times its own size, and its intra-pack relationships are more quarrelsome.
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-backed_Jackal
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Vulture mixing it up with a jackel
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Black-backed Jackal portrait (by WildImages)
CACTUS BEE in a Blooming Cactus
Diadasia sp
©Mark W. Moffett, National Geographic
Although the cactus bee is solitary (each female constructs and provisions her own underground nest), they gather together around Tuscon, AZ into “aggregations”, with many solitary females nesting right next to each other. There may be tens or several hundred thousand females actively nesting in an area roughly the size of a typical city residential lot. Although there is lots of activity, you can stand or sit in one of these sites and not be stung. The bees will not chase you in an attempt to sting.
Female bees returning home with brilliant yellow pollen loads do not pause but fly directly into their open burrows. This frantic nesting and food collection phase will last for about 7-14 days, after which the site will appear dead. It is not. Underground, the eggs laid by these females are developing rapidly into larvae and pupae ready to metamorphose into a new adult generation of bees. In some nests, this may happen as soon as 2-3 weeks after the last females were observed nesting. In most nests, the developing larvae wait (in a kind of suspended animation called “diapause”) until the following spring to complete their development and emerge.
When ground-nesting bees aggregate, the ground looks like it has measles!
The first bees of the new generation to emerge are male bees which swarm over the site flying in low erratic flights looking for potential mates among the virgin females about to emerge. Thus the nesting site of a few weeks ago may turn into an orgiastic frenzy of male and female bees during the early morning hours. This activity lasts for several weeks until all the males have died and the females have dispersed.
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SPOTTED DEER or SIKA DEER stands in a stream reflecting the surrounding forest
Cervus nippon
©Angie Sin / National Geographic.com
Deer in Nara, Japan, are revered as holy messengers of God and are allowed to roam freely. They are well known for their bowing gestures for food.
The Sika Deer also known as the Spotted Deer or the Japanese Deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to various other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to the Russian Far East in the north, it is now on the brink of extinction in all areas except Japan, where the species is overabundant. Its name comes from shika (鹿), the Japanese word for “deer”.
The Sika deer is one of the few deer species that does not lose its spots upon reaching maturity. Spot patterns vary with region. The mainland subspecies have larger and more obvious spots, in contrast to the Taiwanese and Japanese subspecies, whose spots are nearly invisible. Many introduced populations are from Japan and thus also lack significant spots.
They are medium sized herbivores, 50–95 centimetres (20–37 in) tall at the shoulder and weighing 30–70 kilograms (66–150 lb). Males are noticeably larger than females. All Sikas are compact and dainty-legged with short, trim, wedge-shaped heads and a boisterous disposition. When alarmed, they will often display a distinctive flared rump, much like the American Elk.
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sika_Deer
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DACETINE ANT
Daceton armigerum
©Piotr Naskrecki / Conservation International
One creepy looking ant.
Conservation International led expeditions to the South American country of Suriname, finding two dozen potential new species in the process. Among the biological curiosities documented during the expeditions was this ant species, Daceton armigerum, which is a highly visual predator of the rainforest canopy.
The Daceton Armigerum is an ant with a really strong jaw. It is known for its ferocious attacks on other insects and it is known by those in Peru as an ant to avoid at all costs. Even if you have never had an opportunity to see this ant personally, pictures will give you the indication that this is not a species to mess around with! These are visual predators, so they see things that they want and they go after them in a hurry!
The ant adapts well in just about any environment and is able to live in all of these different areas because it is willing to feed on just about anything including fungus, algae, and more.
Fact Source:
http://www.itsnature.org/ground/creepy-crawlies-land/daceton-armigerum/
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DEEP SEA ANGLERFISH
Melanocetus johnsoni
Justin Marshall / AFP - Getty Images
This deep-sea anglerfish is well-adapted for living in a dark world where the pressure is 140 times greater than on land. “Learning more about these creatures’ primitive eyes and brain could help neuroscientists better understand human vision,” research team leader Justin Marshall says. “We could also design better cameras and illumination systems because, as we’ve seen, nature often gets there first.”
Fact Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38264222
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ORIENTAL DWARF KINGFISHER
Ceyx erithaca
©Harshad Barve
also known as the Black Backed Kingfisher
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Dwarf_Kingfisher
Other photos you may like:
Blue-Winged Kookaburra (a really big Kingfisher)
For Steve: Harshad Barve is the photographer for this image, you’d need to contact him directly if you want to know about purchasing a copy. Clicking through the image will take you to the photo, but you may need to de a little research to find the photographer. It is a great shot of a gorgeous bird. Good Luck!
ATOLLA JELLYFISH
Atolla wyvillei
©Justin Marshall / AFP - Getty Images
Deep-sea delights - Scientists from the Queensland Brain Institute have used high-tech cameras to photograph sea creatures at a depth of 4,600 feet at the Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea, northeast of the northern Australian city of Cairns. This is a deliciously red Atolla jellyfish.
Fact Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38260117/displaymode/1247?beginSlide=1
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RED-EYED TOAD
no latin name yet
©Robin Moore / iLCP
This small Haitian toad, about 3-4cm in length, is of undetermined genus. The toad’s striking bright red eye’s make him unique. According to Conservation International, “This highly unusual species has scientists baffled – they know nothing about this species other than where it lives, which is around 2,000m elevation in the Chocó montane rainforest. Scientists trekked up very steep slopes to reach the habitat where they found the new toad.”
Fact Source: http://www.thedailygreen.com/weird-weather/weather-categories/endangered-frog-photos#ixzz1T5sxIjkN
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BLUE EYED SPOTTED CUSCUS
Spilocuscus wilsoni
©Tim Flannery / WWF
The blue-eyed spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus wilsoni) is one of about 10 new mammal species discovered in the past decade in Papua New Guinea, where a world-record 38 species of tree-dwelling marsupials live. The possum is one of more than 1,000 new species discovered in Papua New Guinea in recent years, according to WWF, which has just released a report on the island’s amazing natural riches.
New Guinea, an island divided politically by Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, has the world’s third-largest tract of intact rain forest, after the Amazon and the Congo. Deforestation, conservationists warn, is a major threat to the forest and the habitat it provides.
Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/weird-weather/weather-categories/nature-pictures/blue-eyed-spotted-cus-cus#ixzz1T5yUVKea
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BRANCOID WASP parasitizing GYPSY MOTH CATERPILLAR
Aleiodes indiscretus parasitizing a Lymantria dispar
©USDA photo by Scott Bauer
A Brancoid Wasp stings a caterpillar and lays its eggs either inside the caterpillar or on the host. There are often elaborate physiological adaptations that increase the chance of larval survival within the host.
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Here’s a creepy but facinating video of a caterpillar who’s been stung by a parasitoid wasp. It spends the rest of it’s life first as a host to the larvae then protecting them as they pupate. Amazing (and somewhat gross) footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qalkiuXueg (opens in a new window)
©TheMrViral
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External Brancoid Wasp Hatching
ORIENTAL WHIP SNAKE
Ahaetulla prasina
©Premaphotos Wildlife / naturepl.com
AKA: Boie’s whip snake, Gunther’s whip snake, Asian Vine Snake
The Oriental Whipsnake Ahaetulla prasina is a widespread species of arboreal tree snake found in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Its appearance is very much like those of South American vine snakes. It is a rear-fanged species and is mildly venomous but is not considered a threat to humans. Feeds on small reptiles and amphibians, particularly lizards and tree frogs.
In recent years, it has entered the pet trade and has become quite popular among hobbyists
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahaetulla_prasina
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ALMIQUI or CUBAN SOLENDON
Solenodon cubanus
©Dr. Julio Genarox
Burrowing and nocturnal, only a couple of dozen have even been caught and studied, so very little is known about them. I think that they were the models for the swamp creatures in the movie The Princes Bride
It has a varied diet. At night, they search the forest floor litter for insects and other invertebrates, fungi, and roots. They climb well and feed on fruits, berries, and buds, but have more predatory habits, too. With venom from modified salivary glands in the lower jaw, it can kill lizards, frogs, small birds, or even rodents. They seem not to be immune to the venom of their own kind, and there are records of cage mates dying after fights.
They produce litters consisting of 1 to 3 young.
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Solenodon
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MALAYSIAN JUNGLE NYMPH aka GIANT THORNY PHASMID
Heteropteryx dilatata
©Adrian Pingstone
The females of this species are very aggressive and should be approached cautiously. When threatened, the female insect will hiss and attempt to thrash the aggressor with her legs, the male will play dead. Found in the the jungles of Malaysia, they eat bramble, oak and other leaves.
A mature female has a bright, light green color and a length of about 7 inches (18 cm). She can’t fly, but uses her small, pinkish colored wings to make a startling hissing sound, or hides them under leaflike wing cases. Her abdomen broadens from a slender mesothorax, then narrows to a point. A slight, toothed flare along each side of her exoskeleton, plus many thornlike spines dotting her body and legs, effectively mimic thorny vegetation. Males are smaller, growing to about 4 inches (10 cm) in length, and can fly. Brown wing cases with a bark-like appearance cover their mottled brown, cylindrical bodies and conceal large, reddish-purple wings. Both males and females have thin antennae, small heads and strong legs.
Fact Source: http://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=482
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