Algae Monster, Scale Insect, and Snow Midges

An afternoon walk at the Cowling Arboretum, the upper part along Spring Creek. Warm and Sunny. At the newly renovated bridge over the creek, many Snow Midges were basking on the orange stucco of the railings. And more were seen all along the creek. It was a pleasure to see flying insects again.

At one of the riffles in the creek, I turned over several stones. Under the edge of one of the stones I found a little heap, like a living tangle of roots, of Ebony Jewelwing nymphs piled on top of each other. The Calopterigidae, the broadwing damselflies, are the twiggiest nymphs. If you're going to live among the roots and stems in the water beneath the undercut banks of a stream it's no doubt useful to blend into the surroundings and become a stick, especially if there happen to be trout in the stream as well.

Adult Ebony Jewelwings are abundant along this stretch of the creek in the summer. River Jewelwings and American Rubyspots can also be found here, but usually in much lower numbers. The nymphs of all three species look rather similar. The labrum, head shape, and first antennae segment length separate Calopteryx from Hetaerina. The nymph photographed, having stayed relatively motionless for the winter months algae has grown rather thick all over the nymph's exoskeleton, obscuring the details of the head and prothorax, making it a kind of algae monster.

On my way out of the Arboretum, I stopped to photograph the buds of a Hackberry. I noticed along one of the branches what appeared to be dried flowers or stamens at a number of leaf scars or buds. Closer inspection showed these to be tiny fungal spore bearing bodies. Looking at one of the photographs afterwords, a Scale Insect was noticed on the branch.

Publicado el 11 de febrero de 2017 a las 04:55 AM por scottking