Month: October 2016

Recently I moved into a new apartment complex off South Congress. The location is great as it’s super close to St. Edwards and just a few minutes from downtown. I’m generally selective about where I park. I like to park away from other cars and try to avoid parking under trees where birds like grackles roost and defecate.   Last week after a quick rain I come out to find my car covered in these small pink/purple flowers.  I had to determine who the culprit was as soon as possible.  I figured out it was the Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica).  The reason I had all these flowers on my car is because this species is a beautiful summer-flowering deciduous tree-shrub.  The Crape Myrtle has been called the lilac of the south.  It is native to China and Korea but has naturalized to the southern US.

As I came to know, the Crape Myrtle is valued for its long period of striking papery crepe-like
flowers. In the summer these flowers my be shades of white, pink, red, or lavender. Bloom times can vary, but large clusters appear on the tips of new branches beginning in summer and into the fall. Interestingly, if you cut the fruits from the tree, you can stimulate more bloom in 30-45 days.   The Cape Myrtle is generally a shrub, but some side shoots and trunks can be clipped to train it into small tree.

I pass by this large patch of Inland Sea Oat (Chasmanthium latifolium) everyday on my way to St. Edward’s. This is the same native grass that Eric, Abbie, and myself are using to oversow our experimental plots with in the hopes that their growth will suppress the Chinese and Japanese privet populations. This is a 2-4 ft., clump-forming, perennial grass bearing large, drooping, oat-like flower spikelets. Their leaves look very similar to bamboo leaves and will turn yellow during the fall. Inland Sea Oat is very popular as a low-maintenance shade grass.  This grass can grow to be 2 feet tall within a few months of sprouting its first leaves. As the seeds mature, they will turn from green to ivory to brown and eventually fall off, or are eaten. The seeds are eaten by small mammals and granivorous birds, the leaves provide graze for mammals, and the stems and leaves are used as nesting material by birds. Inland Sea Oat is also the larval host plant for a few butterfly species: pepper & salt skipper butterfly, bells road side skipper butterfly, and the bronzed roadside skipper butterfly.

In the riparian ecosystem at Wild Basin, Inland Sea Oat is a favorable species to use the oversowing method with because this species is shade-tolerant, re-seeds easily, and can expand aggressively within a couple of years. They also help to stabilize the sediment and prevent soil erosion. iNaturalist Observation. 

Source for Inland Sea Oat info.

Every time my research group goes out to Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, we run into many different species that we’re not used to seeing in the city. For example, this weekend I spotted this unfamiliar friend sitting on a Yaupon Holly branch near the trail.

This insect is about two inches long and after doing some googling, I identified it as a Leaf-footed bug, or Acanthocephala terminalis.  These Leaf-Footed Bugs are native to most of North America and they tend to feed on native vegetation. If you look closely at the top photo, you can see herbivory activity on the leaves of the Holly that this individual is sitting on; perhaps he was there for breakfast.

My iNaturalist observation can be found here.

A couple of weekends ago, I took a few friends out to help with volunteer work at Inks Lake State Park. While there, we observed various species, including this butterfly.

At first, I identified it as a Monarch, but upon further research and help from the iNaturalist community found that it is actually a Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus).

This species is found mostly in the tropics, as well as into temperate areas in the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Larvae feed primarily on milkweed and dogbane. When they mature, their feeding preferences broaden, while sometimes still occasionally found to feed on milkweed. This species also has chemical defenses that make it unpalatable to predators.

My iNaturalist post can be found here.

References: http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51743-Danaus-gilippus

Walking to class everyday in the afternoon at St. Edwards, my buddy and I see numerous black birds near the parking garage.  Some of these are known as the Great-Tailed Grackle, Quiscalus mexicanus.  They are commonly seen in suburban areas foraging for insects in lawns.  The males have black iridescent and purple feathers with bright yellow eyes.  They are known for their loud vocalizations, which sometimes categorizes them as a pest species.

You can find my iNaturalist post here.

Bald Cypress trees, Taxodium distichum, are ornamental at Hamilton Pool. Their roots reach down into the creek waters and they stretch up to heights of about 120 feet. They are deciduous conifers that shed their leaves in early Fall; so early in fact it is the reason they were given the name “bald” cypress. Another interesting characteristic about this species and what they’re most known for is their “knees”. This is a term to describe the special type of roots they possess called pneumatophores, which means “air-bearing”. Because bald cypress trees are rooted into the water, the pneumatophores serve to transport air to drowned roots underground while also helping to stabilize the tree.

Bald Cypress trees are native throughout the southeastern United States. They are well-adapted to wet conditions along river banks and swamps, which has led them to be the state tree of Louisiana. Bald Cypresses are slow-growing, long-lived trees that frequently reach up to 600 years in age. They were valued for timber in the past, but their slow-growth characteristic has placed a higher priority on conserving them and their low numbers. It is also more difficult for loggers to harvest them within wetlands. These trees are very valuable in the wild. They soak up floodwaters, help prevent coastal erosion, trap pollutants and prevent them from spreading, and provide breeding grounds for many amphibians. Their high canopies are also popular for bird nests, most notably the bald eagle.

You can find my iNaturalist post here.

References

https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Plants/Bald-Cypress.aspx

Grass Spider

This spider was seen walking through a tall grassy area in Wild Basin close to Bee Creek. I would have walked right into this spider web if Eric hadn’t already. The disturbance caused the spider ball up, making the identification process a little more complicated. By the markings on the lower abdomen and the stripes on the legs lead to the the funnel web grass spider, Agelenopsis spp.  There are 13 species of Agelenopsis occurring from Canada to Mexico, inhabiting areas with high grasses and shrubs for them to construct their webs.

 

See INaturalist post here

Reference:

http://www.spiders.us/species/agelenopsis-sppagele

This peculiar guy has been hanging around my apartment lately. First, I noticed him crawling around the ceiling outside my front door, and then (when I took this photo) he had found a nice resting place in the sun on the handicap sign where my car was parked!

I’ve always been fascinated by these creatures. The Praying Mantis, or Mantis religiosa, is commonly found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. They were first brought to America by shipment in the 1800’s, but now have become a loved insect across the states!

The link to my iNaturalist observation can be found here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4237789

I found this beetle in the middle of the parking lot after a soccer game. I have identified it as Calosoma spp, a species of ground beetle in the family Carabidae. I am not certain of the species, but my guess would be Calosoma macrum. This genus of large ground beetles are also known as caterpillar hunters or searchers. Both adult and larvae stages are very active predators and they are commonly found in agricultural and garden settings. These beetles can produce a foul-smelling odor from glands near the tip of their abdomens. Most beetles in this genus are all black but some have metallic coloring as well. They are the largest beetles in this family. They have large, distinct thoraxes, nearly the size of their abdomens and wider than their heads. Many of the beetles in this family are nocturnal but adults rarely fly.

My iNaturalist post can be found here.

Sources:

http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/kyf304.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calosoma

 

There a quite a few agave plants that look similar to this one, but I believe this succulent is Agave salmiana ferox. I love the common name of this plant, the Green Goblet; It’s perfect for the start of October because it sounds “Halloween-y” to me and Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It grows to be about 4 feet tall by 4 feet wide and originated in Mexico. It is a very adaptable plant, doing well in both sun and shade. It is also heat and drought tolerant. It is becoming an increasingly popular plant to use in landscaping because of these factors. Its leaves are lined with large spines and flowers in early to mid summer, a yellow cup shaped flower that rises above the foliage. I actually first saw this plant at my grandma’s home in Mexico, she had a few in her courtyard. This has always been one of my favorite plants, and I’ve gone through quite a few of the miniature versions. Its supposed to be one of the easiest plants to keep alive, but for whatever reason, I can’t!

My iNaturalist post can be found here.