New milkweed species

I snuck outside awhile ago and was on my way to check out bluebonnets in the Meadow when I saw this leggy plant on our neighbor's side of the property. Looked like a WEED. When I leaned over, I saw the fluffy seed pods. Hmm, must be a purple milkweed vine nearby, I thought. THEN I saw the pod ON THE PLANT! A new-to-me milkweed species! AWESOME!

Drum roll, please...this is a zizotes milkweed (Asclepias oenotheroides). According to Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country, the perennial species "is one of the more weedy-looking milkweeds." Which explains my initial reaction when I saw it. Sure wish I could have seen the blooms. I LOVE milkweed flowers.   

Well, not quite

"The report of my death was an exaggeration." --Mark Twain

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I spotted my aging argiope friend STILL ALIVE! "Oh, my goodness, I'm SO sorry," I told her. "I told everyone that you'd died!"

Not only is she still with us, but she appears to be putting on more weight. Again. Another egg sac perhaps? Surely, she'd set a record for one argiope season if that happened. We shall see.

End of a productive life

My spider lady passed during the night. I knew her time was short. She'd stopped spinning a stabilimentum (zig zag) within her web. Then last night I saw her just clinging to what remained of her web. The temps were cold so instead of going outside, I opened my office window and shot a few last images of her. Sure enough, this morning, she was gone. 

While outside tending bird feeders, I stopped by and searched the salvia and lantana foliage beneath where she'd hung. But I found nothing. Except for her four egg sacs, tributes to a productive spider life indeed. 

Fall butterflies

Number FOUR!

YES–our argiope mama laid her fourth egg sac! But this time, she chose a bit better location. Instead of attaching it to the side of our house (like the other three), she constructed her sac underneath the nearby bird bath. This egg sac should be the final one for her.  

Didn't take James long to find egg sac #4.

November 2013 in our Wildscape

New sphinx moth!

I was shooting photos this evening and happened onto a sphinx moth, nectaring on our shrimp plants. I snagged this terrible image, but it was good enough for someone on Bugguide.net to ID it as a Titan sphinx (Aellopos titan). 

Awesome–now we've had FOUR sphinx species in our Wildscape! White-lined (Hyles lineata), Amphion floridensis, snowberry clearing (Hemaris diffinis) and now the Titan. 

UPDATE–My sighting was confirmed by Butterflies and Moths of North America!