Surprise – my spider wish came true!

Yesterday after supper, James wished me well before I set out to bug hunt. "Hope you find a new species," he said. I smiled and shrugged. Seems like they're getting harder to find these days.

In the back yard, I was on my way to collect seeds from our Alamo vine growing on a fence when I spotted some silken lines reflecting in the evening sunlight. Why, of course, I stopped in my tracks. Hmm, gotta be an orbweaver near by, I thought to myself. I looked up and over ... and then I did the happy dance! A lot! 

There she was on her web, a spinybacked orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis)! My first EVER! I'd always hoped to find one in our gardens. And after all these years, my wish finally came true. With help from my macro lens and post editing, my images came out well of this small spider. I shared the pictures on Facebook, and a lot of friends were amazed. I guess this species isn't seen very often. I can sure attest to that! 

 

Eve's necklace update

You may recall my post from last May where I lamented about my poor Eve's necklace (Styphnolobium affine). Her leaves were shriveling, and she just looked TERRIBLE. James pronounced her dead. Finished. The End. But not me. 

 

"I want to give her until next spring," I said. Since she's nearly five years old, I figured she might still have strong roots. 

 

Well..... drum roll, please..... look what I spotted  yesterday while strolling in the Meadow.... 

She hasn't given up! Yay!

Notes to myself

It's been a banner year for golden daleas (Dalea aurea). I collected some seeds and spread part of them here and there in the Meadow. However, I didn't walk into the Meadow because it's also been a banner year for those darn chiggers. I also put some in the Pasture next to the tithonias.

Bamberger Ranch Preserve tour

After all these years, we finally took a public tour of the 5,500-acre Bamberger Ranch Preserve. That happened last Friday. Staff members Kayla Krueger and Drew Neyland guided us on the three-hour trip. A small group of us rode aboard a covered, open-air trailer with long benches. Drew drove the pickup truck that pulled the trailer. 

Here were our pre-tour instructions: "Wear closed-toed shoes as we will have the option of walking our Nature Trail. Walking sticks or hiking poles are welcome. Feel free to bring a hat, binoculars, water, and make sure you dress for the weather as we will be outside for the duration of the tour. The event is rain or shine, with lightning being the only exception."

Below is the late J. David Bamberger's well-seen grave marker for mankind, which is where every tour starts. I remember him talking in front of it when I first met him in the early 1990s. I wrote one of the first profiles on him in the August 1993 issue of Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine.

Photo by James Hearn

Photo by James Hearn

Kayla introduced us to the "rain machine," which demonstrates how different ground covers affect rainwater run off. The machine's main purpose is to show how important native grasses are in drawing water into our aquifers. 

Beautiful Madrone Lake

Along the Nature Trail

Photo by James Hearn

Marbleseed

Kayla in a green sea of inland sea oats along the Nature Trail.

Mr. Bamberger's herd of scimitar-horned oryx, which he helped bring back from extinction. 

The Chiroptorium, Mr. Bamberger's bat cave.

Drew shares photos of bats and construction photos of the bat cave.

Oddest insect ever (plus a cousin)

Take a look at this fellow that I spotted on the doorframe of our back garage door last month. It was tiny and measured may 5 mm tops. (I’m guesstimating. I don’t usually measure in millimeters, but I know they’re preferred in the science world.) I used a macro on my phone to get these photos. I didn’t even really know what it looked like until later when I saw the images. WOW! It’s got to be the oddest looking insect I’ve ever found in our gardens. 

Anyway, I haven’t had much input from fellow observers on iNaturalist. But the folks at Bugguide.net did confirm my tentative identification of Amyclini tribe (genus Amycle). “I can’t help with the ID, but that’s a great find,” wrote one guy. “What a cool bug.” 

So Amyclini is in the weird family of lanternflies (Fulgoridae), which are planthoppers. This group is totally new to me. Here’s another weird one: The alligator bug (Fulgora laternaria), also called the peanut-headed lanternfly.

In that lanternflies are true bugs (and not flies), they behave like them, which means they use their piercing proboscis to feed on plants. According to Bug of the Week, “Lanternflies are relatives of aphids, cicadas, and shartpshooters…. They obtain nutrients by inserting soda straw-like mouthparts into the vascular system of the tree and removing sap.”

So far, I’ve only found one other lanternfly that has an alligator-shaped head like mine. And the odds of ever seeing another one in our gardens is probably next to never. 

UPDATE July 15, 2026

I decided to add these photos of a related planthopper that I found July 7, 2026, on one of our American beautyberries. It's likely in the genus Rhynchomitra. It's not as odd looking as my Amycle, but it's cool. 

   

A fasciated Snoopy

Well, that's what I thought yesterday when I found this odd seedhead on a Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera) in The Meadow. I think it's an anomaly. Linda C., a fellow Texas Master Naturalist on iNaturalist, set me straight and called it "fasciated." Thanks, Linda! 

 

And, wow. A new term for me! Here's an article on fasciation, which is an abnormal pattern of growth in the growing tip of plants.

 

Maybe you see something else, not Snoopy? 

The seedhead among its brethren

Maybe lose some, win some

Alas, our western ironweed (Vernonia baldwinii) and its hybrid are eaten up with a rust fungus. It makes me sad to see them so sick. Thank goodness, I transplanted the one surviving woolly ironweed (Vernonia lindheimeri) across the yard! I think the fungus attacked our ironweeds last summer, too. I'm hoping these survive and come back next year. I think they will.   

A

In the meantime, look at our velvetleaf mallows (Allowissadula holosericea). They're still growing UP and out!

Surprises from the past

In the recent past, I discovered these old plant markers that I made at least 17 years ago. Somehow they resurfaced in some flowerbeds. I can't believe how well they've held up! I originally made them April 2009 (and some earlier than that). The butterfly bush is long gone, but our 'Indigio Spires' are still around. Just wanted to share. 

A fun slumber party

Click on photo for more images from the research article....

 

I subscribe to The Nature Notice, iNaturalist's newsletter that comes via e-mail. One story caught my eye:

The story above links to a research article, "A cuckoo slumber party?..." The included photos of the snoozing bees on the sunflowers made me smile. They also reminded me of my own roosting male bees from November 2010  (which were California digger bees, Anthophora californica) and July 2014  (Common long-horned bees, Melissodes communis). 

 

My little cactus

Many years ago, Ray B., a fellow Texas Master Naturalist, gifted this cactus to me. It was much smaller back then. And though I've let many potted plants go, I've held onto this little guy. Somehow it's survived and even thrived. What is it? I wondered that, too. With help from iNaturalist, I think it must be a star cactus in the genus of Astrophytum. That's the best I can do! 

 

Telling a funny on myself

Yesterday James and I visited my mother in Boerne and ran errands with her. She mentioned how she'd always wanted to find a certain grave stone in the Boerne Cemetery. Well, I whipped out my handy-dandy phone and said we could do that right then!

 

"I'll use Find A Grave," I added. "It'll be like geocaching."  

 

Sure enough, the man's name came right up along with the location of his grave. I tried to give directions to James, who was behind the wheel, but it wasn't going well because I wasn't certain what I was seeing on my screen. Finally, I jumped out of the car and said I'd find it on foot first. Which I did.

 

Meanwhile, back in the car, my mother watched as I hiked across the cemetery.

 

"Oh, I hope she doesn't find a bug," she told James. "Otherwise, we'll be here for a while!" 

 

LOL! My mother just thinks she knows me! I still laugh over that funny.

First a hole, then a turret...

Once upon a time, a tiny princess lived in a tiny turret... Well, not exactly. But yesterday I did spot a tiny hole. When I looked closer, I saw the turret. Out of curiosity, I hung around to see what might be living in it. It wasn't long before an ant carrying a tiny piece of green showed up. She took forever to find the hole. Which she finally crawled into and disappeared. While I watched, squatted down on my haunches (and trying to ignore the bites of teeny-tiny ants), someone peeked her head out. Then she darted back into the hole. I got a couple of videos because she made me chuckle. 

 

With help from iNaturalist, I discovered that my girls are turret fungus-farming ants (Mycetomoellerius turrifex). This was the third time that I've observed this species in our gardens. I just hadn't realized before that they're among the cool ant species that grow their own food. I learned about them while writing a short piece for Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine on Texas leaf-cutter ants. Which is why I know my ants are "girls." Ant queens produce only female workers. Then later they produce male drones, which live only long enough to mate. Some fungus-growing ants can defoliate plants and trees. In our gardens, our colonies are too small do any damage.