Oddest insect ever

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. 

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.   

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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.