this Chamorchis alpina is pretty special to me. It is a very small plant with grass-like leaves and yellow-green flowers, so it is difficult to spot even we you are looking for it. I was lucky and almost knealt on it while taking pictures of a particularly nice edelweiss.
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Both are so beautiful!
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Thank you!
Mother Nature is so giving
Piglet bug! I thought it was a weevil at first. Better photo on my Nikon for later. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/233386388
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Petalocephala manchurica (만주귀매미), a member of Ledrinae (Flat-headed Leafhoppers), with this fellow doing its best impression of a fallen leaf.
Possibly Myxarium nucleatum (Crystal Brain Fungus)? Assuming that’s correct, this is a new addition for everything from species up to order Auriculariales (목이목). Also, I would like to add that I find the Korean common name for the order quite pleasing – mok-i-mok.
Always room for a moth, right? The tunnel on the edge of town is still offering up new lifers, which I’ll happily accept. This one is Smerinthus planus (Oriental Eyed Hawkmoth · 뱀눈박각시), though it didn’t feel like sharing its ‘eyes’ with me.
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It has to be this Arcyria species. I think it is probably Arcyria obvelata but I hope to get a specimen suitable for microscopy I can send to our local myxomycetologist.
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Speckled Kingsnake…photographed scooting around my campsite…Village Creek SP…Lumberton, Texas(USA)…https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/233340382
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I have often expressed my frustration with the mushroom scene, and have sometimes doubted whether observing mushrooms is even worthwhile. So, it is with happiness that I post this lifer, not only identified to species but also verified by a second person:
The bolete Alessioporus rubriflavus, only the second in North Carolina. I did all the usual recommended things for mushrooms: photographed both top and bottom, tested for staining, looked at the cap flesh color (different from the surface color), and included habitat context. What clinched it, though, was the taste test: slightly tart/sour/acidic. After keying out all the other characters using The Bolete Filter, adding the taste narrowed it down enough to get to species.
Only the second in North Carolina – and not in a particularly noteworthy place. A line of trees demarcates the property line between an apartment complex and a daycare center. The user who seconded my ID said, “I suspect Alessioporus rubriflavus is just little-known and under-observed on iNaturalist; it’s not especially rare in my area.”
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Always hard to get a good photo of a Pieris, but this beauty was just posing on my balcony. I had never seen her before, anywhere! What a treat!
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Pretty sure I got the ID right on this Chocolate Prominent. I’d go as far to say bucket list moth.
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Now there’s one for the thread, You know you’re seriously into iNat when! Who but a naturalist type would have bucket list moths?
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Top of my list https://bugguide.net/node/view/323473
I got another dragonfly lifer a few days ago. Royal River Cruiser!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/233773744
I live near the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The Towpath Trail which used to follow the old canal so mules could pull the canal boats is now a nice public trail through the Valley. The path follows the Cuyahoga River. So, occasionally, you get a river dragonfly species to wander to the trail along the canal. I have gotten a couple of nice species of dragonfly walking and searching in this area. It’s a beautiful area whether or not you see a dragonfly.
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When I was posting an observation of a Northern Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus), iNat CV also suggested Xenos peckii as a possible ID. I’m not an insect person, and I wondered if that was some wasp-mimic species that I never heard of. A quick online search revealed it to be a species of insect which parasitizes P. fuscatis exclusively, in a manner which turns the host into a so-called “zombie.”
I hadn’t even noticed several of these insects protruding from the abdomen of the wasp until the CV “saw” them.
There are only 7 other observations of Xenos peckii in Vermont, and 207 in North America (it is not found anywhere else.) So this is definitely my most rare species observation!
But I have to confess that I find it a bit creepy … my apologies to entomologists everywhere!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/234243439
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A great observation and a big win for the CV, without which this would have gone unnoticed!
And certainly, it’s creepy! For anyone who is familiar with the Alien movie franchise, these parasitoids are the real life embodiment of those monsters, at least for the host species.
Current garden moth of the year goes to this dark crimson underwing that payed a visit to my moth trap last night amongst some mostly standard species, 14th inat observation of this species in the UK and a moth I never expected to find this close to home. Presumably a continental migrant but might have been a traveller from the woods in the nearby nature reserve as there’s plenty of large oaks as larval foodplants, regrettably no hindwing photo taken but moth was flighty and reluctant to hold it’s hindwings open long enough for a photo. Maybe lightning will strike twice and a blue underwing will pay a visit sooner or later.
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This week I found the most beautiful butterfly I have ever seen in the wild: Iphiclides podalirius. I sadly didn’t get the best photo, but I was very happy when I got it.
Another immediate favourite was this tephritid fly I found: Noeeta pupillata
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Today I have to show 3 lifers. The first and most special is already from the 3rd August, but it took a while to get IDed.
Myrmeleon almohadarum was only described in 2016 and mine is the 3rd observation on iNat.
On the moth-walk of the 8th (actually it was past midnight, so the 9th) I saw a tiger beetle.
Myriochila melancholica
Apparently these day-active beetles fly also on really hot nights. It probably didn’t see well though, as I could get much closer than during the day.
And yesterday’s snorkelling brought me a new hermit crab , Calcinus tubularis.
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That hermit crab is gorgeous!
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