I didn’t know there were so many different species of buffalo treehoppers :O
We have Stictochephala bisonia, which is introduced in Europe, and I somehow always assumed that it is the only one which looked like that.
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The other Buffalo Treehoppers I have seen previously have eyes that looked more like googly eyes, if that makes sense. The eyes on this one were the first I have seen like this!
Have you ever seen a treehopper that is species Bolbonata? Those aren’t categorized as Buffalo Treehoppers and yet… they look like tiny buffalo to me. (Or acorns).
Also in the non-buffalo treehopper category, we also have Mexican Treehoppers here that remind me of roosters, the juveniles of which remind me of storm troopers, and Two-Marked Treehoppers, whose silhouettes look like little brontosaurs.
(Lest anyone wonder, my response to the “are you formally trained?” thread was no.)
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Yesterday I found another new moth. It is incredible that there are still new moths around - and that I find them just by walking the streets and looking at white walls lit by streetlamps.
Paradiarsia glareosa
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Recently got a rare vagrant to NZ, white winged black tern, getting confused among NZ birds!
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I can finally post here! On Monday, 10/21, I visited Petrified Forest National Park for the first time. I was thrilled to stumble across this male(?) Grand Canyon Tarantula (Aphonopelma marxi) while hiking in the Painted Desert Wilderness. It was just him and me out on the plain, and I greatly enjoyed our encounter.
I’ve wanted to see one of these Tarantulas since I know they’re in the Payson area where I live, but I’ve only ever seen Desert Blondes (A. chalcodes) and the newly described A. mareki.
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@blazeclaw. My new species was the Swamp sparrow. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/248947015
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https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/249086501
So I didn’t find this species this week, however, I did finally identify what it actually is yesterday.
This is Hylaeus schwarzii, which is a habitat specialist that only inhabits saltmarshes and adjacent areas. The females are pretty large for a Hylaeus, and unlike most of their congeners, they are relatively hairy. This is definitely an uncommon/rare species in Connecticut, last recorded here in 2012. My observation of H. schwarzii is the first for New England iNat.
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Today I found two lifers, a painted tiger moth and a marine blue - my 799th and 800th insect species id. I’m visiting Laguna Beach, California, was out birding and not really expecting to find any insects, so these were extra delightful.
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This week was a big week for me with leaf galls, since the leaves have started falling I’ve been meaning to spend a week looking for these, and I finally had a chance to this week. I saw several species that I haven’t seen before. These include Phylloteras rubinum, Acraspis pezomachoides, Neuroterus saltarius, and Zopheroteras hubbardi.
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Cool galls! As a botanist, can I suggest that you also include a picture of the entire leaf with the gall on it? That way, someone is more likely to be able to verify the host ID, particularly if you end up finding something unusual.
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Two nights ago, I went to a bridge at the point where the coastal lagoon meets the sea, with a malecón underneath. There’s always all kinds of different people fishing there at night (there are tarpons, mullets, jacks, grunts, snook, snapper, grouper, and what not), although I don’t like fishing there since the lagoon is so heartbreakingly polluted, mainly by organic waste.
A woman and her child were fishing for little fish just for fun, when the woman took out the first toadfish I’ve ever seen! It was an Opsanus sp., very likely O. beta, the Gulf Toadfish, but couldn’t confirm since I think there are a few other rarer species that could have been easily distinguishable by the color of their mouth and throat, parts I didn’t pay much attention to, although literally its mouth was full open and the poor creature had swallowed the hook.
A man quickly came and unhooked the creature. He became into the fish’s hero until he ‘‘threw it back to the water’’. Because in fact, that never happened. When he threw it, it fell onto concrete and bounced to the water. Poor fish! But fortunately, it reacted quite lively and disappeared immediately, quickly settling back to its benthic environment.
Many think toadfish are ugly, but for me, they are extremely adorable. I was so glad to see one and to know they live in the lagoon.
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Same in Katy, TX where I’m at…
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Okay so, a new lifer!
I found this beautiful Stiphropus, a thomisid, crab spider in the coconut tree bark of my garden!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/249651340
This is how it first looked:
They hunt ants, I have an video.
One of my greatest finds, and is in my garden! Close to the schizomida I have found. this genus has 6 observations (including mine) in the city, and less then 100 in the world.
Full story in the observation description.
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Evernia mesomorpha. Lifers don’t happen often for me anymore, all the more exciting when it’s a really cool looking species. It grew on a tree in a mountain forest, with 1000ds of Usnea and Pseudevernia lichen covering the forest - and in the middle of it all one that looked a bit different to me, somehow, so I snapped a picture. It’s actually rather more uncommon here in the south (only second inat obs of it in Austria) compared to up north.
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Now that my “witch’s finger” has got a name, I can post it as lifer.
Testacella maugei
Edit: it’s most likely Testacella haliotidea, but unless I’ll find another specialist, it has to remain at testacella sp.
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It wasn’t this week, but while holidaying in Tasmania in October I saw my first ever wild platypus.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247580601
I saw lots of new species on that trip, but not even the humpback whales were as amazing as actually seeing a platypus.
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