#280 days of urbpandemonium

[speciesofleastconcern]

280 days of Urbpandemonium #226

When I saw this animal I wasn't sure if I was seeing a wasp or a fly or some other kind of insect. The illusion is intentional--well, maybe not--the illusion has resulted from evolution. This fly resembles a wasp because it helps it survive. The illusion extends to the fly's front legs, which are marked with white segments, and moved in a way to suggest that they are the wasp's antennae. This is the entirely harmless stilt-legged fly Rainieria antennaepes.

[speciesofleastconcern]

280 days of Urbpandemonium #224 The presence of the jeweler's loupe here is a hint that this is a very small organism. We generally think of ants as small animals, but this species is the smallest I've ever seen. Each worker is just about 1 mm in length.  Their size and distinctive coloration--dark in the front with light legs and abdomen--identifies them as ghost ants Tapinoma melanocephalum*. Like many inhabitants of the great indoors, their origin is not precisely known. They are from the Old World Tropics for sure, narrowing it down to roughly a third of the surface of the planet.  A colony could form in a pile of dead leaves, or in between a plant pot and it's protective liner. As long as the place is warm and humid, the ghost ants can live happily, feeding on miniscule amounts of sweet things and dead insects. When a colony is successful, some amount of it departs to become a new colony--"budding" instead of the complex new colony creation that some other eusocial insects endure. Besides all the tropics and heated greenhouses in the world, ghost ants live in Florida and Texas, and appear to be spreading. * Humble and dark-headed

[speciesofleastconcern]

I'm currently using a second-hand point and shoot camera with a passable macro feature--and here I've put a hand lens in front of it in an attempt to visualize a very small animal. The animal is a globular springtail (Order Symphypleona*), less than a millimeter long. These charismatic relatives of insects walk about grazing on edible particles, but can jump away suddenly with a lighting-quick flex of their springy appendage, the furcula. Because their predators are also very small and necessarily nearsighted animals, this escape method is virtually teleportation. This pair of springtails may be eating mold spores growing on the surface of this damp moss. Their surprisingly complex behavior is explored on the BBC series Life in the Undergrowth. *New Latin symphy- (from Greek symphyēs grown together) + -pleona (from Greek plein to swim

[speciesofleastconcern]

280 days of Urbpandemonium list

On the Vernal Equinox I started this project. Many things have distracted me, but I’m going to keep going with it. I’m annoyed that my formatting didn’t carry over (binomials should be italicized) but I’m glad I updated the list.  If you are interested in reading any of these, they are easier to find on livejournal, but I bet you could search them out on tumblr too. 

Red-tailed hawk Buteo jamaicensis

Cellar spider Pholcus sp.

Canada goose Branta canadensis

House sparrow Passer domesticus

Eastern chipmunk Tamias striatus

Blueberry stem gall wasp Hemadas nubilipennis

Porpidia albocaerulescens (a lichenized fungus)

Nursery web spider Pisaurina mina

Ceramic crust Xylobus frustulatus

Beech balls Hypoxylon fragiforme

False turkey tail Stereum ostrea

Blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis

Exidia recisa (a fungus)

Hacklemesh spider Amaurobiidae

Lemon drops Bisporella citrina

Garter snake Thamnophis sirtalis

Leopard slug Limax maxima

Soil centipede Geophilomorpha

Millipede Diplopoda

American cockroach Periplaneta americana

Compost mushroom Coprinopsis sp.

Pavement ant Tetramorium sp.

Canadian nightcrawler Lumbricus terrestris

Tree stump slime Cryptococcus macerans (a yeast)

Periwinkle Littorina littoria

Asian shore crab Hemigraspus sanguineus

Hermit crab Pagurus longicarpus

Slipper snail Crepidula fornicata

Dekay’s brown snake Storeria dekayi

Ragworm Nereidae

Asian multicolored beetle Harmonia axyridis

Grass shrimp Palaemonetes pugio

Yellow sac spider Cheiracanthium milddi

Mayfly Ephemeroptera

Wild turkey Meleagris gallopavo

Eastern carpenter bee Xylocopa virginica

Northern wolf spider Trochosa sp.

Tan jumping spider Platycryptus undatus

Pillbug Armadillidium vulgare

European paper wasp Polistes dominula

Yellow jacket Vespula sp. or Dolichovespula sp.

Sea squirt Axcidiacea

Zebra jumping spider Salticus scenicus

Dog vomit slime mold Fuligo septica

Winecap Stropharia rugosso-annulata

False widow Steatoda sp.

Mushroom hover fly Cheilosia sp.

Harvestman Opiliones

Winter Moth Operophtera brumata

American dog tick Dermacentor variabilis

Garden centipede Lithobius forficatus

Pennsylvania wood roach Parcoblatta pennsylvanica

Ground ivy gall wasp Liposthenes glechomae

Chenopodium leafhopper Norvellina chenopodii

Cupboard spider Steatodum triangulosa

Dead man’s fingers Xylaria polymorpha

Common snapping turtle Chelydra serpentina

Bagworm Psyche casta

Cedar-apple rust Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianaea

Aster leaf-mining fly Ophiomyia quinta

Dryad’s saddle Polyporus squamosus

Miner bee Andrena sp.

Soldier beetle Cantharidae

Long-legged fly Condostylus sp.

Baltimore oriole Icterus galbula

Australian cockroach Periplaneta australasi

Eastern cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus

Fourteen-spotted ladybeetle Propylea quatuordecimpunctata

Varied carpet beetle Anthrenus verbasci

Mason wasp Eumeninae

Sap bucket beetle Ellychnia corrusca

Brown huntsman spider Heteropoda venatoria

Goldenrod treehopper Entylia carinata

Predatory stink bug Asopinae

House centipede Scutigera coleoptrata

Reishi Ganoderma lucidum

Larder beetle Dermestes lardarius

Drain fly Clogmia albipunctata

American robin Turdus migratorius

Plume moth Geina sp.

Cherry leaf gall mite Eriophyes sp.

Bald faced hornet Dolichovespula maculata

Chocolate tube slime mold Stemonitis sp.

Perplexing bumblebee Bombus perplexus

Picture-winged fly Delphinia picta

Giant puffball Calvatia gigantea

Coral mushroom Artomyces pyxidatus

Red-backed salamander Plethodon cinereus

Yellow patches Amanita flavoconia

Pigskin earthball Scleroderma citrina

Wolf’s milk slime mold Lycogala epidendrum

Red Russula Russula sp.

Crackle top Russula parvovirescens

Spotted Mediterranean cockroach Ectobius pallidus

Bottle fly Lucilia sp.

Candy-stripe leafhopper Graphocephala coccinea

Orange milky cap Lactifluus hygrophoroides

Golden bolete mold Hypomyces chrysospermia

Split gill Scizophyllum commune

Arcyria cinerea (a slime mold)

Golden digger wasp Sphex ichneumonius

Big Berk Bondarzewia berkeleyi

Meadowhawk Sympetrum sp.

Flower fly Toxomerus marginatus

Common whitetail Libellula lydia

Grasshopper Melanoplus sp

Sawfly Symphata

Eastern black carpenter ant Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Grapevine beetle Pelidnota punctata

Common true katydid Pterophylla camellifolia

Yellow flowerpot mushroom Leucocoprinus birnmbaumii

Red admiral Vanessa atalanta

The blusher Amanita rubescens

Oriental beetle Exomala orientalis

Brown stink bug Euschistus servus

Tutelina harti (a jumping spider)

Reddish-brown stag beetles Lucanus capreolus

Epione underwing Catocala epione

Orange-tipped oakworm moth Anisota senatoria

Medford’s shame Lymantria dispar

Panthea furcilla (a moth)

Litter moth Zancognatha sp.

Tussock moth Halysidota sp

Ailanthus webworm Atteva aurea

Brown lacewing Hemerobiidae

Common tan wave Pleuroprucha insulsaria

Green darner Anax junius

Wedge-shaped beetle Macrosiagon limbata

Robber fly Asilidae

Drosophila (Sophophora) melanogaster

Banded net-winged beetle Caloptera reticulum

Camel cricket Rhaphidophoridae

Tiger bee flyXenox tigrinus

Spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum

Ring-billed gull Larus delawarensis

Herring gull Larus argentatus

Great black-backed gull Larus marinus

Semipalmated plover Charadrius semipalmatus

Daring jumping spider Phiddipus audax

Eye gnat Chloropidae

Ermine moth Yponomeuta sp.

Ichneumon wasp Enicospilus sp.

Large yellow underwing Noctua pronuba

Leaf roller Archipini

Yellow-fringed Dolichomia Hypsopygia olinalis

Macaria sp. (a moth)

Besma quercivoraria (a moth)

Dark-spotted palthis Palthis angulalis

Crab spider Thomisidae

Black blister beetle Epicauta pennsylvanica

Paper wasp Polistes sp.

Meal moth Pyralis farinalis

Spiny orbweaver Micrathena gracilis

Sulphur shelf Laetiporus sulphureus

Chicken mushroom Laetiporus cincinnatus

Mosquito Cucilidae

Jack-o-lantern mushroom Omphalotus illudens

Gyponana sp. (a leafhopper)

Grass spider Agelenidae

Eastern parson spider Herpyllus ecclesiasticus

Crambid moth Crambidae

Cross orbweaver Araneus diadematus

Orchard orbweaver Leucauge venusta

Northern short-tailed shrew Blarina brevicauda

Gloeophyllum sepiarium (a wood decay fungus)

Carolina grasshopper Dissosteira carolina

Fall field cricket Gryllus pennsylvanicus

Sun fly Heliomyzidae

Greenhouse millipede Oxidus gracilis

Bicolored bolete Baorangia bicolor

Water lily aphids Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae

Artist’s conk Ganoderma applanatum

Western conifer seed bug Leptoglossis occidentalis

Common conehead Neoconocephalus sp

Trametes hirsuta (a mushroom)

Bronzed cutworm Nephelodes minians

Leafcutter bee Litomegachile mendicus

Bark mycena Mycena corticola

Differential grasshopper Melanoplus differentialis

European earwig Forficula auricularia

Monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus

Red-eared slider Trachemys scripta elegans

Flesh fly Sarcophagidae

Woolly Bear Pyrrharctia isabella

Dusky slug Arion subfuscus

Hackberry nipple gall psyllid Pachypsylla celtidismamma

Casebearer moth Coleophora sp.

Giant leopard moth Hypercompe scribonia

Planthopper Acanalonia conica

Lupine bug Megalotomus quinquespinosus

Yellow bear Spilosoma virginica

Meadow katydid Conocephalus fasciatus

Eastern comma Polygonia comma

Leucoagaricus americanus (a mushroom)

Bird’s nest fungi Nidulariaceae

American house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Purple-spored puffball Calvatia cyathiformis

Brick cap Hypholoma lateritium

Autumn March fly Bibio slossonae

The gem Orthonama obstipata

Common Eupithecia Eupithecia miserulata

Dacrymyces chrysospermus (a mushroom)

Angel wings Pleurocybella porrigens

[speciesofleastconcern]

280 days of Urbpandemonium #201 I described this moth as "trapezoidal," but I should have called its posture "soaring hawk." Many moths in this genus Eupithecia* rest this way, sometimes hiding the second pair of wings entirely behind the first. This is another moth that spent its youth as an inchworm, this one probably grazing on the amble pollen supplied by plants in the aster family. The smart money is on this being a "common Eupithecia," E. miserulata** *Good ape. No, really. ** hoo boy I can't figure this one

[speciesofleastconcern]

280 days of Urbpandemonium #193 So nice to see a pretty butterfly this late in the year! This one is an eastern comma, Polygonia comma, named for a comma-shaped mark on it's underside. The larva feeds on nettles and elm, while the adults are piss-poor pollinators--preferring rotten fruit and puddles of urine over flower nectar.