Not being able to resist, I headed back to the grasslands this morning! It was not as hot as yesterday even though I had started an hour later.
First exuvia! I have not seen a cicada exuvia with some of the color left on it before. Maybe it did not do so well?
Second exuvia, another cicada next to a bolete mushroom! And this time I had nothing to do with the mushroom being in pieces. LOL. Now you are probably thinking this and above exuvia are not really that exciting, right?
Now here is the really cool exuvia! It was a walkingstick (Diapheromera) that had just finished shedding!
Certainly was a first for me! Another angle.
Close up!
Now maybe you will agree, this was pretty cool! I was going to bring it home. However, while taken the shot above, it fell off my pants. And then it was lost. 🙁
Thank you Ms Walkingstick! It was a thrilling sight!
Though not unusual, I did manage to find other neato stuff, like this Garden Spider!
Native rats are just so much cuter than those icky Norway rats! Great exuviae post too. I suspect the cicada perished that left behind the shed with color on it. Maybe it couldn’t completely get out.
I believe it is the common hispid cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus. This little guy is common over all of Texas. The others do not fit the habitat or the color descriptions. And now I have had to order another book, The Mammals of Texas by Schmidly, David J. 🙂
Such a cute little mouse!
I love our field mice. And the exuvias. I havent seen a skink in a long time.
Native rats are just so much cuter than those icky Norway rats! Great exuviae post too. I suspect the cicada perished that left behind the shed with color on it. Maybe it couldn’t completely get out.
Our native rats certainly are cute!
Do you know which species of rat this was? It IS so much cuter than those city rats.
I believe it is the common hispid cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus. This little guy is common over all of Texas. The others do not fit the habitat or the color descriptions. And now I have had to order another book, The Mammals of Texas by Schmidly, David J. 🙂