Genus Is Fine

4 Comments

Goodness gracious I hope y’all are getting outside before the weather turns hot!

Well, I did…get out that is. A grasshopper nymph was playing king of the hill. Or in this case of the Bracted Plantain (Plantago aristata)!
The Bracted Plantain (as all the Plantago that I have noticed) have delightful almost transparent flowers.
The Georgia Sun-roses (Helianthemum georgianum) were small yellow speckles among the Bracted Plantain in the open field.

While paused at the Sun-rose, I caught out of the corner of my eye a Lateral-lined Sharpshooter (Cuerna costalis) nymph and aphids on a nearby plant.
A little further along a Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia) pad was covered with the Cactus Coreid Bug (Chelinidea vittiger) nymphs! According to BugGuide the eggs are laid on the spines in March. They went on to say the eggs are laid longitudinally on the underside of prickly pear spines. Indeed I need to watch for that. 🙂
So I had been watching for Monarch cats on the milkweed. But alas I didn’t see any. However I noticed these tiny guys on many of the milkweeds. They were about 3mm long. As soon as I saw them I knew they were a hopper. Of course they would hop away. However I managed to get close to couple of them. My research narrowed it down to a Typical Leafhopper, perhaps Scaphoideus. Apparently “Members of this genus can be incredibly difficult to differentiate visually. Thus, most species require a male specimen in hand in order to identify to species with confidence. There is a number of undescribed species in the eastern U.S. and the variability of some species means that there are many color forms that have not been reported for certain species as well as overlap in color forms.” Thanks BugGuide!

Sometimes genus is as good as gets! And I’m fine with that. 🙂

Mosquito Bucket Challenge

Science in War, Science in Peace: The Origins of the NSF

These Plants Protect Larvae From Wildfires

Humans moving to ancient cities sent bedbug numbers soaring, say scientists

June 14, No Kings Sanger TX, 1:30pm – 2:30pm, Sanger Square, Sanger, Texas 76266

Stand Up for Science! Our lives depend on it.

Keep looking!

The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know

4 Comments

  2. Cool about the galls and bucket challenge. And seems we humans can carry bad news wherever we go – more than bedbugs

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *