Welcome to my nature blog! I love sharing my photos of North Texas! I will keep looking out and hope you do too.
Comments welcome. Thank you, Mary
The morning started off with some cool clouds. Just love the patterns. Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva aurea) Five-banded Thynnid Wasp (Myzinum quinquecinctum) This is a Wilson’s wood-nymph moth (Xerociris wilsonii) caterpillar. It is the 30th record in the US and a new record for Wise County. Last year, Jeanne found one on her place in Montague…
Yesterday, Jeanne brought me a walkingstick bug to take photos of it. I was missing a closeup in my photo collection. First thing I noticed when I got home and looked in the container was that the bug had bent itself midway in the body at a 45 degree angle. I wondered, could a walkingstick…
Something played in our sandy trail last night. This larva was hanging by a thread. It was so tiny and I didn’t have my loupe to count its prolegs. I suspect it is some sort of beetle larva. Really tiny! It would have been very camouflaged on this Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) if it had…
Visibility was 1/8 mile this morning. Great morning to see the meshweb weavers (Dictynidae) webs. They make a plain framework of an irregular mess over foliage, flowers, and dead stalks of plants. This ant hill made me think a rock formation in the Southwest. They had a side entrance so not many of the ants…
I wondered if this Bull Snake (Pituophis catenifer) had recently shed its skin. It looked bright. Some say the Bull Snake is called a Bull Snake because of the ridge between the eyes. This maybe the best look I have had of that feature. Turn the sound up. It had finally had enough of me….
Harvestman(Eumesosoma roeweri) Notice the red mites on its several of its legs. Mites do this to get a lift to a new place. I had read about this sometime ago so I was so excited to see this! The difference between true spiders (Araneae – order) and Harvestmans (Opiliones – order) are that Harvestmans have…
Not getting much rain here, mostly just light to heavy mist. Misty on the prairie The above two photos are of Western Horse Nettle (Solanum dimidiatum), but I wonder why the water droplets did not stick at least to the wrinkly ones? Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii) Funnel spider web The mist did not stop the water striders…
Stink bug (Pentatomidae) Painted Lady or American Lady, it was really beat up. Monarch Monarch Honey Bee Dark Flower Scarab (Euphoria sepulcralis) All the above on the Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) Keep looking!
Sleep Daisy (Xanthisma texanum var drummondii) not awake yet. They woke up around 11:30am But some still are sleeping The morning dew highlights this Bowl and Doily Weaver or Cup N Saucer spider (Frontinella pyramitela) web. Only two species in North America and the other one is only in Arizona. The spider is about 4mm…
Hazy day again. Glad the temp is pleasant. This is a Flesh Fly (Sarcophagidae) on blackberry (Rubus oklahomas) leaves. Larvae: many species are necrophagous, but some feed in mammalian tissues or parasitize other arthropods (bees, cicadas, termites, grasshoppers/locusts, millipedes), earthworms, or snails. Adults feed on various sugar-containing materials such as nectar, sap, fruit juices and…