This is a volunteer between a planted bed and a path
False Boneset?
Riparian zone
I thought this was giant A.viridis, but people with me are thinking A. latifolia. In WilCo??
It's laying eggs, see second picture for the ID
This Buckeye didn't have a cream colored band on the forewing. It also has more of a bluish sheen to the thorax and leading edge of the forewings. The spots on the forewing are darker on the inside. These are the reasons I believe this to be a Tropical Buckeye. I guess there is a chance that it could be a darker variety of the Common Buckeye.
I have seen some previous discussions on this from @greglasley
@robberfly and
@maractwin
What do yall think?
Someone with much more experience than I suggested this looked like a Tropical, but also that the species are weak and Commons look similar
Orange head with much more vivid, and darker, reddish-orange wing sheaths. Closely resemembles the specimen reported at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26660078. I believe this to be N. lurida and am submitting it to Bugguide.net.
This male woodpecker has been visiting the feeder outside of my office window for a few weeks. He has a nearly complete red crown & nape but has a yellow frontlet, yellow wash on the chin and throat, and yellow wash on the belly. I haven't gotten a look at the central tail feathers which might offer more insight into the ID, but I'm somewhat confident that this is a hybrid because of the extensive yellow in certain spots where a full adult male RBWO would have red.
A vine, not a bush. No seed pods yet. Algorithm wants to call this I. miniata. Maybe, doesn't seem right to me, however.
Mucilage oozing from the pad, indicates moth larva are feeding inside.
AC3
emerged by 3/31/2023
On Texas Mountain Laurel. Found by @k8thegr8.
host plant: Sugar Hackberry :https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/111492725
First time sighting~
Distinct habit, small cone size, few to no pneumatophores, I'm sure some argumentative f*ck-ass will say otherwise but lacking DNA sequencing contradicting it I am going to say mucronatum.
Two different individuals documented here. Neither has a particularly obvious "white blotch" but the pattern of subterminal black marks and the buffy thorax seem to point to this species.
UPDATE (3/31/19): First individual (two images) re-IDed as Heterocampa subrotata and deleted here.
Growing directly from creek bed.
I only see this species here in Austin every other year or even less frequently, but the sightings are almost invariably in the first half of November. I assume this is a species that periodically migrates up from South Texas.
On velvetleaf mallow
Had a wonderful time helping out with the speaker series tonight at Cedar Hill State Park! Tonight was all about nocturnal insects. Great fun. :)
In mid-May, I had 2 or 3 of these show up but they were quite worn. This was the freshest of them.
Edwards county, Texas; Indian Creek Ranch Bioblitz
5/8/2022
Argemone aurantiaca
One, or few, along main road.
Based on the orange latex, mentioned in the Flora of North Central Texas. The FNA does not mention latex color at all, and depends on various qualities of the surfaces of the leaves, stems and capsules, all of which were difficult to apply here. The leaf surfaces did not seem prickly or hispid between the veins, but they may have been minutely hispid (difficult to photograph). There were no capsules yet. The stems did seem somewhat densely prickley, but I don't know if that is distinguishing enough.
Crazy looking critter! Found several of these, some light and some dark colored
I got intrigued with this rather plain Pyralid moth because of a few distinctive things it shows compared to the vast array of other Phycitine-type moths.
With all this in mind, I went wandering through MPG looking for Phycitines with a black patch at the base of the wings and little other pattern. Some of the genera of cactus-feeding moths and their relatives have a basal black patch. This includes such genera as Melitara, Alberada, and Rumatha. Of these, some species of Rumatha seem to have the narrow wings and other details recited above. None of the Rumatha species are a close match to the present critter but we are hampered by very limited numbers of images of any of them (mostly mounted specimens on MPG and in a Neunzig MONA fascicle) and the descriptions in Neunzig's fascicle are minimal.
A most intriguing aspect of this investigation is that at least one of the species, Rumatha glaucatella, is documented to utilize tasajillo (= Christmas cactus; Cylindropuntia leptocaulis; abundant at Timberlake) as a host plant! In fact that species has been documented from Travis County (Neunzig 1997, p. 75). The present moth doesn't quite match the details of that species as presented by Neunzig, but it suggests to me that the present moth is likely to belong to the same genus.
Freshly emerged.
Bexar County, Government Canyon SNA
4/5/2018
Geranium sp.
Went down to Goverment Canyon in hopes of looking for the Geranium texanum that was collected there listed in this record at the Plant Resources center (TEX00285228):
https://prc-symbiota.tacc.utexas.edu/collections/individual/index.php?occid=1197203&clid=0
I was hoping that I might find some Geranium plants in that area that have five purple anthers as I have observed in Williamson county in these observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10653423
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10109163
The thought was that if I found the five purple anthered Geranium in a spot where Geranium texanum was collected that that might provide some more evidence that some of the floral characteristics (number and color of anthers specifically) of G. texanum might currently be incorrectly described in the current literature (currently documented to have 10 fertile stamens with yellowish anthers like G. carolinianum).
Unfortunately, the exact location listed in the herbarium record appeared to be off limits to the general public, but I was able to find two small populations of the five purple anthered geranium on the Recharge trail. The population documented here was probably about a mile from that location whereas another small patch on the Recharge trail was likely about half that.
Another interesting detail is that these photos show that though only five anthers seem to be well formed, there sometimes appear to be one or more smaller anthers that do not reach full size but which may or may not generate viable pollen.
From this date in late February onward, this species quickly became the most common moth at the lights into early March, with 10 to 20 of them present on any given evening.
This is the relatively localized yucca known as "San Angelo Yucca", formerly thought to be a Texas endemic but now apparently (iNat) known from n. Mexico. Characters that distinguish this species include:
-- Low, trunkless growth form, forming scattered colonies on limestone (1st and last images).
-- Leaves lack curling "hairs" on edges (2nd image); very finely toothed (3rd image).
-- Leaves nearly flat, straight (little or no twist), usually less than 15 mm wide (Twist-leaf Yucca has wider, twisted leaves) (3rd image).
Sutton County, where these plants were photographed, is in the heart of the range of the species, with closely related Twist-leaf Yucca ranging to the east of it and Thompson's (Beaked) Yucca to the west.
The last habitat shot showing the plants growing on a roadcut was taken a few miles further NE on CR 202.
I think it was either Ann Hendrickson or @krancmm that originally suggested this ID.
Only my third sighting here on Salton Drive.
I like to get started early (in the Winter) pulling weeds out of my yard. One of the annual weeds that is earliest to germinate is Common Hedge Parsely (HP), a.k.a. Sockbane (illustrated here). Unfortunately, the seedlings are extremely similar to those of the native and desirable Chervil. Every winter, I go through the same routine of looking carefully to remind myself of how to tell apart the seedlings of these two Apiaceae plants. So for you gardeners out there who want to get an early start removing Hedge Parsley while retaining Chervil, here's how I recognize the difference:
-- The seedlings of the two species have a very slightly different "look". This seems to be a combination of two fine details of the new leaves: The number of ultimate divisions of each leaf segment of Chervil are fewer, often just 3, and the ultimate segments often have an obtuse angle behind the short point on each. These ultimate, 3-parted segments can look like miniature Sassafras leaves, if you're familiar with that tree. On HP, the ultimate segments of each leaf division are usually more numerous (often 5) and they typically have an acute tip behind the short point on each.
-- In the earliest, tiniest seedlings (one or two leaves), the narrow cotyledons of Chervil are proportionately longer than those of HP (last photo in this set). They are on very long "petioles" and they reach or exceed the size of the first real leaf or two. By contrast, the narrow cotyledons of HP are shorter and on shorter "petioles"; they are quickly exceeded by the petioles of the first few leaves.
These basic differences are illustrated in this array of images.
Not the best photo - backlit through window...
I've been working on separating these buffy brown Gelechiid-like species, not all of which are actually in the Gelechiidae. I hope to create a (long-overdue) overview of several Texas species which we all are frequently confusing.
Teaser: This species seems to be characterized as follows:
-- Wing shape, particularly the FW apex and outer margin, is more rounded than the abundant Kyoto Moth or the Inga's.
-- Dark brown speckling all over wings
-- Mainly just two dark spots on FW, one at 2/5, the other at 2/3 of the FW length. Sometimes the more basal spot as a faint twin.
-- No terminal line of dark dots or only a faint indication of them.
Another species of Glyphidocera, G. democratica apparently occurs in the Austin region rarely. It usually has a distinct blackish terminal area and fringe on the FW (but not always?) and the more basal of the two dark spots is usually bolder. I'm a little unsure of the present moth; it might actually be G. democratica--shall we put it to a democratic vote?
Came up wild in yard several years ago. Probably from birds.
What a great end to moth week -- we did some black-lighting at Acton Nature Center and spotted loads of cool bugs. :)
Berry Springs Park. Common in shady primitive camp area of the park and occasional in other part.
Though locally known as Simpson's Rosinweed, plants in the park key to both S. radula and S. astericus using the key in the Flora of North America due to a widely variable number of ray florets (15-28). The key differentiates the two species based on the number of ray florets, with 12-20 being astericus and 20+ being radula. However, the species description for radula indicates that radula var. gracile can have 12-18 ray florets with the stipulation that the basal leaves are persistent at flowering time, which they were not in this case.
Other key points: Cauline leaves mostly opposite and sessile, though distally alternate. Abaxial faces of phyllaries minutely pubescent. Basal leaves not persisting at flowering time. Ray florets from 15-28, though typically a similar number at each clump of plants (ie 15-18, 25-28, etc).
This individual definitely looks different from any of the regular four pug moths species I'm used to seeing (E. miserulata, bolterii, longidens, and zygadeniata). Note the reddish overtones on the long pointed FWs.
This individual was collected for specimen determination by genitalia and DNA.
CS21006