Dunes Learning Center and trails- locations approximate
Many roosting on twig
Sleeping position
Les mandibule de l'insecte sont prises sur une tige asperge depuis une semaine (champignon parasite ?)
Jaws locked to stem. Is this a victim of a parasitoid?
Large black spider wasp, furry gray hairs on thorax, very thin waist. Same size as Great Black Digger, but gray thorax different. ID help to species appreciated.
Davis Reef, Takapuna, Auckland.
Lower intertidal.
The most perfect and whimsical photo I had ever taken lol.
On Monarda punctata. Bogue Chitto State Park
Note the diagnostic rich golden hair on the body.
KZ2
Collected by Kristi Zoebelein on September 23, 2022
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136174122
Cut out February 2-3, 2023
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/147907916
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/148097388
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/147923354
Emerged by March 13, 2023
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151069217
Found as a pupal case, I plan on keeping it until it emerges for proper ID
Over a dozen on a few Solidago species, mostly S. rugosa. Didn’t collect since I’ve already collected and confirmed a few from local Solidago as adults
Kasvupaikka on kallio, paikalla on myös sammalta ja puolukkaa, maa on kalliota ja hieman multaa.
I've seen these a few times. iNat doesn't offer much, but Bug Guide identifies it as Zelus Luridus eggs. There are a lot of Pale Green Assasin Bugs in the area, so it makes sense.
Growing on old rotted log
Family #1 clutch #2
To see observations of this specimen over time, go to "Observation Fields"at the bottom right.
Click on the words "Same specimen over time"and choose "Observations with this field and value" from the pop-up window.
Then select "Grid" view.
So cool to see their growth and activity! :))
On a dead Beefsteak Plant
Ex eggs found on pin oak. See https://bugguide.net/node/view/828755
On box elder bark; Hypothecium and exciple chestnut-brown in cross section
edges of Calycanthus floridus leaves tightly rolled
Q. rubra
ovipositing?
on fleabane (Erigeron)
Host plant is Packera obovata, Roundleaf ragwort
Crest. Relatively close to the road, gigantic crest on a relatively short plant.
Growing on a sweetgum leaf. Found under a lot of leaf litter.
Green, irregular growths on the underside of decaying log in mixed wood forest.
Indian Creek that connects to Elk River / Richland Creek.
On a river bank.
three sections ... different stages?
Grasping the stem of a redbud leaf.
I first collected this on Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2016 (
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7004049) having no idea even what phylum to place it in, guessing (incorrectly) that it could be a Septobasidium, or a corticioid/crust, or something else entirely.
Jacob Kalichman (@pulk) and I made a second collection of the same fungus on the same substrate two years later along a trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112054261). This time we took it to the microscope, where a scalp section revealed a palisade of erect, parallel, clavate structures that turned a beautiful deep royal blue in the presence of KOH, with yellowish-brown, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid propagules forming along the upper portions of the structures (see micrographs in first iNat link).
Dr. Brandon Matheny was kind enough to sequence that second collection for us. At the time, the nearest BLAST match (83% per. ident.) to that sequence was an accession labelled Hypoxylon fuscum, followed by several lower percentage matches in the Hypoxylaceae. Our fungus was therefore probably an anamorph belonging to that family, making structures we'd observed conidiophores with their corresponding conidia. When brought to the attention of Dr. Roo Vandegrift (@werdnus), he proposed calling this sp. Virgariella; an anamorph known to occur across a wide range of xylariaceous taxa, including the Hypoxylon fuscum group. A more precise, teleomorphic name might follow with a more solid match in GenBank or, ideally, by collecting and studying the teleomorph, should it ever be found.
Over the next four years, what started as a minor curiosity of mine from a horticultural trail in downtown Knoxville, became a widely recognized fungal feature all throughout the southern Appalachian region, resulting in 44 observations from 13 individual observers (at the time of writing). Unfortunately, every single one of them was missing a teleomorph.
Last December, at the Gulf States Mycological Society Winter Foray, more anamorphic collections of this unidentified hypoxyloid came in. One of the club's members vowed to keep an eye out for any teleomorphic-looking growths on the abundant Chinese privet that occurs near his home and work (as a prolifically invasive tree sp., it's not difficult to find).
On March 1st, 2024, said member and their partner came over for dinner. With them they brought a few branches of Chinese privet with a "surprise" on them for me to examine. Lo and behold, they had found the elusive teleomorph, shown here.*
KOH extractable pigments reddish-orange/ochraceous, latently becoming somewhat vinaceous.
Spore micrographs show remnants of perispore dehiscence (in 10% KOH), a nearly spore-length and relatively straight germ slit, and two guttules in many/most of the spores. Dimensions are as follows:
(10.9) 11.6 - 13.7 (14.2) × (5.1) 5.2 - 5.8 (6.3) µm
Q = (2) 2.1 - 2.4 (2.8) ; N = 20
Me = 12.5 × 5.6 µm ; Qe = 2.3
.* = Macro shots are placeholders, better images forthcoming following the resolution of some particularly painful camera issues.
On Trifolium repens.
Growing from the bark of a living hardwood tree.