For host plant. Galls were collected except for the large moth like gall at the tip which was dropped and lost
White fungus growing on black knot.
Black knot already confirmed, in different observation.
Photo taken by @cpavlisich
When I first saw this bee, I was sure it was B. affinis. But the distinctive pattern on the thorax is missing, and the "patch" is very faint. I'd like to know what others think.
A gall, about 2 inches in diameter, on Lindera benzoin
Ethan did the microscopy to identify this fungus:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/148491646
A beautiful yellowish brown polypore growing in an effused manner on a decorticated hardwood. Pores irregular. Thick dissepiments.
this spruce had old adelgid galls on shoot tips and many and pine needle scales on the spruce needles. Maybe whatever was in these egg cases is a predator of adelgids or scales or maybe just incidental.
Floating along margins of pond. Southwestern Laramie County, WY.
Poor little guy seemed pretty far from any surface water
Eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) visiting flowers of NOID Symphyotrichum in my garden, Flatbush, Brooklyn, NYC, September 2023
The black band across the thorax, rather than a central dot or patch, doesn't look right for impatiens. Maybe citrinus?
Growth on twig of Pignut Hickory/Carya glabra.
Is this just an unformed fruit? Five parts, lack of petiole/stem, and time of year suggest not.
Nothing similar on Gallformers.
Celtis occidentalis
On a northern red oak. Originally a Callirhytis quercusgemmaria gall but size, large shape, persistence and woodiness is due to being parasitized
Seemed to be two sets of padded-foot tracks mostly single-file paces following the edge of the cornfield. Photos 3 and 5 show the tracks curving as animals entered the cornfield. It looked as if one set of tracks showed tail dragging, and the other did not (hope you can see that in a couple of the photos). The paces seemed measured and even. I don't believe either were domestic dogs. The tracks seemed to overlap those of smaller mammals leaving the woods and entering the cornfield.
Probably on pin oak (Quercus palustris) in marshy forest area
A young tree with some acorn cap scales that show signs of introgression with Quercus macrocarpa, but otherwise is a nice example of Q. bicolor due to the long fruit peduncle, leaf shape, peeling bark, and swampy habitat.
Quercus rubra/ellipsoidalis
I think these are the remains of this gall. On Scarlet Oak/Q. coccinea,
This is for the two skinny green ones, which I thought at first glance might have been leafhoppers.
I think it's a dust mite? I was working on the computer one night, and noticed that a speck of dust was slowly but steadily making its way across my computer monitor. I had just acquired a used MP-E65mm lens, and thought Hey! Perfect opportunity to try that out! I took a whole bunch of photos, as it was moving, and managed to get this one in fairly sharp focus.
The colors around it are pixels on my screen.
For the second image: I immediately after photographed a ruler at the same magnification. The pale lines here are the same width as the lines on the ruler, and spaced accordingly as well. That space is a millimeter. You can see that nearly four and a half of these critters fit across 1mm. I'm not good at math, so you get this image.
One of at least 14 individuals present in the SNA, mostly in the southern half
Camera trap photo from Chan Dolan's MS thesis research on nesting bumble bees. Image is from a trail camera focused on a bumble bee nest. Pictured is likely a predator of said nest.
All research carried out in the State Park was conducted with the proper permits.
Beckman 438
I posted 2 from here yesterday but went back today. This is the most defining shot.
A sub-canopy Ulmus americana almost completely defoliated by EZS
Odorous House? Very aggressive: just touching the far side of the leaf got them roiled up. They're farming Smoky Poplar Aphids/Chaitophorus populicola on Populus tremuloides. See https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/177812402 for aphids.
Last year observed Crematogaster ants doing the same thing on same trees: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123947752
Host plant: Ratibida pinnata
A bunched to mat-forming sedge common in open understory at middle elevations. This sedge grows on steep loose slopes along the trails near the reservoir and seemingly stabilizes the loose slopes along the trail. Collected at the Hyalite Reservoir area near the picnic area on the northwest site of the reservoir. This bunch was falling onto the trail.
Ross's sedge a native bunched sedge that also is mat-forming to spreading via rhizomes. It most commonly inhabits open understory at middle elevations in the mountains. The bunches are usually less than 30 cm tall. This species produces pistillate spikes below the staminate spikes and both types of spikes are pedunculate, often short-pedunculate. The spikes themselves are often few-flowered, especially the pistillate spikes. The perigynia are roundish in cross section because the enclosed achene is obovoid or obtusely trigonous in cross section.
Flickr album https://flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/albums/72157663234546098
Gall in axillary buds of Canadian Buffalo Berry (Shepherdia canadensis)
On Stachys byzantina, Stachys officinalis (or S. monieri?), lavender, and other nearby nectar plants in garden. This is a different individual than my July 4, 2023, observation...different yellow markings.
I’m very much against hybridization of species for human entertainment, but I think this golden latimanus looks like a thimble-sized maneless liger.
Lots of this around here lately
On Swamp White Oak/Q. bicolor
Ants observed separately: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/170533684
Maybe? On Betula
Brilliant fuchsia colored gall on petiole of Eastern Black Walnut. When I first noticed that splash of color, I thought it might be a hairy scrunchie or some other human accessory.
Populus tremuloides leaf underside 5mm across.
Found dead in a sandy patch in the prairie.
Host Silphium perfoliatum
Northern Red Oak/Q. rubra
The caterpillar eating here observed separately: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/156511677
Woodpecker holes?
On beech branch. Park.
Lots of these mini burls/galls on this viburnum. (I think it's Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Shasta'). Notably, another viburnum of the same type about fifteen feet away doesn't have a single one. (Example cut in half was from twig on ground.)
Reminiscent of Pseudomonas savastanoi on Forsythia.
Many galls taking over Quercus dumosa
This oak was covered with these galls
Yesterday, I saw three juveniles simultaneously in this area; today, it was two adults.
Growing on Violet-toothed Polypore.
On top of 20 cm of snow in woodland.