@eaneubauer @pfau_tarleton any thoughts here?
I saw these Penstemon while driving down the highway and thought they looked smaller than Penstemon cobaea.
After a Meeting at Agrilife. Stop at a pond in Seguin
Had such a blast with other iNatters at the Del Rio gathering. I saw lots and lots of new plants and animals -- so these ID's are tentative. I'll have to do a little more digging later.
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/sambiology/15447-spending-time-with-inat-community-in-del-rio
I found a population of penstemon today with individual plants expressing traits of P. cobaea, P. triflorus, and some possible hybrids between the two. I thought these were interesting and wanted to share them to show the variations expressed.
The definitive Varacosa shenandoa images. Leg and pedipalp images taken using 16mm + 10mm extension tubes plus the 60mm macro lens plus Raynox 250. Images sharpened using LetsEnhance.io (both original and sharpened images provided here). Pedipalps are perfect match with drawings 42 and 43 in Bradley 1979. Bradley describes proximal retrolateral ventral macroseta of tibia I extending more than one-half distance along shaft of median retrolateral macroseta, but I've never seen it extend beyond one-half--it's almost always exactly one-half.
Found dead in the grass.
Expecting this to develop into an Anemone edwardsiana.
Green and black at rock.
Observation set: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=any&place_id=any&field:Similar%20observation%20set=145517995
I wanted to practice with the zoom capabilities of my iPhone 14 and a new Xenvo magnifier. I tested them out on some Texas Snakeweed/Broomweed from the neighborhood, a species which is keyed out based on fine characteristics of the achenes and pappus.
The first two (or three?) images were taken with the iPhone at max (5X) zoom. The remaining images of the flowers and achenes were taken with a Clarus 15X Macro attachment (from Xenvo) positioned over the iPhone macro lens. I have annotated a few of the latter images to show characters that are useful in a key in the Flora of North Central Texas for separating species of Gutierrezia. The plants were obtained at the location of the pin on Q Ranch Road; they were photographed under artificial light at home. (I was so intent on documenting the flowers that I forgot to obtain images of the whole plant! Anyway, it looked like all the millions of other annual broomweed plants in pastures across much of Texas.)
American Bumblebee
Juniper Oak Woodland
Pocket gophers are quite active along this stretch of road, and across many areas of the reserve. This is my first time finding a clear trail, which helped to answer some other recent mysteries.
Flying from one clover to another. Seemed to be heavy as each clover tipped over with this bee. Very sunny, windy, humid, about 93 degrees Fahrenheit.
What a fantastic gathering at Powderhorn WMA!!! Mosquitoes were quite memorable but so was the company.
These observations were from the second night, and WOW, did lots of stuff show up this evening!!! So many new bugs for me that I’d not seen before.
More info about the gathering:
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/pfau_tarleton/74880-powderhorn-wma-bioblitz-may-19-21
See detailed discussion re differences in leaves of T. cuneifolia vs. T platycarpa as shown here.
Also, I am posting my detailed description of differences in other aspects of these two species, with emphasis on trichomes.
Finally, I am also posting here my data on the comparative height of these two species.
First specimen collection of the species for Balcones Canyonlands NWR. The specimen was collected from a limestone bolder in deep shade of Mason Hollow on the Victoria tract (see 5th image of my field notes for the day, CWS Field J., Vol. 37, pp. 54-55).
Original digital image of specimen from the TORCH database:
https://portal.torcherbaria.org/portal/collections/individual/index.php?occid=30435843&clid=0
I may have taken photos (35mm slides) of these plants in the field, but those slides, if they exist, would be in the Refuge files at the Refuge HQ.
pretty awkward for this bombus...
For the bumble bee (? Pretty sure the smaller one is at least)
Associated observation
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112307709
I have seen specimens in the Genus Catorhinta on or near my house on five previous occasions, ON each occasion, the question "Is this C. texana or C,. selector has come up. Three have been identified as C. texana; the other two simply remain at genus, Jason Botz is quoted in BugGuidenet as follows: "[C. texana] can be recognized by the narrow yellow band at the apex of the third antennomere, along with a slightly wider look to the abdomen and a more orange-colored connexivial stripe. https://bugguide.net/node/view/1131911. Here, the connexivial stripe does appear noticeably orange and several of the pictures show the light (very light) yellow antennna band clearly. I believe this to be C. texana. Compare https://bugguide.net/node/view/2186288. @wongun @pfau_tarleton
Corrected host is Schaefferia cuneifolia (Desert Yaupon)
Not sure if these are American or Sonoran bumblebees. Were mating in low lying scrub along pipeline easement
Grasshopper
Timberlake Biological Research Station
Mills, Co. Texas
10/5/19
Are they mating? Se estarán apareando?
My Yard in the City of Uvalde, Uvalde County Texas