Anurag A. Agrawal
Anurag Agrawal is an American professor of ecology, evolutionary biology, and entomology who has written over a 150 peer-reviewed articles,… more
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Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal
Melampyrum pratense has a huge distribution across Europe to central Siberia thanks to ants. It has myrmecochorus seeds—seeds carried by ants—unlike most holo- and hemiparasitic species, which have wind-dispersed seeds. #parasite #Orobanchaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Monkey slug caterpillar, or "hag #moth" Phobetron pithecium. A late season Limacodidae of eastern forests, A generalized feeder of mostly blue plants
Courtesy of Sam Jaffe and the amazing #caterpillar lab in New Hampshire!
www.thecaterpillarlab.org
Courtesy of Sam Jaffe and the amazing #caterpillar lab in New Hampshire!
www.thecaterpillarlab.org
Matelea cyclophylla, a vining succulent #milkweed vine with a corky #caudex from western Mexico, hairy burgundy #flowers
Two more Asclepiadoideae (among 3000 #milkweed species), a Hoya and Cynanchum - every thing comes in fives #flower #oldworld
Hoodia and Huernia, two Ascleps flowering in my house
Echinopsis tubiflora an Argentinian endemic Cactaceae, night blooming, open <18 hours (120x = 2 hours) #timelapse #cactus #flower #sweetsmell
Scaldweed, Cuscuta gronovii, a native annual non-photosynthetic #parasitic #plant - haustoria instead of roots; shares #herbivores with its host plants (you are what you eat) - but a #flowering plant nonetheless. Most plant communities have several distantly related species of parasitic angiosperms
Temnothorax sp., a small #ant that lives in colony in acorns (and in #galls formed on #oaks
Galling #aphids on staghorn sumac make plump succulent galls full of aphids and predators - near Watertown, NY
I've been seeing more of the Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus around the great lakes region. This is from the sandy east shores of Lake Ontario. Said to be native, I wonder if it's being planted more and spreading?
The American searocket,
Cakile edentula, a sand loving semi-succulent #Brassicaceae. I knew this plant from the west coast; here on the shores of lake Ontario. Fruits have two-parts, one that breaks off and floats for water dispersal. immature silliques are edible, like radish pods
Cakile edentula, a sand loving semi-succulent #Brassicaceae. I knew this plant from the west coast; here on the shores of lake Ontario. Fruits have two-parts, one that breaks off and floats for water dispersal. immature silliques are edible, like radish pods
A leaf mining #moth on a quaking Aspen, caterpillar apparently secretes cytokinins which suppress senescence in leaf sectors. Adaptive for the moth? #fallcolors
Important new paper: www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...
Frontiers | Caterpillar diet breadth in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, a large and diverse Neotropical wildland in northwestern Costa Rica: toxins, silica, aluminum, and sclerophylly
Caterpillar–food plant records collected over approximately 38 years in the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica are described an...
www.frontiersin.org
And next to the #orchid, pondside, abundant greater fringed gentians, Gentianopsis crinita, a spectacular biennial; reproductive parts heavily attacked by a plume moth. After 3 years of trial & error, we finally have a means to germinate seeds and study them in natural populations and common gardens
Nodding lady's tresses (Spiranthes cernua), a late summer flowering #orchid, abundant at pond's edge in #Ithaca, said to be fragrant, but I forgot to smell
Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal
A baby sidewinder's tracks tell the story of the last few minutes.
First, an elegant change in direction and in sidewinding handedness, like the jibe of a sailboat. Then a startled squiggle as it realizes it's being followed.
Mojave Desert Sidewinder - Crotalus cerastes cerastes
#herps
First, an elegant change in direction and in sidewinding handedness, like the jibe of a sailboat. Then a startled squiggle as it realizes it's being followed.
Mojave Desert Sidewinder - Crotalus cerastes cerastes
#herps
Kleinia pendula (formerly in #Senecio) - the inchworm plant from NE Africa. A rayless creeping #succulent #aster (w/ red flowers)... here with the aphid, #Aphis nerrii, in Ithaca; I usually think of A. nerrii as a specialist on #Apocynaceae (but there are several reports on asters) #herbivory
Highland #milkweed from Bolivia, #Asclepias barjoniifolia #flowers
A male large tolype #moth (or velleda lappet moth), Tolype velleda, an eastern north american tree leaf feeder (as caterpillar). Adults do not have mouth parts - no feeding, just flying and mating. Note one feathery antenna: high surface area to pick up on female-produced pheromones
Beech drops, Epifagus virginiana (Orobanchaceae), non-photosynthetic & #parasitic, feeds from beech tree roots. Flowering in an old-growth pine forest. Has a ridiculous life-cycle, including both cleistogamous & chasmogamous #flowers, possible #ant #pollination, etc. wikipedia.org/wiki/Epifagus
The smokey-winged aspen #aphid, Chaitophorus populicola, seen on eastern #cottonwood streamside in Ithaca, NY, tended by #ants. After a summer of clonal reproduction, sexually produced eggs over winter, often in crevices on their host trees #mutualism
Tachinid #parasitoid emerging from #monarch #butterfly chrysalis... The larva was never exposed, but field collected leaves were fed to the caterpillar. Many tachinids lay their eggs on leaves, only to be consumed by caterpillars, later consuming the caterpillars from the inside out
by Kelly R. Zamudio — Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal
Reposted by Anurag A. Agrawal
Say's mantidfly (Dicromantispa sayi), a lacewing relative that looks as its name suggests like a chimera between a fly and a praying mantis, here clinging to the storm door with the garden in reflection behind it. Downers Grove this morning, sighted by @art_bumble.
A female pigeon horntail (Tremex columba, Hymenoptera), larva eat wood of declining trees. Note ovipositor next to the horntail. Seen here in an #Ithaca old growth forest. Aposematic but not stinging
