Anurag Agrawal

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

A leaf mining #moth on a quaking Aspen, caterpillar apparently secretes cytokinins which suppress senescence in leaf sectors. Adaptive for the moth? #fallcolors

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...

Important new paper: www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...

The elegant track of a baby sidewinder zigs and zags up a sand dune. The sidewinder is visible at the end of the track at the top.

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

Bluish purple flower of the grater fringed gentian

Bluish purple flower of the grater fringed gentian

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

Small white spiraling flowers of an orchid

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

Brownish succulent stem with a flower stalk (bud only), the stalk has yellow aphids

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

Yellow flowers of milkweed

Highland #milkweed from Bolivia, #Asclepias barjoniifolia #flowers

Gray white fuzzy moth on a human hand

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

Silhouetted ants on a cottonwood leaf, black dots are aphids

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

What a motley crew!

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

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.

Hahaha... #botanists

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

Dark purple berries on pink inflorescences of the pokeweed

Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana -- A perennial favorite of late summer. I don't love it less now that I know that the declaration of Independence was not written in its ink. It's berries were used in the colonial era for ink and dyes, we should get back to that!

Ecology and sexual conflict drive the macroevolutionary dynamics of female-limited color polymorphisms in damselflies

doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Mitch McConnell, younger.

Thinking about this tonight, from 20 years ago: "Senator McConnell spoke on the Senate floor on the 50th anniversary of the polio vaccine and his childhood experience with polio."
www.c-span.org/clip/senate-...

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Orange squash with yellow flesh and droplets of sap

The golden nugget squash, a variety of Cucurbita maxima - a winter #squash bred to taste like sweet potatoes (for climates that cannot grow them) - here with exuding mucilaginous sap, full of proteins that coagulate upon exposure to air. Wound healing, defense against insects, or...?

A calm good morning from this aquatic plant producing oxygen: #AGoodPlace

Source: www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatis...

A few mines from Wyver Lane today. Stigmella plagicolella, Phyllonorycter geniculella, Stigmella speciosa and Stigmella oxyacanthae. @belperbirder.bsky.social @richardttaylor.bsky.social @cliveaderbys.bsky.social @danmartinwildlife.bsky.social @derbysnottsentsoc.bsky.social #teammoth

YouTube video by EcolClips What is Biodiversity? | EcolClips

What is #biodiversity and why does it matter?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=lYt9...

#ecology #sustainability #science #diversity #nature #ecosystem #conservation #future

A photographic plate of Anopheles gambiae Giles, 1900

🦟 This week, discover the unique ornaments of Anopheles gambiae Giles, 1900 ⬇️!
Explore details and distribution on GBIF🌱: https://www.gbif.org/species/1650518 Fascinating diversity of #mosquitoes !

Photos by @nil-rahola.bsky.social

#Entomology #Biodiversity 🧪🌐