Predators?
Jul. 17th, 2012 10:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanHere are two photos that don't fit into any of my specific projects.
A funnel-weaving grass spider ignores a caterpillar that has fallen into the web. Not vibrating enough? Too big to handle (unlikely, I've seen them grab big grasshoppers)? Some kind of caterpillar defensive chemical? I did not supply the prey this time, the scene is how I found it.
This is the fruiting body of a fungus called Claviceps, growing on a wild grass fruit. I have not encountered this before, so it's pretty exciting. The most famous member of the Genus is C. purpurea which feeds on rye and other cultivated grasses, and causes the disease Ergotism. Among other unpleasant symptoms such as gangrene, ergotism sufferers may experience mania, psychosis, and hallucinations. Some writers have blamed various historical outbreaks of mass hysteria on the fungal disease.
A funnel-weaving grass spider ignores a caterpillar that has fallen into the web. Not vibrating enough? Too big to handle (unlikely, I've seen them grab big grasshoppers)? Some kind of caterpillar defensive chemical? I did not supply the prey this time, the scene is how I found it.
This is the fruiting body of a fungus called Claviceps, growing on a wild grass fruit. I have not encountered this before, so it's pretty exciting. The most famous member of the Genus is C. purpurea which feeds on rye and other cultivated grasses, and causes the disease Ergotism. Among other unpleasant symptoms such as gangrene, ergotism sufferers may experience mania, psychosis, and hallucinations. Some writers have blamed various historical outbreaks of mass hysteria on the fungal disease.
