280 days of Urbpandemonium #157

Jack-o-lantern mushrooms, Omphalotus illudens* are a beautiful species of allegedly bioluminescent fungi. I haven't seen the glow yet, but apparently they have to be very fresh and taken someplace very dark. The fungus that produces this mushroom feeds on dead and dying roots, sometimes roots which are completely below the soil level. This mushroom has the distinction of causing the most mushroom poisonings in my geographic region. This is due to the mushroom's color and decurrent (running down the stem) gills giving the impression that it is an edible chanterelle. It ain't.

* The mocking navel.

280 days of Urbpandemonium #158

Most leafhoppers are tiny inconspicuous things, green or brown flecks living among the foliage. This Gyponana* is a comparative giant, at nearly a half inch, measured against the screen door grid.

* this is another one for the hive mind. Nana seems to mean small, I can't find any reason for gypo. There is another genus called ponana in the same subfamily--probably one derived from the other. There needs to be a field of taxonomic historic etymology to untangle all this.

280 days of Urbpandemonium #159

Most often we see these spiders tucked back in the mouth of the funnel (sometimes these are called funnel spiders) of their web, and moment we take notice they disappear back into the safety of the darkness. For whatever reason this Agelenid* spider was out in the open on our shed. The funnel opens out onto a horizontal sheet (sometimes these are called sheet web spiders) often on a man-made object, a hedge, or on the grass (sometimes these are called grass spiders).


Large males, like this one, are conspicuous when they enter houses roaming around looking for females. When a "HUGE" spider is reported to me (in New England), I narrow down whether it is a nursery web spider, a Carolina wolf spider, or a wandering male Agelenid.

* Charles Walckenaer, the original author of Agelena, did not elaborate on the meaning of the word and there are too many speculations to give anything definite here