Playing catchup again

Had a fun houseguest this week, with lots of late nights, fun times, and puppies. I have neglected my blogging duties which means: huge blog dump today! 

Friendly slime

Now that's a big dog vomit slime mold. I'm guessing the potted plant was heavily watered, making the myxomycete gather and feed on the organisms produced/attracted by the water.

280 days of Urbpandemonium #163

The orchard orbweaver Leucauge venusta* is a small but elaborately colored spider that specializes in hunting in small trees, shrubs and understory plants. They don't seem too bothered by human activity, at least judging by the frequency I encounter them. They probably benefit from the many small flies that accompany so many human endeavors. The orchard orbweaver hangs upside-down in her angled orb, in forests, orchards and suburbs from Ontario to Brazil.

* White, beautiful.

280 days of Urbpandemonium #164

With the cameras I'm using on this project, I really didn't expect to include many mammals. I REALLY didn't expect to include a small swift mammal like this northern short-tailed shrew Blarina brevicauda.*


These animals might look like small rodents but they are actually very active predators who sometimes kill and eat mice and voles. The are also known to eat small snakes. More often they tackle insects and earthworms, stunning prey with toxic saliva.


Among shrews they are large, robust, blunt-nosed, and more likely to feed on vertebrates. They are omnivores that I sometimes encounter as non-target bycatch at rodent traps (meaning they are attracted to peanut butter). They produce foul smelling secretions from anal glands--often cats or foxes will kill them, but then refuse to eat the unappetizing creature. Presumably the defensive odor protects them in some circumstances.

*"Blarina" is a Latinization of Blair, Nebraska, where the animal was first described and named. "Brevicaudata" means short tail.

280 days of Urbpandemonium #165

Certain trees produce anti-fungal chemicals in their wood. Certain fungi are specialists on this kind of wood, having evolved a resistance to these chemicals. Relative immunity to phenols means that Gloeophyllum sepiarium* can invade the wood of pine and other conifers before other fungi can.


Unfortunately for those of us who own pine picnic tables, this fungus is rapidly destructive. By the time this narrow foam of mushroom material appeared from a crack in the wood grain, the cellulose making up the cell walls of the wood was well on the way to being digested.


It's only a matter of time before someone goes right through this picnic table. Perhaps I'll show you a little later.

*Gloeophyllum means "with glutinous or
sticky leaves"; sepiarium means "dark, sepia-colored."

280 days of Urbpandemonium #166

You can tell by the presence of both of my filthy nail-bitten hands as well as the general improvement of photo quality, that these pictures were taken by @cottonmanifesto. The reddish-brown creature in my paws is a Carolina grasshopper Dissosteira carolina.* Bugguide.net informs us that this species is also known as a "road duster." That's about as good as common names get in my opinion.


These grasshoppers are usually encountered in dusty places with sparse vegetation. Unpaved driveways seem to be a favorite haunt. They are variably colored, from sandy brown to dusty gray to the red clay color you see above. Often you won't see them against the bare soil until you nearly step on one and it flings itself into the air. Its wings are black with yellowish margins, and it flies with power and speed--if not precision. These grasshoppers can be found almost anywhere in North America that meets their habitat needs.

*My quick and dirty etymological research suggests that the genus means "Double barren."

Unknown beauty

I was unable to identify this pretty red mushroom, but it's probably a Russula.