Moths and wolf's milk

[urbpan]

This is some kind of hawk moth, possibly the adult of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta, rather ragged and beaten up.


As I was posting this, I was planning to write about this unidentified yellow butterfly for you all to identify for me. Then I noticed the furry thorax and thought "that's rather moth-like." Seconds later, thanks to bug guide, I could tell it was a female Xanthotype moth sometimes called the "buttercup moth" or "false crocus moth" or even "false crocus geometer." Geometer is a word that entomologists think passes for a common name because everyone speaks Greek and Latin. It means inchworm. This is a female--the males have feathery antennae. The moth is resting on a chicory plant.


These droplets are the spore-bearing form of wolf's milk (Lycogala). This animal- and fungus-like organism crawls around at night, on dead wood, eating organic particles on the surface. When the time is right, it coalesces into little pink droplets which then turn brown and dry and full of reproductive spores. If you interrupt the process when it's pink, the outside of the droplets can be broken and the pink "wolf's milk" inside drips out.

Comments

[phlogiston-5.livejournal.com]

I saw some wolf's milk the other day too! Also some of that dog-vomit slime mold that you had an entry about last year. It seems to be pretty prolific on campus.