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Saw what I suspect was a Red Tail doing Red Tail poo poo in STL. 
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Feb 18, 2022 18:46
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Giant Leopard Moth caterpillars hibernate over winter, and sometimes come out for a snack on unseasonably warm days. They pupate in the spring and emerge as adults in the summer.
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Feb 21, 2022 03:43
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I get bit by some pretty excellent lizards.   Good sized Five Lined Skink.
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Apr 9, 2022 23:00
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Nice summery day out, found some critters:    The beetle is interesting, because I'm pretty sure it is a Calosoma wilcoxi, looks just like a Fiery Searcher, but like half-sized. Bugguide has listings for surrounding states, but no uploads from Missouri, so, kinda cool.
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May 9, 2022 22:38
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Deffo horseshoe crabs, they come ashore on or around full moons in May and June to get laid.
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May 16, 2022 20:50
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Treecko posted:
Eyed Click Beetle. They play dead, but also have a modified joint between the thorax and abdomen that lets them **Click** several inches into the air, startle onlookers, and hopefully land down-side-down away from threat.
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Jun 3, 2022 22:49
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Two polyphemus caterpillars from the same egg clutch, usually the little ones catch up.
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Jun 11, 2022 23:37
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That is likely ya boy the Blinded Sphinx. https://bugguide.net/node/view/4481
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Jun 28, 2022 00:14
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Inspector Hound posted:
Black Witch Moth. Ascalapha oderata. They are native to the extreme southern US, Mexico, the Gulf and Central America. In Mexico they presage death and hair loss. In the Bahamas they are called Moneybats and bring good fortune. They also travel like crazy, so there are sightings in Canada every year.
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Jun 30, 2022 02:06
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Well, this is unexpected. Apparently the Polyphemus in my area are going to do a second brood this year. My oak tree is still beat up from the spring generation. Male polyphemus moth, also a polyphemus caterpillar, prepupal caterpillar outside of it's cocoon, pupa, and proper cocoon. 
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Jul 16, 2022 19:25
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Jul 19, 2022 18:17
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So, unanticipated 2nd brood of Polyphemus resulted in this fairly magical scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbfGb-g9RXs and this unseemly one  also about 400 more eggs than I have trees for.  Anybody in the Metro-East/St. Louis area want about 30 eggs? They eat Oak, Sweet Gum, Soft Maples, Grape, Birch, Hickory, or Fruit Trees. Take about 6 weeks to go from sesame seed sized eggs to breakfast-sausage sized fatterpillars. Do well in an uncrowded critter keeper, do better on an outdoor tree branch with a mesh net over it to keep the caterpillars in and the predators out. Takes about 5 minutes a day to check on them, dump frass, and get them fresh leaves. These will cocoon and sit over the winter to emerge spring 2023.  
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Jul 25, 2022 22:29
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hooah posted:I'm in north Georgia, and we saw this large caterpillar yesterday. I've been told elsewhere that maybe it's an imperial moth. Is that right? Yup, they are super variable as cats. Come in green, orange, brown, and black. That one is done eating and looking for a patch of loose earth to dig down to form its underground pupal chamber.
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Sep 19, 2022 02:00
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Forest Road #345 (the Snake Road) in Shawnee National Forest is closed to vehicles twice a year from March 15th to May 15th and Sept. 1st to Oct. 30th. In the spring snakes migrate from their hidey holes in the bluffs across the road to the swamps, in the fall, they migrate back. I went and saw snakes. Only found Cottonmouths and Water Snakes, but found a plenty of them. Fat and mean.     Worth a couple hour drive if you are anywhere nearby. Beautiful hike up to the top of the bluffs as well.  
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Sep 25, 2022 01:04
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Three Views of an Isa textula Crowned Slug Caterpillar.  
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Oct 11, 2022 01:04
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Met this friend shaped friend in Southern Illinois today:    Never seen one alive in the wild before.
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Nov 7, 2022 03:31
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Met a really good looking Box Turtle today.  and a less good looking cottonmouth 
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Apr 21, 2023 05:11
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That time of the year again. Polyphemus emerging, and I get to come up with more synonyms for brown to describe them. So far this year I've got some that are Khaki (brown), and some that are Teak (brown). Still waiting on some that are as Orange (brown) as last year.   
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May 7, 2023 01:07
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Unusually red box turtle, and hognose snake that hated me a bunch.    https://i.imgur.com/8aHSQev.mp4 Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at 06:17 on May 19, 2023 |
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May 19, 2023 06:00
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  Polyphemus caterpillars shedding in to 2nd instar. Every time a caterpillar sheds its skin, the head capsule nearly doubles in size, and they take about a week of eating for the body to catch up. The brown/orange bit is the old head capsule still stuck to the face hairs on the yellow bit that is the brand new twice-as-big head. Often there is a fair bit of attrition between 1st and 2nd instar as they fail to shed successfully, or otherwise fail to thrive. But this year things seem to be looking good. Everybody is healthy and happy so far.
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May 21, 2023 23:12
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Found a really nice copperhead on the trail today, only had a 60mm macro, and a phone, so I didn't get the pictures I wanted, but also didn't get bit on the face. Not sure I made the best trade there.  Also, new head, who dis? Freshly shed into 5th instar polyphemus. 
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Jun 9, 2023 02:33
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PainterofCrap posted:Really great, sharp, close-up photos of the death rope for having been taken a quarter-mile away. Our household has different ideas about how close to be to a snake. 
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Jun 9, 2023 18:30
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Found some Automeris io caterpillars in the act of hatching. These guys are covered in venomous spines, and grow up cool. Looking forward to raising these. Also some Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars. Thinking to plant some pipevine next year. Cool thing about these is that the adults have a whole mimicry complex around them. Bunch of other species want to look like they eat pipevine, and thus are not good to eat.  
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Jun 20, 2023 23:30
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 2nd and 3rd instar Automeris io caterpillars I found hatching from their eggs a couple weeks ago. All the parts that look like stingers are stingers.
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Jul 5, 2023 19:48
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:This absolute unit landed on me while I was outside at work. I think it's a Royal Walnut Moth. Never seen one of these in the wild, and not for lack of looking. Hickory Horned Devils are the best.
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Jul 20, 2023 23:48
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Scarodactyl posted:Love those little guys. Amphion floridensis. The Nessus Sphinx. https://bugguide.net/node/view/3131
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Aug 12, 2023 22:13
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Well, this was unexpected. What I thought was going to be an overwintering brood decided to emerge to try their luck and race fall. I don't know if there is going to be 7 weeks of leaves and fair weather left.
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Sep 11, 2023 19:28
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Captain Hygiene posted:Whoa, that's an awesome pic, though. Were they all in the same place when they came out, or do they congregate together? Never saw more than one at a time before. I've got about 200 cocoons in a big mesh box. 25 of them emerged yesterday, 24 of them male, so I set them out on the railing to seek their fortunes. Was a little chilly, so enough stayed put for a few minutes to take the picture.
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Sep 11, 2023 19:52
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the yeti posted:Do they always emerge a bunch at once like that in a given brood? Within a week or so of eachother, in a given brood. But as a total population, there is somebody on the wing from May to August around here, and year round in Florida and Texas. The last several years I've had one spring brood, one summer brood, and an overwintering brood. Three non-diapausing broods is a first, and might be a problem, because any caterpillars from this batch won't be done till pretty late in October, and we often get a freeze before Halloween. In a big batch like this, there are probably going to be a few overwintering bugs, but I am a little worried.
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Sep 11, 2023 20:07
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Anyone have thoughts on what these eggs might be from? This is East Bay near SF, oak woodland, eye level on an oak. I'd guess they were around 1mm, maybe a smidge more. Looks more like fungus to me. You'll pretty much never see an egg mass with noticeably different sized eggs.
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Jan 24, 2024 21:01
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my cat is norris posted:Is that a parasitized spider?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnura Several species of orb weaver have freaky long abdomens.
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Feb 22, 2024 05:49
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Good day down at the Snake Road. Final count 20 Cottonmouths, 2 Timber Rattlers, 1 Juvenile Black Rat Snake, 1 Speckled Kingsnake.    And some not snakes:   
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Apr 1, 2024 01:07
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 16:15 |
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Tunicate posted:Wow a zebra swallowtail! Those are rare! Not in early spring in Southern Illinois. Hundreds of them flying in big awesome 5-way helixes down the trails. Go where there are pawpaws, and you'll see them aplenty. They are tougher to catch with a butterfly net than a lot of other swallowtails though, tend to like to be high and fast, by comparison.
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Apr 1, 2024 02:48
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