An Ozark Naturalist

It’s not a scorpion,

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:59:36 +0000

it’s a skink. Or more precisely, it’s a Ground Skink (Scincella lateralis,) and it’s certainly not a scorpion even though that’s what most of the folks in my Grandmother’s generation called them.

The ground skink is the smallest lizard in Missouri and occurs nearly state wide, absent only from the north central and northeast parts of the state. Tom Johnson states in “The Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri” that ground skinks don’t normally climb, mentioning trees and rocks in particular. That may be so, but this one certainly climbed the wall of my shed and was quite agile going about it. He also looks like he’s lost his tail at some point, something at happens easily apparently, and is well on his way to regenerating it.

Being small and living mostly on the ground in the leaf litter has its disadvantages. Seems like nearly everything would like to make a meal of it: other lizards, snakes, armadillos, shrews, etc. Heck, even an Eastern Bluebird was documented feeding a skink to it’s nestlings.

Great Spangled Fritillary

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:03:41 +0000

The Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) ranges over much of North America and is a common butterfly in the Ozarks. But I had never seen its caterpillar before today. One was making his way across my driveway and since I almost always have a camera at hand, there are photos.

These caterpillars feed at night, specializing on Viola species and hide under leaves and debris during the day. After mating in early summer, the female lays her eggs singly on a host plant in late summer/early fall and after hatching, the caterpillars overwinter before beginning to feed. Its pupa is camouflaged to look like a dead leaf. The adults feed on the nectar from a variety of flowers.

More from Skyline Drive

admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 05:35:56 +0000

Just a few more things Steve and I found while on Skyline looking at the Serviceberry from a previous post.

Black Oak (Quercus velutina)

Post Oak (Quercus stellata)

Shorleaf Pine (Pinus echinata)

Southern Black Haw (Viburnum rufidulum)

Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens)

Cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex)

Green Treefrog

admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:41:58 +0000

According to “The Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri,” the Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea) doesn’t occur in Carter County. Supposedly, other than an introduced population in Camden County, it’s limited to the southeast lowlands. My three year old niece Lauren would beg to differ since she found one today.

Of course I’ve never met a frog that read a field guide and it is just that, a guide. It’s about 30 or 40 miles from here to the edge of the Ozarks and the lowlands, so this little guy isn’t that far from where you’d expect him.

It really is a berry…

admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 02:25:55 +0000

Everyone, I think, is familiar with the bloom of the serviceberry or shadbush tree (Amelanchier arborea.) But most probably do what I do and put them out of there mind after the bloom is gone. But, as I discovered today when I took the photo below, they really do have berries.

I wasn’t really sure what they were without the bloom, to tell you the truth. But I had a friend (Steve Orchard, a forester for the Missouri Department of Conservation) along who knew what they were. He says that they’re quite tasty, but tried these and decided they weren’t ripe yet. I wussed and wouldn’t try them. What can I say, I’m not a fruit (or vegetable) eater.

Lilacs & Butterflies

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:26:38 +0000

Dayna’s lilac is blooming gloriously this year and the butterflies have noticed.

Pipe Vine or Blue Swallowtail (Battus philenor)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)

What Lurks in the Night? II

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:50:27 +0000

Some more denizens of the night that came to the black light and stayed until daylight, starting with the moths:

Polyphemus (Antheraea polyphemus)

There was also a click beetle,

a pair of mating crane flies,

another interesting looking fly (that I cannot identify)

and a wasp, probably an Ichneumonidae (Hopefully I spelled that right – I was too lazy to look it up.)

What is that dragonfly?

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:06:04 +0000

The past few days, I’ve had a dragonfly at the pond that I haven’t been able to identify. He was spending all his time on the wing and my eyes aren’t up to making an identification under those circumstances. So I did what any red-blooded wanna be entomologist would – I netted him.

He turned out to be a Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura,) a species I found at Corkwood Conservation Area a week or so past and here in the yard a few days ago. Since I had him in hand, I figured I might as well take a few detail photos and here they are:

I got a bit careless and managed to get the last few segments of his abdomen in shadow. Those yellow spots continue to the last segment.

What Lurks in the Night?

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:42:22 +0000

It was very warm tonight, into the 70s, which well above normal for April in the Ozarks. It had the insects out though so I decided to hang the black light and leave it out over night. These were still present this morning and I’ve labeled all of them that I have managed to identify.

Agreeable Tiger Moth (Spilosoma congrua)

Fiery Searcher (Calosoma scrutator)

Luna Moth (Actias luna)

White Dotted Prominent (Nadata gibbosa)

The rest of these I haven’t identified yet. If you happen to know any of them, please let me know.

Back at Watercress Park

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:57:51 +0000

It’s Monday, so that means I spent my lunch hour walking around Watercress. I found a few new blooms including American Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia,)

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)

and (Lyre-leaf Sage (Salvia lyrata.)

But the find of the day came from under a log along the spring branch.

A Rove Beetle for sure, I believe to be Philonthus politus. Bugguide only has widely separated entries from New Egland and Iowa, so their range data is obviously incomplete at this point and Missouri could certainly fall within the species range.