Body length a tad short of 600mm! Emerged from a sparassid. Found curled up into a Gordian tangle, suggesting a Horsehair Worm or Gordian Worm (due to their knottiness)belonging to the Nematomorpha, usually seen emerging from crickets and grasshoppers. It appears, however, that such worms that come from spiders are more likely mermithid Nematodes. All references I could find quote Poinar 1985. The brief text in ADS2014:(p.19)that deals with nematode parasites of spiders is also copied from that article.
Little seems to be knowm about life cycles or identification of long, tough helminths that live in large spiders. Poinar (1985) mentions mermithids up to 150mm and Nematomorphs that parasitise insects are said to be as long as a meter. By size and general appearance this worm resembles Nematomorphs I've seen emerging from Cockroaches.
I dipped the worm in hot water to kill it so I could satisfy my curiosity about its length. It is now preserved in cane spirits if anyone is interested?
~32 cm long parasitic worm that emerged from a Mecodema sculptuartum. The beetle was found wandering around during the day and then overnight the worm emerged from it. The beetle was still alive and active despite the damage to it's abdomen (visible in the 2nd and 3rd photos).
Squished two harlequin bugs (Murgantia histrionica) and one was parasitized.
This appears to be two spiders of different species tying up the same bug. The yellow one is doing most of the work, but the other one comes in to help for short periods of time. (The observation is of the yellow spider, for IDing purposes.)
I think this junco is feeding a baby cowbird
This moth, first time for me, was spotted at Karzi-Mangnam, West Sikkim, one of the remotest villages in our state. I'd taken my family to show them how does it feel like reaching there (adventurous roads, first road came in 2004), living there and experiencing their lives.
The trip indeed was fruitful, despite the back-breaking journey, I managed to photograph some extraordinary moths, like this one.
Golden-backed Frog
Mushroom grown on frog body
Socorro Isopod from the vicinity of Socorro, Socorro Co., New Mexico, USA. where it occurs at a natural spring and nearby spring-fed artificial refugium pools, the only places in the wild the species is found.
Wild adult specimens collected by Brian K. Lang for photographic purposes and subsequently released at capture site. Joel Sartore of National Geographic was also present with us this day to get pictures and his photos of this species for the magazine put mine to shame.
Vagrant King Penguin appeared here at Cape Point at the end of October 2019.
An endemic psyllid found only on Cryptocarya oahuensis, which has only one wild tree left.
Still alive Male L.cervus on a small parking lot, perhaps devour by a bird. Mandibles and antennas are still moving but all the abdomen/wings were eaten.
I found the missing elytras and the four back legs within 5 meters around the main body parts
Was looking at a group of 30 Black Oystercatchers when I noticed a fishs fins flapping out of the surf. The fish then came out of the water and started flailing in the sand. I immediately ran towards it and tried to drag it back towards the water at least 5 times by its tail but had no luck getting it all the way back into the water. We ended up leaving after trying for about 5 minutes to get it back in the water since I was guiding at the time.
3-4 ft long, sharp teeth. Beached itself for ~1 minute then swam back out to sea. These photos were screenshotted from a video that I would be happy to share to help with ID.
On window screen in the morning
2 large peccaries wandering around right after sunset. Sadly I forgot my flashlight so photos are very poor. In the first photo you can just make out eyeshine and body shape, and in the second photo you can see eyeshine.
Cicindelidae sp. larva waiting for prey at the entrance to its burrow. Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC, USA.
Label data: COLORADO: Douglas Co., Founders Village, ca. 3 mi E Castle Rock, 31 Jul 2000 Andrew D. Warren (ADW)
Male in spawning condition. Lack of tubercle rows beween nostrils, unbanded anal fin.
With Central Stoneroller (Campostoma anomalum) for comparison in 13th-15th photos (C. oligolepis is upper fish in #13 and #14 and on the right in #15).
AGFC/ANHC survey. With Jeff Quinn and Katie Morris.
This fish was filmed using an underwater camera.
The Nature Conservancy Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve (Garden of Eden trail)
While Bald Eagles do nest in Texas along various rivers, I was surprised to find an adult perched on a utility pole just outside of Gonzales, Texas today. The Guadalupe River is nearby so perhaps this bird had had a nest there earlier in the season. When I stopped to take some shots, the eagle flew a few hundred yards farther away and landed on another pole at a poor light angle for photos. A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher started dive-bombing the eagle. The eagle took off followed by the Scissor-tailed FC until they were out of sight. I'm posting the eagle and the scissor-tailed separately, but will use this same text.
Scissor-tail is hunting from the utility wire. It flies to the ground, returns with a grasshopper, and eats it.
pair of Scissor-tailed FCs enjoying the breeze
I was leaving the park and caught sight of this STFL just as it caught the grasshopper. The STFL began alternately trying to swallow the grasshopper and beat it around/toss it up in the air. It took a few minutes before the STFL was able to swallow the grasshopper.
The little guy on the left outracing his cousins :)
This bird had quite a struggle controlling/subduing and eventually swallowing its relatively big prey. Some 25% of what transpired is featured here from the approximately 5 minutes the interaction lasted for.
Underwater video from the habitat is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64r6niFlNGY
Never seen this before. Double sessile trillium? It’s like it has two sets of leaves.
Two opposing leaves, two opposing sepals. Bowtie Trillium? This is the fourth oddity I've found at this location.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/205559152
So sad this bird crashed into our front door right after I walked inside. 😢
Missing an eye
Caught with permission at a private kettle lake