Tag Archives: egg

Pine Needle Bananas – Mystery Solved!

Nine years ago this month, I published the first in a series of “monthly mystery” posts in which I wrote about nagging natural history mysteries with the hope that someone out there might have some answers, or at least suggest … Continue reading

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The Yard List(s), Part 12

If you have somehow been keeping up with all these posts, you will recall that back in Episode 10 I found a sawfly larva on lady fern (Athyrium angustum) next to my house. Yesterday I stepped out the front door … Continue reading

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The Yard List(s), Part 11

Now that I’ve declared my intention to find as many sawfly larvae as possible, they’re starting to show up everywhere I look. Today Julia and I made a rare trip away from home, lured by the news from my mother … Continue reading

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Eggshells

On Monday I spotted these little eggshells on a tall blue lettuce (Lactuca biennis) plant growing under the black cherry (Prunus serotina) tree in my yard: There aren’t many insect eggs I would identify to species with confidence, but these … Continue reading

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First Grasshopperlets of Spring

Back on September 12, Julia was transplanting some strawberry plants when she came across this cluster of 5-mm eggs in the soil: I was pretty sure they were grasshopper eggs, but I figured we might as well find out what … Continue reading

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Walnut Caterpillars

Last August I was invited to the Polly Hill Arboretum on Martha’s Vineyard to give a presentation about my insect research on Nantucket. After the slideshow I led a walk around the arboretum in search of insect tracks and signs. … Continue reading

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Sunflower Tortoise Beetles

Another one of my winter projects, of course, is sorting through all of my photos from last year. So far I’ve made it up to July 15, when Julia and I had just arrived in Iowa to explore some prairie … Continue reading

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Silk on Stink Bug Eggs, Part 2

In my last post I wrote about a little wasp in Mexico that apparently spins silk over stink bug eggs after it inserts its own eggs inside them. Several people had told me confidently that it was a pteromalid, so I … Continue reading

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Ragweed Residents

This is the time of year that everybody is ragging on ragweed (Ambrosia spp.)—at least, everyone who realizes that it is the pollen of this plant, and not goldenrod, that is responsible for their summer allergies. At times like this, … Continue reading

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More Fun with DNA Barcoding

Back in July, I shared an assortment of moth photos I’d taken during a week on Nantucket, which happened to be National Moth Week. I included this photo of a row of flat, overlapping eggs on a woolly bulrush (Scirpus cyperinus) … Continue reading

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