Snail Shell

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Snail Shell

Macro Monday: Johnny-Jump-Up

Carly Simon sang about Anticipation.

Heinz thought she was referring to ketchup.

She told NPR the song was about waiting on Cat Stevens,

AKA:  Steven Demetre Georgiou

AKA:  Yusuf Islam

No matter.

My anticipation is spring

and early spring wildflowers 

like Johnny-Jump-Ups.

"Anticipation, Anticipation
Is making me late
Is keeping me waiting." 


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Macro Monday: Johnny-Jump-Up

Macro Monday: Fruticose Lichen

Fruticose lichen covered with ice after freezing rain.

Fruticose lichens are the most three-dimensional lichen type.  They're usually round in cross section, and most are branched, looking like small shrubs.  The lichens in the lower right are foliose.  They are leaf-like and look something like foliage.  Neither are harmed by ice nor freezing temperature, though dry conditions will cause them to go dormant.

Fruticose lichen with apothecia (fruiting bodies).

The same type of lichen a few inches up the branch are "blooming", producing fruiting bodies called apothecia.  All lichens are an alga and fungus living in a symbiotic relationship.  Most (but not all) of the fungi involved in producing lichens are Ascomycetes, which reproduce by growing a cup-like fruiting body called an apothecium.  The apothecium's spores will only reproduce a fungus.  To form a lichen it must combine with the appropriate algae.



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Macro Monday: Fruticose Lichen

Round-headed Apple Tree Borer (Saperda candida)

The round-headed apple tree borer (Saperda candida) takes 2-3 years to complete its life cycle. Adult beetles are 1 inch long and brown, with two white longitudinal stripes on its back. Larvae overwinter in various stages feeding on sapwood and heartwood. Pupation occurs in late spring of the second year, and emergence begins in early summer.  Females lay eggs under bark scales, in crevices, or in tree wounds. After hatching, the larvae feed beneath the bark for a while before entering the wood.  Feed on dead or dying trees and rarely on healthy trees.  Trees become weakened and heavy infestations can kill a tree in one season. Members of the rose family are favorite hosts of the round-headed apple tree borer.  Found mostly in the eastern US and Canada.  (Source:  The Morton Arboretum)

Round-headed Apple Tree Borer Larva

Photo by James Solomon, USDA Forest Service

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Round-headed Apple Tree Borer (Saperda candida)

Differential Grasshopper - Melanoplus differentialis - Female

Differential Grasshopper - Melanoplus differentialis - Female

(Photo:  Marvin Smith on 10/8/09)

IDENTIFICATION: General color is yellow to yellowish-brown with contrasting black markings ... wings are colorless ... black herringbone markings on outer face of hind femora ... hind tibiae are yellow with black spines and a narrow black ring near the knee ... average length for males is around 1 1/4" ... females are larger, averaging around 1 3/4".

RANGE: One of the more common grasshoppers. Can be found throughout most of the U. S.

FOOD: A mixed feeder that prefers grasses, especially lush vegetation in moist crop area (i. e. corn, clover, alfalfa and various garden crops). Although M. differentialis can be a serious pest in cultivated crops, it's usually not a problem in grasslands.

SEASON: Adults are common in the latter part of July. They deposit eggs from mid-August to October, and the eggs overwinter.

OVIPOSITON: Eggs are [normally] deposited in raised plant crowns of somewhat isolated clumps of sod. Common oviposition sites are compact roads, deserted fields, edges of weed patches and well-grazed areas near weedy ravines. Why the female pictured above chose to oviposit in a nail hole on our porch steps, I do not know. It was not a good choice.

Sources and links:
BugGuide Species Page
Grasshoppers of Colorado

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

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Differential Grasshopper - Melanoplus differentialis - Female