Mushroom Flower

"Mushroom Flower" - Gerronema strombodes

Michael Baird found this mushroom on our hike.  From a distance it looks more like a flower than a fungus.  I couldn't find it in any of my field guides and turned to my friendly neighborhood mycologist, Mark Bower.  He also initially struck out and sent it to MOMS site (Missouri Mycological Society) where it was identified as Gerronema strombodes.

You would think that a striking fungus like this would have a common name and in absence of one, I am naming it mushroom flower.  It is the most commonly found of the uncommon to rare Gerronema species in the Eastern US.  

G. strombodes is a saprophytic fungus, growing on decaying wood.  It is usually found during damp periods.  Michael Kuo at MushroomExpert.com gives a colorful description of his first attempts to identify it.  He too was led on a merry chase including translating a description from German.   His extensive description gives you an idea of some of the features used to differentiate the species.

 

Most experts discourage trying to identify a mushroom by thumbing through a guide looking at pictures, so it was refreshing to read that even the great are occasionally reduced to my most common method when "keying out" fails.  A simple example of a mushroom key is this one from Kuo.

Using a key is becoming a little less daunting with computer programs such as MycoKey but you still have to learn the descriptive language.  Or you contact a friend.  Sometimes who you know trumps what you know.

Harlequin Bug

Harlequin bug eggs - Nathaniel Gross

Several years ago, Adam Millsap sent me the picture of harlequin bug eggs like those above on the underside of his kale at Urban Farm just a few blocks southwest of the Springfield square. They are stacked together in bunches of 8-10 like miniature barrels.  As he noted, they are so beautiful that he hated to crush them, but as he grows veggies for a living, crush them he must.

Harlequin bugs mating - Scott Nelson

Only the adult survives over winter. They emerge early in the spring, just as we are preparing our gardens. They lay around 12 eggs together in a line resembling a row of kegs with black hoops.  The eggs hatch in 4 to 28 days depending on the temperature.

Harlequin bug nymph-ventral - REK

Harlequin bug nymph - REK

The nymphs go through 5 to 6 cycles (instars) before they become adults.  These stages progress from pale orange to black with distinct orange and white decorations.  The sexually mature adult develops the most showy colors.  They are 3/8 inch long, a flattened oval shape with crossed wing covers forming a "V."

Even their belly is beautiful - REK

Adult harlequin bug - REK

The harlequin bug (Murgantia histrionica) is a serious pest which attacks cabbage and related species preferentially, although it is capable of attacking almost any garden crop and even fruit trees. Unlike beetles which chew leaves, they suck the juices which tends to kill the whole plant.

Adult harlequin with a single egg - REK

Brightly colored insects are frequently advertising that they are bad tasting or toxic (think Monarch butterfly).  This is called aposematic coloration the bird version of a skull and crossbones sign.  While sometimes insect color is deceptive, the harlequin bug eats crucifer plants (cabbage, brocolli, etc.) and not only absorbs their glucosinolates which are toxic to birds, but is able to concentrate and store it within its tissues.  I can just hear a mama harlequin saying, "eat your veggies or a big bad bird will get you!"

These are a type of stink bug, so pinching them with your fingers may come at an olfactory cost.  Of interest, the harlequin bug originated in Mexico and was first reported in Texas in 1864.  Its progress northward was followed and reported through the turn of the century and it now occurs across the US, generally south of Colorado and Pennsylvania.

Hand picking the bugs, larvae and eggs may prevent the recruitment of large armies requiring chemical measures.  Given their destructive habits, I can forgive Adam for destroying this mobile form of art in his garden.
More at this link.

Note:
Some gardeners use "trap crops" such as cleome to attract harlequin bugs away from their other plantings.  Commercial growers use mustard species.

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Temperature can affect the coloration of the instars.  See Entomologytoday.

I want to acknowledge all the "amateur" naturalist photographers like those above who post their works on Bugguide.net and graciously allow us to use them.  Much of the entomological identification and public education is being performed by passionate non-professionals like these.

A Fringetree for Your Yard

C. virginicus in bloom - Wikimedia

From Jennifer Ailor, Master Naturalist

Fringetree range - Wikimedia

For years I’ve heard about the beautiful but rare in these parts fringetree, Chionanthus virginicus L. It’s a native of the south and eastern U.S., whose northwestern range just barely reaches into the border country of southwest Missouri/northwest Arkansas. I finally bought one from Wickman’s Gardens in Springfield, though Garden Adventures of Nixa also carries them.

My tree bloomed the first year: lacy clusters of fragrant white blossoms hanging in fringes like finely shredded strips of paper. What a beauty! Mine bloomed in early May both years I’ve had it, lasting for about two weeks. The tree can grow to more than 30 feet in the wild, but in gardens 12-20 ft. is more common.

The tree grows in full sun to partial shade and prefers moist, fertile soils. In the wild, you’ll find it in rich, moist woods and hillsides, moist stream banks, limestone glade margins and rocky bluffs and ledges, according to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. You’ll need to water it in prolonged droughts.

The tree is dioecious (separate male and female plants) but may have flowers on each plant. Male flowers are more showy. Fertilized female flowers produce clusters of olive-like fruits that ripen to a dark, bluish black in late summer—good food for birds and wildlife. Mine must be a male tree because I haven’t seen any fruits.

Waved sphinx moth - REK

Editor's note:
As an added benefit, the fringetree is a host plant for larvae of the rustic, waved and fawned sphinx moths.  We commonly see the waved sphinx moth, Ceratomia undulosa at our deck light along Bull Creek.  By a wild coincidence, Chris Barnhart just sent me these pictures of the C. undulosa larvae just after hatching.

Hatchling C. undulosa larvae - Chris Barnhart

Later instar C. undulosa larva - Chris Barnhart

Ants in the Mail

After 30 years of using the same mailbox, suddenly over 24 hours these ants and pupae appeared.  One day no ants, next day filled. The box is in a brick structure with a board on the base of the box which has been slowly disintegrating over the years. It had been raining heavily daily x 3 but the box and inside structure was dry. There were no ants on the outside.


Curious to learn more, I sent the pictures to my myrmecologist* James Trager who promptly sent me this reply. "Every spring, these same ants - Tapinoma sessile or Odorous House Ants show up in the mailbox, in stacks of flower pots and various other places up off the wet, cool ground, in order to incubate their brood. "

Our ants closeup -  REK

The Odorous House Ants, Tapinoma sessile, act like they have had way too much sugar, and indeed they have.  Their primary food in nature is honey dew, the sugary liquid produced by scale insects and aphids as well as plant nectar.  When humans came along they found another source of "honey dew," in kitchens and garbage.   Just like squirrels, crickets and mice, they liked what they found and moved in with us.  They will also eat dead insects when available.

   T. sessile -  Tom Murray

Dr. Eleanor** describes the species in her own colorful way.  Rather than biting to defend themselves, they run around erratically, spraying a defensive odorous fluid from their anal glands.  She describes the odor of a squished ant as smelling like blue cheese.  Fortunately I had sprayed them first and thus didn't chance ruining my taste for salad dressing.

Odorous house ants have a habit of moving their nest every few weeks which may account for how they showed up overnight in our mailbox.

* Word for the day - myrmecology - the scientific study of ants.  James Trager is a member of the AskAnt Team.  They answer questions on an interesting blog at antweb.org/antblog/.
** If you are yearning to learn more about ants or even become an amateur myrmecologist, a great free I-book, Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Ants
is available on line here. 
More detailed information on T. sessile is available at this link.

Black Trumpets

We were hiking through the woods with Michael and Teri Leigh Baird when Michael pointed to the scattered black spots, looking like holes in the dark moist forest floor.  These were the famous black trumpet mushrooms, Craterellus cornucopioides.  They are notorious for being hard to see, even if you are looking for them.  Once we learned to focus on them we found trumpets in clusters scattered all around on the damp dark soil.

Find the trumpets - Click to enlarge

Black trumpets may start life as light brown, turning black with time. They are said to be associated with oaks but there is some debate over whether they are mycorrhizal (associated with tree roots) or purely saprophytic, breaking down and recycling dead vegetation in the soil.  Either way they are usually found on moist shaded soil in the forest, sometimes associated with moss.

They are highly sought after as an edible mushroom.  Maxine Stone in our edible mushroom bible,  Missouri's Wild Mushrooms*, gives them her highest **** "choice" rating.  They can be preserved by drying which we resorted to after finding five pounds of them.  She has recipes for using them in soups and egg dishes.

MDC Nature Field Guide
More on Black Trumpets from Michael Kuo.
*Great information and recipes.   Missouri's Wild Mushrooms

Male Black Widow Spider's Rhythm

Black widow spider dorsal view - Click to enlarge

A recent story on Nature World News described a set of "good vibrations" produced by the male black widow spider, Latrodectus mactans.   Like many other spider species, the female black widow may eat the smaller male that is coming in to mate if his intentions are not perfectly clear to her. Many spider species have distinctive mating rituals or courtship signals.  Not so the male black widow which relies on rhythm.  When approaching the female, the male shakes her web at a particular frequency, signaling that he is coming to mate and not coming as dinner. 

Unlike the way we were traditionally taught, the female black widow doesn't commonly eat its mate, the basis of its name "widow."  Any insect or other prey, including other spiders, will set off a vibration by their touching the web.  The research, published in Frontiers in Zoology, found that the male black widow consistently produced a distinctive web vibration, creating low-amplitude ‘whispers’ of love.   This gives a whole new meaning to the term "safe sex."

Black widow egg cases - click to enlarge

I was reminded of this research when I got a call from our neighbor Sheila who had found what looked like a black widow but was "too big."  It was guarding two egg cases and it looked too big to me also.  I had to manipulate it for some time before I could see the distinctive ventral abdominal red hourglass.

Black widow egg cases and spiderlings - click to enlarge

I put the egg cases in a small plastic box, sealed to prevent their release in the creek house and an early end to our marriage.  The next day we had a whole box full of spiderlings, suspended in a 3-dimensional array with tiny strands of silk.

Black widow spiderlings - click to enlarge

The hatchlings are light colored and become darker with each molt until they reach the smooth black color of adulthood.  The female's abdomen is globose (round) while the male's is more oval.  Females' abdomens are said to be wrinkled and somewhat deflated after they have laid their eggs and spun the sacs.  A female may have 3 or 4 egg sacs at one time, each containing anywhere from 100 to 900 yellow eggs.  As our spider was still tightly globose and had only two egg sacs, I suspect she wasn't through her cycle yet.  Over a lifespan of 1 to 2 years a single female may produce 9 to 15 egg sacs!  No wonder she can looked shriveled.

More detailed information on L. mactans is at www.spiders.us.

Sleepy Bear

This year's bear collaring season is coming to an end.  Once berries are on the shrubs it is difficult to lure them in with a pile of out-of-date donuts.  It has been a good year for the project with lots of new data acquired.

I was able to participate in the collaring of another bear, this one five miles from our house on Bull Creek.  This one was was a recapture from the year before when she acquired her ear tag as bear 25.  She had cubs nearby but we never got to see them, although undoubtedly they were up in a tree watching us.

She weighed in at 134#.  After weighing and measuring her, a radio collar was attached to her neck.  She will wear this for a year until it automatically falls off.  Once its signal stops the collar can be retrieved and the battery changed for use on another bear.

By now it was late in the evening and it was the 4th bear of the day for the bear team which had to drive back to Jefferson City.   The bear needed to be monitored as she awakened.  In the sedated state there is a possibility of injury from a wandering male or another predator approaching while she is defenseless.

Attaching the collar

We monitored her from 40 feet away, watching through shrubs.  A sedated bear falls asleep from head to tail and wakes up in the same order.  In this video you can see her begin to look around, tossing her head back and forth, then slowly getting her front legs working and finally up on all fours and moving off.  The final segment shows an unsedated male being released from a trap.

These are incredible animals, living in harmony with humans while usually unseen.  We are frequently asked what the MBBF (Missouri Black Bear Foundation) is doing to increase the numbers of bears.  The bears are doing fine and will take care of themselves.  It is we humans that need the nurturing and education to live with our bear friends. 

Current studies are to determine the population size, birth rate and distribution of bears.  In areas where the bears range, learning to contain our trash, pet and bird food and avoiding the temptation to feed them will keep the bears at a respectful distance in our shared habitat.