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g geometer caterpillars can be incredibly difficult especially since many of them are incredibly camouflaged and lack much in the way of obvious identifying characteristics although i couldn t identify the one pictured above to species it was my favorite geometer of the night this caterpillar is a perfect twig mimic i would have never seen him had i not had a uv flashlight uv flashlights are indispensable tools when searching for caterpillars most caterpillaring occurs under the cover of night when caterpillars are most active it just so happens that most caterpillar species fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet uv light if you walk around the forest with a hand held uv flashlight which you can easily find on amazon the caterpillars will quite literally light up making it much easier to find cryptic species one of the most peculiar species of the night was the black waved flannel moth lagoa crispata the caterpillar of the black waved flannel moth is rather ridiculous looking in my opinion appearing like a frizzy toupée but don t let its appearance fool you flannel moth caterpillars are not one to mess with this caterpillar has two lines of defense first all those long hairs you see are urticating setae which are essentially bristles which can break off into your skin causing irritation like dozens and dozens of tiny splinters but hidden within the urticating setae is the second line of defense short venomous spines being stung by the caterpillar of any flannel moth species is not a pleasant experience but the black waved flannel moth is one of the least painful of the bunch the southern flannel moth megalopyge opercularis wins the pain contest i couldn t talk about the black waved flannel moth without at least showing what an adult looks like the adult black waved flannel moth is one of the most fuzzy moths out there unlike the caterpillars the adults are completely harmless this individual was found in ross county earlier in the summer the last three species i want to highlight are all slug caterpillars from the family limacodidae the slugs are almost always a favorite of anyone into lepidopterans moths and butterflies slug caterpillars are called such due to their rounded slug like appearance they hug whatever surface they are clinging too and move around in a manner more like a slug than a caterpillar some slugs like this jeweled tailed slug packardia geminata can be rather dull in appearance others can be stunningly beautiful many slugs are tiny quarter sized or less and mostly green however many species are adorned with stinging hairs such as this is nason s slug natada nasoni the spines of the nason s slug are unique compared to many other slug caterpillars these spines are actually retractable and most of the time the caterpillar will only have the tips of the spines exposed if the caterpillar feels threatened it will extend its spines and hopefully scare the threat away if not the threat whether it be a bird human or whatever will receive a painful sting this was a good species to find for the night as the nason s slug is restricted to only the southern and southeastern portions of the state the highlight of the night at least in my opinion was this saddleback caterpillar acharia stimulea the saddleback is one of the most well known slug caterpillars and it s easy to see why even someone who doesn t care about insects would be hard pressed to ignore one of these cats as you can tell from the photo above the common name for this species is due to the circular saddle on its back but if any feature is grabbing your attention it s most surely all the protruding appendages covered in spines these spines pack quite a punch each spine is rigid incredibly sharp and most importantly hollow at the base of each spine is a venom gland if a spine comes in contact with exposed skin it breaks off into the skin and begins releasing venom the saddleback s venom is both vesicating and hemolytic meaning that it causes your skin to blister while also breaking down your red blood cells and damaging your tissue a sting from one of these caterpillars will cause immediate localized pain fellow blogger andrew gibson likened it to burning knives and in extreme cases can also cause nausea migraines and a host of other symptoms the effects of the venom can last upwards of 5 hours on the front end of the saddleback are two large white spots these are thought to mimicking eyes fake eyes are common in insects especially in lepidopterans and these eye spots serve to scare away potential predators by either startling the predators or conveying that the animal in question is dangerous like always this year s caterwauling for caterpillars event was fantastic if you want to read about some of the caterpillars from the first caterwauling for caterpillars night please check out my post entitled caterpillars caterpillars and more caterpillars and if you are interested in seeing some caterpillars yourself mid september is the best time for that in ohio get out and see what you can find posted by kyle brooks at 7 48 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks arthropods athens county ohio caterpillars insects lepidoptera moths location athens oh 45701 usa thursday august 24 2017 wayne national forest internship this summer i had the opportunity to intern at wayne national forest ohio s only national forest this internship was focused on wildlife biology and was part of a larger joint venture between ohio university and the united states forest service out of wayne national forest the main project that i worked on was an environmental impact assessment for a proposed mountain bike trail system beginning in early may i and another wildlife intern from ohio university were tasked with surveying the wildlife along an approximate 30 mile section of the proposed trail route we found many interesting animals and plants over the course of the summer including discovering two new populations of a state endangered dragonfly and documenting the first ever brown creeper breeding attempt in the southeastern portion of ohio in addition to assisting with the wildlife portion of the environmental impact assessment i was given the opportunity to do some guest blogging about my internship experience on the ohio university college of arts and sciences forum i wanted to share the four posts that i wrote for the arts and sciences forum on my personal blog for anyone that was interested in reading them simply click on the links on the titles of the posts below first post working on the wayne i wanted to get my boots dirty this first post gives an introduction to the project i worked on and goes over a few of the initial findings of note second post working on the wayne awesome arthropods abound arthropods are cool and i saw many an awesome arthropod this summer this post explores a few of the stand out species including the camouflaged looper luna moth and the rare northern metalmark pictured above third post working on the wayne snazzy snakes what s cooler than arthropods snakes this post goes over a few of the common snakes of southeastern ohio and attempts to dispel some of the common misconceptions about them fourth post working on the wayne an ending note in my final post i summarize the findings of the wildlife surveys talk about the potential impacts of the trail and offer a few musings on the importance of hands on experiences in the field in addition to a classroom education your blogger in his surveying gear yes i had to wear a hard hat this internship was an amazing experience not only did i see amazing wildlife and plants but i also learned a lot which is really the main goal for any internship the biggest takeaway for me however was that there is always something new to discover if you just take a walk in the woods and keep your eyes open you never know what you might come across as for now i am in the midst of searching for another job wish me luck and thanks for reading posted by kyle brooks at 1 09 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks athens county national forests ohio university research updates location wayne national forest athens ranger district athens unit coal township oh 43766 usa tuesday august 22 2017 day tripping to adams county if you have ever spent time with me you probably know that i love adams county in southern ohio adams county has some of the most fantastic and unique nature in the state of ohio last week i traveled to adams county with two fellow naturalists from ohio university olivia brooks and alayna tokash in order to do some botanizing herping and birding out of the several places we traveled to the favorite was lynx prairie lynx prairie is a public preserve that is owned by the nature conservancy and is a location i ve written about extensively on this blog to get a general overview about the nature and history of this famous preserve check out this link lynx prairie posts lynx prairie is a system of 10 xeric short grass prairies that are of varying sizes there is a whole host of interesting and rare species that call these pocket prairies home and so i wanted to share a few of the highlights from my most recent trip i ll begin with this inconspicuous flower this is slender ladies tresses spiranthes lacera the ladies tresses is a group of orchids with a white inflorescence that typically inhabit prairies or prairie like habitats there are 9 species that can be found in ohio with 3 of those species being state listed the slender ladies tresses is one of the more common of the spiranthes species in ohio the ladies tresses can be a difficult group to identify down to species to identify a ladies tresses you should first see if the flowers are arranged in a single spiral such as the slender ladies tresses or a double spiral like the great plains ladies tresses after that you have to carefully inspect the flowers there are several single spiral species that can be found in adams county but the flowers of each species differ slightly the slender ladies tresses has a characteristic green labellum or lip which can be seen above if you want to read about some of the other species of ladies tresses that can be found in the prairies in adams county check out my previous post spiranthes orchids at blue jay barrens the most exciting plant find of the day and a lifer for yours truly was the unassuming succulent pictured above this is false aloe manfreda virginica although common in the southern us false aloe is extremely rare in ohio where it can currently only be found in adams and highland counties false aloe has an extremely interesting history in this part of the state false aloe thrives in dry prairie openings which is currently a rare habitat in ohio but between 8 000 and 4 000 years ago the world entered a very warm period called the hypsithermal ohio became very dry and hot resulting in the prairies of the west extending into ohio false aloe a plant of the south central part of the united states is thought to have invaded northward into these new ohio prairies during this time where it thrived when this hot dry period ended around 4 000 years ago the forests began to recolonize ohio false aloe found itself suddenly restricted to the dry limestone barrens of southwest ohio which were already thousands of years old originally kept open during the last ice age by megafauna like the mastodon these barrens were now being kept open as a result of fires set by the early native americans in the region false aloe became the dominant plant in some of these limestone barrens and one european settler from the early 1800 s even made reference to an agave desert in the adams county region once the european settlers killed and pushed the native americans out of this region the human set fires in the prairies and forests of this region ceased and became a thing of the past as the 1900 s approached the people living in this region allowed the forest which had been all but clearcut in the mid 1800 s to come back the remaining limestone barrens of adams county that had not been developed or otherwise destroyed began experiencing the effects of natural succession red cedars and tuliptrees which had previously been kept at bay by the fires the native americans had set for thousands of years began pushing their way into the barrens as many of these barrens became forested the false aloe found itself dying out in ohio nowadays this species is found in only a few of the protected barrens which are managed with prescribed burns sadly a recent study found that many of the remaining populations of false aloe in adams county are reproductively isolated and inbred this will only lead to a further decrease in numbers over the next century as the seeds of inbred false aloe tend not to thrive at its current state the future of the false aloe in ohio seems rather grim moving aside from the doom and gloom to something more upbeat here is a recently hatched eastern fence lizard sceloporus undulatus that alayna found hiding under a loose rock learning that ohio has lizards may come as a surprise to many but ohio is indeed home to 5 species eastern fence lizard common five lined skink broad headed skink little brown skink and the non native common wall lizard the eastern fence lizard belongs to the genus sceloporus which are collectively known as the spiny lizards the eastern fence lizard is the only spiny lizard that can be found in ohio where it inhabits the southern and southeastern portions of the state alayna tokash master s student in ecology and evolutionary biology at ohio university studies the tiny eastern fence lizard as it perches on olivia brooks s undergraduate majoring in wildlife and conservation biology at ohio university thumb eastern fence lizards begin mating as early as late april here in ohio and the first round of eggs begin hatching in june the individual we found probably hatched out in either june or july although eastern fence lizards can live 3 4 years most don t make it past their first year due to depredation or other such life ending circumstances hopefully this individual makes it past the initial first year as chances of survivorship greatly increases in year two if you want to see what a grown up eastern fence lizard looks like take a peek back at my previous eastern fence lizards post only an hour later i came across another baby lizard that was hanging out in a patch of forest between two of the pocket prairies this is a recently hatched common five lined skink plestiodon fasciatus the five lined skink is the most widespread and common lizard in ohio but isn t commonly seen due to its secretive nature five lined skinks can be incredibly skittish and they will often dart up a tree under a log or under the leaf litter upon seeing a human or other potential threat approach the...