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Bug of the Week: What’s This Bug?

January 8, 2014 / Roberta / 1 Comment

Today I thought I’d dig through the archives and find you a very tricky mystery insect.

Do you have any guesses what it might be? (I know the photograph isn’t the best.)

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In case you were wondering about the insects in last week’s post, here are their identities and links to the original posts.

This fuzzy little bee is a digger bee, probably genus Centris. It is a type of solitary bee, which means each female digs and provisions her own nest. (Spring is in the air)

This dainty butterfly is a checkered white.

On my toe is a tropical butterfly I saw during a visit to Butterfly Magic at the Tucson Botanical Garden. It is a brown clipper, Parthenos sylvia. There is also a blue form.

We were excited to see the first monarch butterfly of the fall.

I gave the tiny owlet moth with the rainbow of colors on its wings a second look.

Who can resist a photograph of a queen butterfly caterpillar?

I knew the plant was a naturalized asparagus plant when I saw the spotted asparagus beetle.

A sign of fall in the East, this is a locust borer beetle.

The tiny guy with the big eyes is a jumping spider. You can see more here at this older post.

Thank you for playing!

Mystery Seed of the Week 188

January 7, 2014 / Roberta / 4 Comments

You might not even think these are seeds.

They will grow into a garden plant, however, one that is commonly used in soup.

Do you recognize what plant these seeds are from? If you choose to, please leave a comment with your ideas.

New mystery seeds and Seed of the Week answers are posted on Tuesdays.

Edit:Â The answer is now posted.

Our mystery seeds from last week were from a member of the legume or bean family, Fabaceae, like the red bird of paradise. These particular seeds, however, are from a desert fern, Lysiloma watsonii.

Let me show you the desert fern first, and then if you are interested, I’ll show you how similar some of the seeds and flowers are in this group.

The desert fern is a small tree. As with many desert trees, it can have a shrubby appearance. In fact, another common name is feather bush.

The common names feather and fern refer to the delicate, droopy leaves, which have a soft, feathery look.

The leaves are pinnately compound, with many tiny leaflets.

Desert ferns flower in the spring.

The flower is a round puff-ball of stamens, similar to its relatives.

Desert ferns are native to Arizona. They do well in the heat, use little water, and are relatively fast growing. The main drawback of this otherwise lovely tree is that they will produce a lot of seedlings in irrigated landscapes.

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Now let’s take a look at some similar seeds. Desert ferns are classified in the subfamily Mimosoideae, which include the acacias and mimosas as well.