Page 223 of 561

Mystery Seed of the Week 183

Note:  I’m afraid my computer had a bit of a Thanksgiving overload last week and took a nap. Hopefully, the repair elves can keep it from being a permanent nap. In any case, I don’t have access to many of the photographs I was planning to use for Seed of the Week this month and I’ll be scrambling a bit. Please bear with me.

mystery-seed-183-pod

The seed in the pods look quite delicate. Too bad the plant itself is an invasive meanie throughout much of North America.

mystery-seed-close-up-183(Photograph by Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database)

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

Edit:  The answer is now posted.

Bug of the Week: Long-horned beetle

The locust borer from a few weeks back belongs to the group of beetles known as long-horned beetles, family Cerambycidae.

long-horned-beetle-shows-antennae

Today we have another example. The Cerambycidae are named for their long antennae, often much longer than the insect’s body.

good-long-horned-beetle

I’m pretty sure this is the striped longhorn or double-banded bycid, Sphaenothecus bivittatus. The larvae feed on mesquite and there was a mesquite tree about three feet away from where this photograph was taken.

The next week I went back out to look again, but the flowers had quit blooming so I didn’t have any luck finding more. Shows that sometimes you just have to be at the right place at the right time.

 

« Older posts Newer posts »