Tiny little guys (~3 cm). Female (left) & male (right). They were definitely going about together. The female was slowly fanning her wings when I took this, while the male was just sitting there.
For Pearl vs Northern Crescent, I think these would be considered Pearl. The orange area in the hindwing here has some black lines, rather than being more open like a typical Northern. The only Northern records in NJ are in the NW highlands (this is SW lowlands). And Pearl usually have black antennal clubs (unlike the female here), but not always.
However, the plot thickens: turns out "Pearl Crescent" may actually be 2 species. Apparently some of the "Pearl Crescents" with orange club tips may actually be a separate species, called variously the Pearl Crescent Intermediate Form or the Summer Crescent. So the female here might be an example of one of these.
See excellent detailed discussion here from outdoors2magic.
But the male has black club tips, & thus looks like a bona fide Pearl. So if these individuals are different species, shouldn't somebody tell them that? (Granted, I didn't actually see them mating, just keeping company.) And if they have separate flight times, why am I seeing them together?
Comments/corrections welcome!
Need ID -- anyone know? The only specimen I saw. Fairly small (~2.5 cm long?) Near roadside ditch in swamp/pine barrens border habitat.
Rambur Forktail (Ischnura ramburii) has similar pattern on the end of the abdomen, but not more proximally; however, greenish thorax looks good. Perhaps Pine Barrens Bluet (Enallagma recurvatum)? Abdominal pattern looks exactly right, including the black lateral mark on S8, except that S9 is dark rather than light. However, this is a bit past recorded flight season (5/8-6/27). New England Bluet is similar, but range & habitat are wrong.
Here's her boyfriend: www.flickr.com/photos/anitagould/23521053/
Here's his girlfriend: www.flickr.com/photos/anitagould/23520972/ .
I can't seem to get iNat to offer genus Leptus. External providers offer Subgenus Lepus (as well as various sp.), but that seems to be a plant, according to the icon.
These big harvestmen were found in the understory of swampy woods, & were easily 5 cm across, including legs. But it's the red things that I was really fascinated by. Turns out they are parasitic mites. bugguide.net/node/view/36531/bgimage gives them as nymphs of Erythraeidae, genus Leptus.
Leiobunum politum fits the harvestman (although I don't know much about these, so there might be other possibilities). Understory of swampy woods, & absolutely huge (easily 5 cm across, including legs).
But it's the red things that I was really fascinated by. Turns out they are parasitic mites. And bugguide.net/node/view/36531/bgimage gives the these as nymphs of Erythraeidae, genus Leptus.
Aha! Just read about this here. The red things on the ventral thorax are parasitic mites. I think they may be water mites, genus Arrenurus -- see bugguide.net/node/view/84930. This was my 1st foray into dragonflies (they are officially cool), & I knew absolutely nothing about them. So when I saw some of these with red & some without, I figured they were male & female of the same species. It was only when I got home & looked them up that I discovered that the green ones were all female; the male is blue. In fact, I didn't get a shot of a male because I confused it with the Spangled male -- didn't realize there were 2 different species. Then I thought maybe the red things were eggs... nope! Anyway, here's a shot without the mites.
~10 cm tall. And no, before anyone gets confused, it didn't win a prize somewhere; that's simply the title that came to mind.
One of a kind. That's a large piece of bark on the swamp floor there, but I couldn't tell if that's what it was growing from.
Thank you to David Work for the following ID. View his spectacular mycophotos here: fiddlehead.smugmug.com/
"The fungus in your photo looks to be a very young genus Ganoderma, either
species tsugae which grows on hemlock or lucidum which grows on hardwoods.
Ganoderma lucidum is very well known as a medicinal fungus known to the
Japanese as Reishi and to the Chinese as ling chih. Ganoderma tsugae is
gaining attention for medicinal qualities as well. Whatever their purported
properties, they sure are pretty to look at. Here is a photo of a juvenile
Ganoderma tsugae fiddlehead.smugmug.com/gallery/8209/8/2296426 from
above and another photo from the side showing the manner of growth on the
tree. They also grow up from the ground from the roots of the tree."
I think it was all hardwoods in there (altho I'm not positive), so I've called it lucidum.
Tree of Life: tolweb.org/Polyporoid_clade/20558
Aptly named! An older book also lists it as Black-winged Damselfly, but I like Ebony Jewelwing much better.
BugGuide info
Here's the female : it doesn't have the iridescence, but it has its own beauty -- dark brown wings just translucent enough to give a moire pattern, and white spots at the tips of them.
Check out the male too!
Aha! Just read about this here. The red things on the ventral thorax are parasitic mites. I think they may be water mites, genus Arrenurus -- see bugguide.net/node/view/84930. This was my 1st foray into dragonflies (they are officially cool), & I knew absolutely nothing about them. So when I saw some of these with red & some without, I figured they were male & female of the same species. It was only when I got home & looked them up that I discovered that the green ones were all female; the male is blue. In fact, I didn't get a shot of a male because I confused it with the Spangled male -- didn't realize there were 2 different species. Then I thought maybe the red things were eggs... nope! Anyway, here's a shot without the mites.
Tiny (only 1 cm across) but intense!
Nobody seems to bother with these common roadside species, but I think they're lovely. Anyway, somebody's got to submit them to the Field Guide group!
The bright green leaves in the background are ferns, but the dark green feathery one at the top right is the yarrow.
These guys liked to land on black surfaces. I don't think it was for the warmth, because it was plenty hot out, so suspect they do it to display their white abdomen to best advantage. (This is the male; the female is here -- completely different wing pattern). I had a choice between an old tire in a ditch or a plastic garbage bag. So instead of a "nice" photo, I have fodder for the Strikingly Different group (hey, when life sends you lemons...)
Actually, I did get a couple of shots later on, on a twig & on a light-colored rock, but this one is much the best photo -- the shot with the twig was too busy, & the dragonfly was too well camoflaged against the rock. Guess that's where it lands when it's trying to hide instead of trying to show off.
Last week 1 of these kept landing on my back! I think part of the time it was landing on my dark purple backpack, & part of the time on my light pink shirt or off-white hat. But it wouldn't land on anything when I set them down on the grass -- maybe it got tired of the game. Anybody know anything about dragonfly behavior? Could it have been trying to chase me away from its territory?
My metering matrix seems to have missed the white abdomen, so it's blown out. Oh well -- I'll just have to go out shutterbugging again & get a better shot. :-)
Have also seen this species classified as Libellula lydia.
She is eating a fly -- that's the last of its wings quickly disappearing. With any luck it was one of the &*%@*! deerflies (Chrysops species). Or a mosquito; that would be nice too. Mosquitos there bit even thru citronella; had to use DEET.
I left some of the twig at the top & bottom when I cropped this shot because I was fascinated by the way the white hashmarks on the abdomen match the white nubbins on the twig. Perfect camo! In marked contrast to the male.
