Photos / Sounds
What
Northern Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus)Observer
petenoewoodsDescription
Several years ago my good friend, who shall remain nameless, told me that he had once seen a slimy salamander in Fern Hollow in Frick Park. After a few years of looking but never finding one, I asked him exactly where he saw it... and he had no memory of ever seeing one there.
I can't explain why I was looking for slimy salamanders at dusk in a rainstorm, but I was, and I found one.
Photos / Sounds
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Beard Lichens (Genus Usnea)Observer
petenoewoodsDescription
Air pollution extirpated this whole genus of lichens from Pennsylvania about a hundred years ago. So why it was growing in Frick Park, in the middle of Pittsburgh, the air pollution capitol of the east, I do not know.
It was growing on an ash tree, attached to the trunk where the trunk was about 3 inches wide. The lichen clump is about 4 inches wide, with the longest branch about 4 inches long. The tree was infested with emerald ash borer, and had been recently cut down.
This may be an isolated waif, or it may be part of a larger population. I still have to do a better search of the immediate area, and of other ash trees around the park, to see if there are any other colonies.
The elastic cord inside each stem clearly identifies this as an Usnea. There are 9 species of this genus historically known from Pennsylvania; I haven't yet figured out which species this is or if any other Usneas have been collected in recent decades.
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American Cancer-Root (Conopholis americana)Observer
petenoewoodsDescription
It's a good thing for this species that it isn't a bit browner & duller - it would get stomped on by disappointed morel hunters.
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Spiny Witch-Hazel Gall Aphid (Hamamelistes spinosus)Observer
petenoewoodsPlace
Missing LocationDescription
Here's the story: A spiny witch hazel gall aphid (Hamamelistes spinosus) was born on a river birch leaf in or near Frick Park in the spring of 2009. She sucked on the leaf and pumped out offspring asexually. A few months later, her great grandchildren mated and the females flew away, looking for a witch hazel. They laid their eggs on a witch hazel twig, and the eggs didn't hatch until spring of 2010. The baby aphids started sucking on flower buds, and a gall grew around each one. By late summer the galls were full-grown and each mama aphid had raised a brood of winged aphids, which flew off to look for a river birch. Then the galls hung on the branch until I found them this week.
Photos / Sounds
What
Hackberry Thorn Gall Midge (Celticecis spiniformis)Observer
petenoewoodsDescription
about 4 mm long. Found on the underside of a hackberry leaf in Frick Park. I was inspired to look for these by Charley Eisman:
bugtracks.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/hackberry-midge-galls/
Thanks to Ray Gagne for identifying the specimen to species.
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Fairy Pins (Phaeocalicium polyporaeum)Observer
petenoewoodsDescription
This little fungus specializes on this one species of bracket fungus.
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Flame Trumpet (Craterellus ignicolor)Observer
petenoewoodsDescription
cap color ranged from bright orange, like this, to brown, like in the following picture.
Photos / Sounds
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Florida Apple Snail (Pomacea paludosa)Observer
petenoewoodsDescription
apple snail egg mass
