The end of an era

July marked the last of intense summer sampling for my PhD (and fall sampling was fairly quiet...too hot or too cold!) We found an unexpected reptile while surveying plots at night in July:

This juvenile Eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) was just as surprised to see us, but either pretended we couldn't see him or was too sleepy to run away!

Speaking of sleepy animals, this small rabbit seemed content to let us take pictures:

We also found this cute little worm snake!

Toads always seem to be looking down on the world as if they are royalty and therefore superior to the rest of us...

This drab looking moth has striking color and spots on its hidden wings. This is likely a way to distract predators if camouflage fails. 

One of the more unusual finds of July was this ant-mimic spider. The spiders look like the ants to blend in, and more easily catch prey, an actual wolf in sheep's clothing. This type of mimicry is sometimes called Wasmannian mimicry. 

A completely different type of "mimicry" is called convergent evolution. This process results in similar morphologies (shapes or appearances) for very different organisms to deal with the same types of problems or needs. In the case below, we found some sort of longhorn beetle (I think), and I noticed that it had very large and distinctive foot pads. They reminded me of gecko feet (see images below)! These broad foot pads help both animals climb. Isn't biology amazing?!?!

Picture source: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/543506/a-strapless-bra-thats-as-sticky-as-gecko-feet/ 

No post is complete without a few pictures of my study organisms, salamanders!

Orange cheeks and legs!

Beautiful hybrid, white spots and red legs!

Plump red salamander! 

Surveying their domain....

Someone has been eating well...

 

Almost looks like a carrot shaving!

Fun fungi and a small orchid:

  

BONUS content! 

In September (2017), we found this beautiful timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) waiting for unsuspecting rodents to run by! The scales looked so soft with the subtle mottling, I really wanted to touch it, but I knew that would be an extremely foolish thing to do...so I didn't. 

I will be helping with fieldwork this spring before I graduate and (hopefully) start working in another place. So stay tuned for more adventures!