Garden Wildlife 2014

[Steve Garvie]

I think the action is playing out on a pitcher plant Maggi.

I half expect Ray Winston's sonsie face to appear and invite an online bet as to whether the spider or the pitcher will score first!  I'm clearly watching too much World Cup Fitba'!

[Maggi Young]

Aha! The penny drops - very good - and very well spotted, Steve - I had thought it might be the maquette for a new bio-dome........   

[fredg]

Darlingtonia californica Maggi, I have one or two

This was a few of them in  May

[Maggi Young]

Yea, just a few, eh?   

[Roma]

I'd collected a few (not very big) stones for edging the path and had just dropped one when I spotted this moth.  It was very lucky I did not drop the stone on it or stand on it.

Garden Tiger Moth

[Maggi Young]

Very handsome - along the lines of a well-dressed flying teddy bear 

[johnw]

Unbelievable Fred! 

AGCBC seed sprouted immediately on live sphagnum under lights last February. When the pitchers got about 1.5cm tall they appeared to have black inside the pitcher at the base. The black worked up to the top until they were all kaput.  Any suggestions?  I feel once they sprouted I should have moved them under lights in the cold (+5c) room as friends suggested they need cold bogs to thrive and yet you have them in a frame.

Cleaning up after a 40 hour bout with Hurricane Arthur.  Awfully early for a hurricane.  Hope Maggiepie in New Brunswick has fared ok as they were to get 10"+ of rain with the wind.  We are dry and got not a drop. 200,000 without power. 

johnw

[fredg]

John, I've never seen the problem you've described in my plants. It's from the base up so obviously something down at the roots.
On temperatures, please don't believe everything you'll read. I was recording root temperatures of up to 38C (100F) in May.  I have 30 thermometers in the Darlingtonia house both digital and analogue, I think I can stand my ground on that one.

[Maggi Young]

Was pointed in the direction of these critters by Nhu Nguyen of the PBS - they are moth caterpillars but not like the sort most of us are used to seeing. They're more like jewelled jellies - be sure to wath the video - when you see the beastie from the side with  its little legs going full speed it is most amusing - and it's always good to be able to get a laugh at a leaf chomper, I reckon.

"Jewel caterpillars are brightly coloured moth larvae tipped in disposable gumdrop spines."
 http://sciencealert.com.au/features/20140207-25802.html#.U7nYkKsvN7F.twitter
 

[fredg]

Head to Fabr’s article at Scientific American for more information and images of these incredible insects, and here's a video of a little jewel caterpillar making its way across some screwdrivers:

The problem there Maggi is how much faith can you place in people who don't know the difference between  screwdrivers and jack plugs. I'd like to see them putting screws in with those .

[Maggi Young]

  Quite so Fred - I noticed that -if the critter hadn't been so cute I'd have spent 2.14 seconds just waiting for the screwdrivers!

[Anthony Darby]

Still extremely windy, and there has been flooding north of Auckland, but this male monarch is resting up on my money plant. I decided to tag it. Due to the wind I had to fasten the bin lid down with the side clips, only to find a Springbok mantis (Miomantis caffra) ootheca attached to the underside of one of the clips. I suppose it's as good a place as any to deposit your eggs.

[fredg]

I think this is one for Anthony.

These fine chaps are knocking 7 bells out of this rose. I haven't seen one move yet though, they're playing statues.

[Peter Maguire]

I'll hazard a guess at sawfly larvae (? Large Rose Sawfly, Argae pagana)

But I'm prepared to be proved wrong.......

[Chris Johnson]

I'll hazard a guess at sawfly larvae (? Large Rose Sawfly, Argae pagana)

But I'm prepared to be proved wrong.......

I agree.

Knowing what species the sawfly larvae is feeding on is very useful as a large number of this taxon are host-specific.

Chris