Blog Archives

Crypsis Challenge #1

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

July 2, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA

I plan to regularly post challenges like this. Can you find what’s hidden in this photo? I’ll follow-up with more info in a subsequent post. Again, I’m posting this before the site is public, so I’ll wait until I have some guesses in the comments before revealing the answer.

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 2 Comments

Tube-tailed Thrips

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

Tube-tailed thrips larvae | May 17, 2008 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA

I spotted this scene on a small stump in my front yard. At the time I didn’t know what they were. After a bit of research, I determined they were tube-tailed thrips from the family Phlaeothripidae.

I assume there are so many because they’ve found a good food source, fungus perhaps. I’m curious as to why the larvae are orange-ish red. Occasionally I’d see a black adult like the one below, which definitely contrasts with the color of the larvae.

Adult

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White-marked Tussock Moth

Posted on June 30, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

I often encounter the easily recognized White-marked Tussock moth, Orgyia leucostigma. I found this one feeding on maple at the end of May in my front yard.

May 31, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA | ~30mm

I grabbed it for some closeup shots and to attempt to rear it.

Tussocks

Head

Defensive glands

It must have been a final instar, because it pupated just five days later. It spun the cocoon at the top of a container, but I carefully removed it to take some photos.

Cocoon | June 6, 2010 | ~40mm

A flightless female emerged ten days later.

It's a female! | June 16, 2010 | ~15mm

Portrait

Females cling to the cocoon until mated. That night, I carefully pinned the cocoon with her on it to a post on my deck. When I checked an hour later, mating was already in progress. The male that found her was rough looking, having lost many wing scales. read more

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Identification Challenge #1

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

May 23, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA | ~10mm

I’ll be posting identification challenges like this periodically. Feel free to comment with your guess.

As I’m posting this before the site is public, it may be awhile before I post the answer to this one. I’ll wait until I see some comments here or until a reasonable amount of time has passed.

Posted in Identification Challenges | 1 Comment

Twelvestones

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

For my first post I want to talk about the where I live, since many of the photographs will be from here. My intention going forward is to link a photograph back to one of these “Location Profile” posts about where the photo was taken.

Google satellite image - Taken in Spring 2010 I think

Location

I currently live in Twelvestones subdivision in Roswell, a northern suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Twelvestones, therefore, will be my shorthand for this home and places close by.

We’re on the Piedmont Plateau at an elevation of around 1000ft (300m), latitude 33.99911, longitude -84.29031. The house faces northwest, giving us a nice southern exposure on the back. read more

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