Genevieve Wall led a walk for Nature Forward, meeting at Pennyfield Lock on the C&O Canal. I’ll switch it up a bit and blockquote the follow-up message I sent to her, with a bit of editing:
- Eastern Musk Turtle* (Sternotherus odoratus)
- American Nursery Web Spider* (Pisaurina mira)
- Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta)
- Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma)
- Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis), incorrectly ID’d by me in field as Appalachian Brown
Hackberry Emperor topside (dorsally) shows a pattern of white and dark spots across a ground of dark brown to tan. Appalachian Brown dorsally is more or less allover brown, except for the eyespots.
I said that checkerspots and Polygonia spp. are in separate groups — that’s incorrect. They’re both in the Nymphalidae (Brushfoots) family.
Thanks for the tip about red coloration in Johnson Grass.
I’ll ask around about that mystery vine with prickles that we looked at with C.
*New observations for me!