Colin Purrington

nature photography / natural history / misc

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This is a blog with nature photography, biology-related projects, & geeky tips.

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Recent posts

Help monarch butterflies by giving away milkweed plants
Spotted lanternfly photographs
15 mosquito-control strategies and devices that don’t work
Spartan Mosquito Eradicator (review)
Eliminate mosquitoes by eliminating stagnant water

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Paraphidippus aurantius. The long front legs and enlarged chelicerae are likely used in male-male competition somehow, but I couldn’t find details. I also failed to determine whether males in this species can even envenomate prey, an ability that is lost, I’ve read, in some male salticids with large chelicerae. I’m sure all these details are published somewhere but the species has gone through over 20 names and it’s hard to know which one to focus a literature search on. So all I have is a pic. At Stoneleigh gardens in Villanova, PA.
#paraphidippusaurantius #erisaurantia #natlands #spider #jumpingspider #salticidae

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Sweet potatoes from my garden. Sometimes called yams due to 1937 scheme cooked up by Louisiana sweet potato growers (“Let’s market them as yams!”). If you want to see a pic of an actual yam, go to my website and read (under Misc), “The difference between yams and sweet potatoes.” Big ones can weigh several hundred pounds. #sweetpotato #yam #ipomoeabatatas #convolvulaceae #dioscorea #botany #thanksgiving #gardening #food #rootvegetables

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Fruiting body of Daldinia vernicosa that was growing on a charred tree. This bizarre fungus is often labeled as pyroxylophilous (living in burned wood) but some sources say it is a common but hidden fungus that pumps out fruiting bodies only when the host is scorched by lightning or forest fires. When inside a non-burned tree it’s just another white rot, sometimes contributing interesting patterns (e.g., calico wood) that excite woodworkers. The fruiting bodies are a tad gooey and apparently have enough water to produce spores for over a month when detached. This water reserve is probably a good strategy given that fire probably destroys the leaf cover, too, so there’s no transpiration and no protection from the sun. Another putative adaptation to dry conditions is that spores are only released at night, when dew might be present. Binky Lee Preserve, Chester Springs, PA.
#daldiniavernicosa #pyroxylophilous #pyrenomycete #fungi #mushroom #natlands

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I just got the memo that today (Oct 10 2019) is International Jumping Spider Day (#SalticiDay ?) so here’s an Eris floridana. Photographed in Florida, as one would expect, but found all over the eastern half of the United States and as far north as Maine. At some point soon I promise to post pics of the amazing nests this species makes on pine trees.
#erisfloridana #whitebandedjumpingspider #salticidae #salticid #jumpingspider #eris #spider #arachnid #zolfosprings #jumpingspiderday

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Boat-like seed of swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), shown here without its fluffy coma. I couldn’t find a test of the buoyancy of this species but wetland-associated Asclepias perennis has a similar architecture and can float for up to 6 months. So my guess is that if wind dispersal (anemochory) carries a swamp milkweed seed onto water, subsequent water dispersal (hydrochory) maximizes the chance the seed will be transported to the soil at the edge of body of water. If you’re bored this winter and have milkweed seeds, put some in a jar of water on your desk.

#asclepiasincarnata #hydrochory #swampmilkweed #milkweed #ascleplias #seed #botany #winddispersal #waterdispersal #monarch #seedcoat

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