Earth and Space News: July 2015

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Blue Moon Month July 2015 Ends With Golden Full Moon and Meteor Shower

Summary: Blue moon month July 2015 ends with a full moon bronzed by Alaskan and west Canadian smokey winds and sparkled with Delta Aquarid shooting stars.

Delta Aquarid trail (right center) seems to cross the Milky Way in a Waning Crescent Moon's sky, Wednesday, July 31, 2013, 01:22:35; Embudo Rio Arriba county, north central New Mexico: Mike Lewinski (ikewinski), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

July 2015 provides an aesthetic framework as the year’s blue moon month through the exquisite lunar symmetry of opening and closing with full moons.

July’s opener, the full moon on Wednesday the 1st, beguiled with orange-to-red glowing smudginess occasioned by smoke-riddled winds colored by intense wildfires in Alaska and western Canada. July’s closer reaches fullness Friday, July 31st, at 6:42 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time as viewed over the United States’ national capital, Washington, D.C.

The popular term of blue moon references the occurrence of two full moons within the same month.

The descriptive term, which was presented by University of Oregon Extension professor of astronomy James Hugh Pruett (June 20, 1886–Sept. 25, 1955) in the March 1946 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, actually misinterpreted the original definition regularly presented in Maine Farmers’ Almanac. Professor Pruett identified a blue moon as the second of two full moons occurring within the same month.

Maine Farmers’ Almanac, however, set the definition within the context of an astronomical season of three months. Usually each astronomical season of winter, spring, summer and autumn only features three full moons. When four full moons occur within a seasonal quarter, the third appearance represents the blue moon.

Earth’s passage through debris spewed by comets when their elongated orbits are closest to the sun provokes meteor showers. The parent body for Delta Aquarid meteor showers has not been determined with certainty, but Comet 96P/Machholz, a short-period comet discovered by amateur astronomer Donald Edward Machholz (born Oct. 7, 1952) on May 12, 1986, currently is suspected.

Meteor showers receive their names from their radiant, the apparent stellar point of origin in the sky. The Delta Aquarids appear to radiate from the constellation Aquarius the Water Carrier. The name of Delta, which honors the constellation’s third brightest star, distinguishes this meteor shower from the Eta Aquarids, which take place annually from late April to mid-May.

The Delta Aquarids take place each year from mid-July to late August. Peak activity occurs at the end of July.

The Delta Aquarids are not among the sky’s brightest meteor showers. Best viewing occurs in the Southern Hemisphere where they appear higher above the southern horizon than in the Northern Hemisphere. A bright lunar phase, such as a full moon, interferes with viewing.

In the wee hours after midnight Thursday, July 30, on the fourth and final of its end-of-the-month appearances, the waxing gibbous moon glowed goldenly with about 95 percent surface visibility. Despite the brightness, with hints of turning night into day, a few Delta Aquarid escapees caught my attention.

If the clear forecast for Friday holds, July 31st’s full moon promises to gift Earthlings with brilliant, golden moonlight.

The 95 percent and 99 percent illuminations of the lunar waxing gibbous phase Wednesday, July 29, and Thursday, July 30, respectively, hint the brightness of July 2015's closing blue full moon: TLPOSCHARSKY, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Deburro, Joe. “Blue Moon 2015: How often is ‘once in a blue moon’?” Mass Live > News > Science and Nature. July 30, 2015.
Available @ http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/07/blue_moon_2015_when_to_see_thi.html

“Delta Aquarids.” NASA Solar System Exploration > Planets.
Available @ http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/southern_delta_aquarids.cfm

Kronk, Gary W. Meteor Showers: An Annotated Catalogue. The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series. 2nd ed. New York: Springer Science + Business Media, 2014.

Marriner, Derdriu. "Blue Moon Month July 2015 Opens With Full Moon Red From Wildfire Smoke." Earth and Space News. Monday, July 6, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/07/blue-moon-month-july-2015-opens-with.html

McClure, Bruce, and Deborah Byrd. “Everything You Need to Know: Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower.” EarthSky > Tonight > Astronomy Essentials. July 24, 2015.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-delta-aquarid-meteor-shower

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Surprise Lily Lycoris squamigera: Sudden Pink White Flowers in July

Summary: Surprise Lily (Lycoris squamigera) is popular as an ornamental bulb outside homelands in China and Japan. It opens large pink flowers long after leaves die.

Lycoris squamigera's lookalike, Belladonna Lily (Amaryllis belladonna); Coonabaraban, north central New South Wales, southeastern Australia; Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, 19:09: Vivian Evans, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Lycoris squamigera (Ly-kor-iss skwahm-ee-ger-uh) is an Old World herbaceous plant in the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae, that claims homelands in eastern Asia. Lycoris squamigera is native to China and parts of Japan.

Successfully introduced and naturalized far beyond its native range, the stunningly flowered plant is cultivated globally as an ornamental.

Lycoris squamigera was introduced to the United States in 1861 by way of a shipment to American historian and leading horticulturist Francis Parkman Jr. (Sept. 16, 1823–Nov. 8, 1893) in Boston, Massachusetts, from George Rogers Hall (March 1820–Dec. 24, 1899). Hailing from Bristol, Rhode Island, George Rogers Hall embarked for China soon after his 1846 graduation from Harvard Medical School, practiced medicine for almost half a decade in the eastern Chinese historic port of Shanghai, cultivated gardens in Shanghai and in the east central Japanese bustling port of Yokohama, and made a career switch to collecting and trading Asian art and plants.

The genus name of Lycoris honors the poetical name of mime actress Cytheris, mistress of Roman poet-politician Gaius Cornelius Gallus (ca. 70–26 BCE), who was inspired to dedicate four books of elegies to her.

The species name, squamigera (Latin: squamiger, “scaly, scale-bearing”), spotlights unique truncate scales in the throat of the flower’s tube, just above the insertion point of the stamens.

Lycoris squamigera is known commonly in English as Hall’s amaryllis, magic lily, resurrection lily or surprise lily.

Lycoris squamigera also shares the common names of naked lady and naked lady lily with lookalike Belladonna Lily (Amaryllis belladonna). The naked lady designation recognizes the solo, stark appearance of the flowers atop their tall scape, unadorned by leaves.

Surprise Lilies prefer open habitats such as meadows, open wooded areas, and yards. They especially thrive in the shade of trees.

Surprise Lilies create surprise by way of the seemingly overnight appearance of their large floral stem during the leaves' dormancy. Round-tipped footlong basal leaves, with a strappy resemblance to daffodil foliage, emerge in spring but die before summer, leaving no traces and no indication of the plant’s vibrant underground bulb.

By mid-July a leafless, sturdy stem, known as a scape, shoots over 2 feet (0.6 meters) up from the quiet ground. The light green scape is topped with clusters of five to eight large buds, gorgeous in their own right with dark magenta coloring.

Within one week of the scape’s emergence, buds open as pleasingly pink or white large flowers. Each showy flower traces graceful curves with six wavy-edged tepals, comprised of three petals and their three lookalike sepals. Flowers keep their blooms through August and sometimes beyond.

Lycoris squamigera surprised me by appearing magically in my yard about seven years ago, about 2 feet (0.6 meters) from the north side of the box elder (Acer negundo) tree that marks the eastern perimeter of my upper north terrace’s shade garden.

In 2015 Lycoris squamigera has surprised me anew by presenting a second plant 9 inches (0.75 feet; 0.22 meters) south of the first plant. Surprise Lilies tend to put forth offsets, or small new bulbs around the mother bulb, that account for glorious profusion aboveground, especially as unfettered, wild plants.

The older plant, with five gorgeous magenta buds, opened its first flower of 2015 on Tuesday, July 21, and opened four more over the next two days. Within one week, all buds on both plants have opened fully.

The placement of Lycoris squamigera prettifies the landscape of the shade garden. Eleven exquisite flowers perfectly catch shafts of sunlight breaking through the canopy formed by the shade garden’s arboreal duet of box elder (Acer negundo) to the east and silver maple (Acer saccharinum) to the west.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Lycoris squamigera flowering in garden of botanist Robert R. Koval, Madison, Dane County, south central Wisconsin, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, 11:51: James Steakley, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lycoris_squamigera_Madison,_Wisconsin.jpg

For further information:

Creech, John L. “Expeditions for New Horticultural Plants.” Arnoldia, Vol. 26, No. 8 (September 23, 1966): 49-53.
Available @ http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1966-26--expeditions-for-new-horticultural-plants.pdf

Howe, James M., Jr. “George Rogers Hall, Lover of Plants.” Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, vol. IV, no. 2 (April 1923): 91–98.

“Lycoris.” Backyard Gardener > Garden Dictionary.
Available @ http://www.backyardgardener.com/gardendictionary/Lycoris.html

“Lycoris squamigera.” CybeRose & Bulbs > Amaryllis and Other Geophytes > Lycoris.
Available @ http://bulbnrose.x10.mx/Amaryllis/L_squamigera1890.html

Martin, Deborah L. Rodale's Basic Organic Gardening: A Beginner's Guide to Starting a Healthy Garden. New York NY: Rodale Inc., 2014.

“New or Little Known Plants: Lycoris squamigera.” Garden and Forest, vol. III (April 9, 1890): 176–177.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34428080

Shields, James E. “The Amaryllis Family: Genus Lycoris.” Shields Gardens > Amaryllids. Last revised: 14 February 2013.
Available @ http://www.shieldsgardens.com/amaryllids/lycoris.html

“Tab. 7547: Lycoris squamigera.” Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, vol. 123 [ser. 3, vol. 53] (1897): t. 7547.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/450254

Tucker, Janice. “Resurrection Lily: Lycoris squamigera.” Santa Fe Botanical Garden > September.
Available @ http://www.santafebotanicalgarden.org/september-2010/

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Spicebush Swallowtail: Stunning Papilio troilus Butterfly Uses Mimicry

Summary: Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) is a stunning New World butterfly with a passion for mimicry and puddling and with a bright orange hindwing spot.

spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus); Hocking Hills area, southeastern Ohio; Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010, 14:30: Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Papilio troilus is a New World butterfly native to Canada and the United States. Papilio troilus claims North American homelands from southwestern Ontario in east central Canada southward across the eastern continental United States to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, with a westward extent into the Great Plains states of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

Strays occasionally veer as far north as North Dakota or even further to Canada’s western province of Manitoba; as far south as Cuba; and as far west as Colorado.

The genus name, Papilio, derives from the Latin word for butterfly.

Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707–Jan. 10, 1778), Swedish botanist, taxonomist, and zoologist extraordinaire, sought inspiration from classical mythology in his selection of specific, or species, names. The species name, troilus, conjures the mystique of one of the world’s most famous bloody confrontations, the Trojan War which raged in the 13th or 12th century BCE. Prince Troilus, one of the many sons of King Priam of Troy and his second wife, Hecuba, was the fatal target of Greek hero Achilles early in the war pursuant to a prophecy that Troy would only fall if the adolescent prince died before adulthood.

Papilio troilus has the common name in English of Spicebush Swallowtail.

Spicebush reflects the metamorphic insect’s most common host plant in the laurel family (Lauraceae), the spicily aromatic spicebush (Lindera spp.) that features three New World species: bog spicebush (Lindera subcoriacea); common spicebush or Benjamin bush (Lindera benzoin); and southern spicebush (Lindera melissifolia).

As a woodland butterfly, Spicebush Swallowtails favor woodsy habitats such as parks, pine barrens, wooded swamps and deciduous woodlands.

Spicebush Swallowtails are attracted as well to open, grassy areas such as fields, roadsides, and yards.

Spicebush Swallowtails also seek damp environments offering opportunities for puddling, extracting moisture and nutrients from mud or damp sand. Puddling often appears as socialization, with Spicebush Swallowtails gathering along with other butterfly species.

Clover (Trifolium spp.), honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) and thistle (Cirsium arvense) are favorite nectar sources.

Spicebush Swallowtails belong to the Papilionidae family, known as swallowtails because of the distinctive tail that trails from the bottom of each hindwing. The black tail usually measures about 0.35 to almost 0.5 inches (9 to 12 millimeters) in length.

As a member of the family including the birdwing butterflies, the world’s largest butterflies, Spicebush Swallowtails are unmistakably large, with wing spans measuring 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 centimeters).

Coloring of upper sides presents a stunning harmony of dark brown or black, blue or blue-green, orange and white. Black and an edging of ivory spots prevail on forewings. Hindwings feature black, banded with blue for females and blue-green for males, and edged with a margin of bluish or ivory spots.

A bright, orange spot at the base of the wings is unique to Spicebush Swallowtails. The underside of the hindwing is splashed with orange spots.

Spicebush Swallowtails are able to discourage predators through their resemblance to foul-tasting Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor).

Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars progress from resembling bird droppings to being mistaken for smooth green snakes (Opheodrys vernalis).

Spicebush Swallowtails enjoy puddling in the graveled edge of the parking lot at the nature walk located 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south of my house. In July 2015 two Spicebush Swallowtails amicably puddled, along with a bevy of Orange Sulphurs (Colias eurytheme), as my siblings and I crossed the gravel to access the recreational area’s paved road for our walk.

Upon our return about 20 minutes later we noticed that the larger of the two Spicebush Swallowtails was flying agitatedly up from the gravel and back down, repeatedly landing near a prone dark shape that close inspection revealed to be the second of the duo. With no signs of trauma, the dead Spicebush Swallowtail seems to have died, on the wing or in the midst of puddling.

Back home Spicebush Swallowtails daily regale me with their happy flights in all areas of my yard.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus); Hocking Hills area, southeastern Ohio; Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010, 14:30: Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spicebush02.jpg

dorsal (upperside) and ventral (underside) views of spicebush swallowtail butterfly (Papilio troilus); Fredville, Newton County, north of Neosho National Fish Hatchery, southwestern Missouri; photo by Bruce Hallman/USFWS: USFWS Midwest Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Midwest Region), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmidwest/19919804491/; CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spicebush_Swallowtail_Butterfly_(19919804491).jpg

For further information:

Cech, Rick, and Gary Tudor. Butterflies of the East Coast: An Observer's Guide. Princeton NJ; Woodstock UK: University of Princeton Press, 2007.

Hall, Donald W., and Jerry F. Butler. “Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus.” University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) > Entomology and Nematology Department > Featured Creatures. October 2000; latest revision: August 2013.
Available @ http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/spicebush_swallowtail.htm#dist

Layberry, Ross A., Peter W. Hall, and J. Donald Lafontaine. The Butterflies of Canada. Toronto: Univerity of Toronto Press, 1998.

Mickley, James. “Papilio troilus.” Animal Diversity Web > Insecta.
Available @ http://animaldiversity.org/site/accounts/information/Papilio_troilus.html

“Spicebush Swallowtail.” Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility > Species Bank > Butterflies of Canada.
Available @ http://www.cbif.gc.ca/eng/species-bank/butterflies-of-canada/spicebush-swallowtail/?id=1370403265779

“Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus.” Butterflies and Moths of North America > Species Search.
Available @ http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-troilus

Monday, July 27, 2015

Widow Skimmer Libellula luctuosa: Dragonfly With Velvety Black Wings

Summary: Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa) is a New World dragonfly native to Canada and the United States. Adult male wings are showy black, white and clear bands.

female Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Toledo, northwestern Ohio; Monday, June 30, 2008, 13:23: Benny Mazur, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Libellula luctuosa is a New World dragonfly native to Canada, Mexico and the United States.

In Canada, Libellula luctuosa claims homelands in the eastern provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Libellula luctuosa's range in Mexico includes the northern states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora.

In the United States, Libellula luctuosa enjoys nativity from coast-to-coast in the Lower 48, with the exception of four Rocky Mountain states of Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

Libellula luctuosa’s English common name of Widow Skimmer reflects the dark patches radiating from the base of the wings as well as the species name, luctuosa, Latin for “mournful, sad.”

Despite the melancholy scientific and common names, Widow Skimmers are startlingly beautiful with their dramatic black-banded wings with glass-like tips.

Widow Skimmers prefer wet environments, such as vegetative habitats, ideal for perching, in proximity to lakes, marshes, ponds, and slow streams.

They also haunt drier, open habitats, such as meadows and roadsides, and exhibit rare toleration for montane habitats up to around 5,500 feet (1,676 meters).

Widow Skimmers are large dragonflies with adult body lengths of 1.5 to almost 2 inches (4 to 5 centimeters). Their adult wingspan measures over 3 inches (8 centimeters).

Adult females, along with juveniles of both sexes, differ in appearance from adult male Widow Skimmers. Juveniles and adult females are dark-bodied with a yellow, segmented line dramatically bisecting the upper side of the thorax and subsequently dividing into two lines to frame the outer edges of the upper side of the abdomen. Their wings sport black or dark patches fanning from the base to the center and succeeded by a clear, glass-like section to the tips.

Adult males present a steely blue body coated with pruinosity, a powdery layer created by wax particles in their cuticle, or exoskeleton. Adult males exhibit a showy wing pattern of velvety black widow patches succeeded by a central, wide band of chalky whiteness, with an expanse of glass-like transparency defining the tips.

During a walk along the nature trail 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south of my house, my brother, sister and I were entertained by a male Widow Skimmer flitting between perches in the streamside mixed grove of catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides) and willow (Salix spp.) trees.

The exuberant male’s stately attractiveness glimmered as sunlight bestowed a velvet appearance upon his abdomen and widow patches; cast a pure, chalky sheen upon his white bands; and created a sparkling prism with his wingtips.

male Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), Chalco Hills Recreation Area, Sarpy County, southeastern Nebraska; Sunday, July 20, 2008, 13:35: MONGO, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

female Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Toledo, northwestern Ohio; Monday, June 30, 2008, 13:23: Benny Mazur, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Libellula_luctuosa_Burmeister.jpg;
Benny Mazur (Benimoto), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/44545509@N00/2632802114/

male Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), Chalco Hills Recreation Area, Sarpy County, southeastern Nebraska; Sunday, July 20, 2008, 13:35: MONGO, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Libellula_luctuosa_7.20.2008.jpg

For further information:

Dunkle, Sidney W. Dragonflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America. Oxford UK; New York NY: Oxford University Press, 2000.

"Libellula luctuosa." NatureServe Explorer.
Available @ http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Libellula%20luctuosa

Neal, Jonathan (jjneal). "The Widow Skimmer." Living with Insects Blog. June 15, 2011.
Available @ https://livingwithinsects.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/the-widow-skimmer/

Paulson, Dennis. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West. Princeton Field Guides. Princeton NJ; Woodstock UK: Princeton University Press, 2009.

Paulson, Dennis. “Libellula luctuosa.” The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2.
Available @ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/165064/0

Van Dokkum, Pieter. Dragonflies: Magnificent Creatures of Water, Air, and Land. New Haven CT; London UK: Yale University Press, 2015.

“Widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa).” Arkive > Species > Invertebrates – terrestrial and freshwater.
Available @ http://www.arkive.org/widow-skimmer/libellula-luctuosa/

White Faced Meadowhawk Sympetrum obtrusum: Dragonfly With White Face

Summary: White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum) is a New World dragonfly, native to Canada and the continental United States, with a distinctive white face.

female White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), central Connecticut; Monday, July 21, 2008, 17:55: Sage Ross, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Sympetrum obtrusum is a New World dragonfly native to Canada and the continental United States.

Apart from the northern territory of Nunavut and the eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Sympetrum obtrusum claims homelands throughout Canada.

Sympetrum obtrusum is found from coast-to-coast in the continental United States, except for a tier of southern states. The exclusive southern landscapes span Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas); South Atlantic states (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina); South Central states (Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma); and New Mexico in the southwest.

Sympetrum obtrusum’s common name in English recognizes the dragonfly’s distinctive white face as an adult.

White Faced Meadowhawks favor wet environments such as grassy or wooded habitats in proximity to marshes, ponds or streams. Wetland ecosystems provide such ideal, egg-laying sites as emergent vegetation (aquatic plants with above-water flowers and foliage) and muddy shore grasses.

White Faced Meadowhawks are small dragonflies, with adult lengths generally ranging from 1.25 to over 1.5 inches (31.75 to 38.1 millimeters).

The yellowish juvenile face matures into the distinctive pure whiteness of adult males and the generally white creaminess of adult females.

Prominent black triangles decorate the sides of the abdomen, which flashes as bright red in adult males and pales as yellow in juveniles and females. Females may take on olive-brown or dull red abdominal coloring as they mature.

Black coloring dramatizes not only their legs but also the veins of their clear wings.

In July 2015 an adult male came a-calling for an evening visit by resting obviously against the upper portion of my house’s east-facing front screen door. He stayed for hours and then took quiet leave, probably returning to the nearby willow (Salix spp.) grove and vernal pool marking the western perimeter of my back yard.

male White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), Dunnville Barrens State Natural Area (SNA #621), south central Dunn County, northwestern Wisconsin; Sunday, Sep 11, 2011: Aaron Carlson (aarongunner), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

female White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), central Connecticut; Monday, July 21, 2008, 17:55: Sage Ross, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Female_Sympetrum_obtrusum_in_central_Connecticut,_2008-07-21.jpg

Dunkle, Sidney W. Dragonflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America. Oxford UK; New York NY: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Padelford, Babs. “White-Faced Meadowhawk Sympetrum obtrusum.” Nature Search > Insects > Dragonflies/Damselfies > Skimmers.
Available @ http://www.fnanaturesearch.org/index.php?option=com_naturesearch&task=view&id=1469

“Sympetrum obtrusum.” NatureServe Explorer.
Available @ http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Sympetrum%20obtrusumv Van Dokkum, Pieter. Dragonflies: Magnificent Creatures of Water, Air, and Land. New Haven CT; London UK: Yale University Press, 2015.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Wood Turtles: Brown Uppers, Red-Orange Skin, Dark-Margined Pale Uppers

Summary: North American wood turtle habitats get concentric-, dark-, pyramid-ridged uppers, dark-edged pale lower-shells, orange-red skin and webbed hindfeet.

juvenile wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta); Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Morris County, north central New Jersey; Thursday, May 26, 2011, 10:45:03; photo by Colin Osborn/USFWS: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Northeast Region), Public Domain, via Flickr

North American wood habitats appear in distribution ranges from Nova Scotia southward through northern Virginia, westward through southern Quebec and the southern Great Lakes, eastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa and everywhere in-between.

Wood turtles bear their common name for belonging among woodland-loving animals within northeastern North America and braving 6-plus-foot (1.83-plus-meter) climbs up bushes, shrubs, trees and vines. Their scientific name Glyptemys insculpta combines the Greek words glypt ("carved") and emys ("turtle") and concludes with the Latin word insculpta ("engraved [texture of upper-shell (carapace)]"). Scientific designations draw upon descriptions in 1830 by John Eatton Le Conte (Feb. 22, 1784-Nov. 21, 1860), from expeditions and surveys of Florida, Georgia and Virginia.

Wood turtle life cycles expect cool streams in deciduous woodlands, marshy meadows, plowed farmlands and red maple swamps with field worms, invertebrate prey and wild fruits.

March through May, May through July and August through October fit respective breeding, egg incubation and hatchling emergence months into North American wood turtle life cycles.

Wood turtles generally go around secretively and undetectably because their brown, keeled (ridged), rough, sculptured upper-shells and black-blotched, hingeless, yellow lower-shells (plastrons) give sun-dappled woodland impressions. They have the emydid box, marsh and pond turtle habit of harboring toxins in their flesh for harvesting pesticide-harmed invertebrates and helping themselves to wild fruits. Their daytime itineraries include sun-warmed interludes on grasses, ground-covers, rocks, soils and stumps and, despite their elongated, flattened, land-unfriendly, untortoise-like, water-friendly webbed hindfeet, diurnal walking intervals.

Agroindustrialists, breeders, collectors, polluters and predatory crows, coyotes, foxes, otters, porcupines, raccoons, ravens, shrews, skunks, snakes, snapping turtles and weasels jeopardize North American wood turtle habitats.

Wood turtle males keep their elongated, straightened foreclaws keen on elaborate courtship patterns like those that other Emydidae box, marsh and pond turtle family members know.

Females lay one clutch of 6 to 18 elliptical, flexible-shelled, 1.625-inch- (4.13-centimeter-) long eggs in flask-shaped nest cavities like those where other emydid family eggs lie. Hatchlings move out of their shells within 40 to 67 days even though the latest emergences sometimes mean overwintering in birth nests until the following spring. Beetles, blueberries, carrion, filamentous algae, flowering violets, fungi, grasses, millipedes, mosses, raspberries, roots, slugs, snails, sorrel, strawberries, tadpoles, tubers and worms nourish omnivorous (everything-eating) wood turtles.

North American wood turtle habitats offer season-coldest coastal temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 45 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.11 to minus 17.77 degrees Celsius).

Alder, American beech, clean, shaded, slow-moving waters below 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21.11 degrees Celsius), hemlock, maple, oak, pine, sedges, sphagnum, white-cedar and willow promote wood turtles.

Five to 9 inches (12.7 to 22.86 centimeters) queue up as total lengths for keeled, rough, sculptured brown upper-shells with 12 large scutes on each side. Adults reveal orange-red foreleg and neck skin, 12 lower-shell scutes blackened on outer margins and 23 semi-pyramid-like scutes resulting from concentric-grown ridges on each upper-shell side. Adult males sustain concave-shaped lower-shells, foreclaws longer and straighter than those of females' and thick tails and vents (excrementary openings) that stick out beyond upper-shell margins.

North American wood turtle habitats trademark orange-red foreleg and neck skin, 12 black-margined yellow lower-shell scutes, 12 semi-pyramidal scutes on each upper-shell side and webbed hindfeet.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Plastron (lower shell) of wood turtle (Glyptemus insculpta) is yellowish with dark patches on each segment; Sunday, June 10, 2012, 13:26: D. Gordon E. Robertson (Dger), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wood_Turtle,_male,_plastron.jpg

For further information:

Babcock, Harold L. (Lester). 1919. "Clemmys insculpta (LeConte)." The Turtles of New England; With Sixteen Plates. Monographs on the Natural History of New England; Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. 8, no. 3: 403-406, Plate 29. Boston MA: Boston Society of Natural History.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12636629
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/turtlesofnewengl00babc#page/403/mode/1up

Coy, Thomas. "North American Wood Turtle." Austins Turtle Page > Turtle Care > Care Sheets > U.S. Turtles > Pond Turtles > Select.
Available @ http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-nawood.htm

Baker, Patrick J., MS. 2003. "Testudines (Turtles and tortoises)." Pages 65-73. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 7, Reptiles, edited by Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy, and Neil Schlager. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group.

Harding, James. 2013. "Glyptemys insculpta (North American) Wood Turtle" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Available @ https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Glyptemys_insculpta/

Holbrook, John Edwards. 1838. "Emys Insculpta -- Leconte." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. III: 17-21. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3682980

Le Conte, Major J. (John Eatton). 1830. "Description of the Species of North American Tortoises. Read December 7, 1829.: 1. Testudo insculpta, L.C." Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, vol. III: 112-113. New York NY: Printed for The Lyceum by G.P. Scott & Co., 1828-1836.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16077223

LeClere, Jeff. "Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta)." Amphibians and Reptiles of Iowa > Turtles > Turtles of Iowa.
Available @ http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/reptiles/turtles/wood-turtle-glyptemys-insculpta/

Sowerby, James De Carle; Edward Lear. 1872. "Emrys scarbra." Tortoises, Terrapins, and Turtles Drawn From Life: Plates XXIX-XXX. London, England; Paris, France; Frankfort, Germany: Henry Sotheran, Joseph Baer & Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2948329

Uetz, Peter. "Glyptemus insculpta (Le Conte, 1830)." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Glyptemys&species=insculpta&search_param=%28%28common_name%3D%27wood+turtle%27%29%29

"Wood Turtle Glyptemys insculpta." Excerpted from Animal Diversity. Wisconsin Pollinators > Publications > Articles > Wisconsin Pollinators Reference Articles > Native Species Profiles > Wisconsin Native Turtles.
Available @ https://wisconsinpollinators.com/Articles/T_Wood.aspx

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Eilean Muireach aka Cherry Island: Only Island in Loch Ness Is Crannog

Summary: Eilean Muireach, popularly known as Cherry Island, is the only island in Loch Ness, Scotland's second deepest freshwater and purported home of Nessie.

Cherry Island explained; view of Cherry Island from explanatory marker, with graphic of castle, on shore; Wednesday, April 9, 2008: Des Colhoun, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

What is so special about Eilean Muireach in the Scottish Highlands, one of 790 islands in Scotland?

Meaning Murdoch’s Island in Scottish Gaelic, Eilean Muireach stands out as the only island in Loch Ness, Scotland’s second deepest freshwater lake, at 744.6 feet (226.96 meters), and purported home of Nessie the Loch Ness Monster.

Located amidst the natural beauty of the parish of Boleskine And Abertarff in northeastern Scotland's Inverness-shire, Eilean Muireach lies in southwestern Loch Ness, about 150 yards (140 meters) from the shore.

Eilean Muireach is known popularly as Cherry Island, a name often attributed to the soldiers of English military and political leader Oliver Cromwell (April 25, 1599–Sept. 3, 1658).

Cherry Island's crannog contours, 1908 sketch by Russian Catholic priest and linguist Reverend Father Henry Cyril Dieckhoff (Russian: Генрих Кирилл Дикхофф; July 3, 1869-Aug. 5, 1950); Rev. Odo Blundell, "Notice of the Examination, by Means of a Diving-Dress, of the Artificial Island, or Crannog, of Eilean Muireach, in the South End of Loch Ness," Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. XLIII (1908-1909), figure 2, page 163: via Internet Archive

Appearing as the only island in Loch Ness, Cherry Island is actually a crannog (Scottish Gaelic: crannag). A crannag is a type of artificial island built in estuaries, lakes and rivers in Ireland and Scotland from prehistory through the Post-Medieval period (1485–ca. 1750).

Pursuant to a suggestion in 1907 of Cherry Island as a crannog, Dom Odo Blundell (1868–1943), a monk at nearby St. Benedict’s Abbey, known popularly as Fort Augustus Abbey, verified the islet’s artificial origins by way of two dives conducted on Aug. 7 and Aug. 31, 1908.

With banks regularly pitched at about 1 in 10, Cherry Island is constructed of rocky and wooden materials.

Large stones measure about 1.5 feet (0.45 meters) in length. Masses of rubble are composed of small stones 6 to 8 inches (15.24 to 20.32 centimeters) in length.

Large trunks, with a diameter of 3 feet (0.9 meters) and lengths of 10 to 12 feet (3.048 to 3.6 meters), are found along the line of rubble. Spars of about 1 foot (0.3 meters) in diameter, with 4 feet (1.2 meters) in length exposed, run from embedment in the lake’s muddy bottom up through a layer of trunks into the mass of rubble. The foundation consists of tightly fastened beams of wood in 10 to 12 feet (3.048 to 3.6 meter) lengths on lake floor.

Cherry Island peaks at about 4 feet (1.2 meters) above the average level of Loch Ness. Pine trees cover its surface.

The island’s original dimensions probably measured 180 feet by 168 feet (54 x 51.2 meters). With the raising of Loch Ness’ water level by 6 feet (1.8 meters) due to the construction of the Caledonian Canal (Canàl Cailleannach), completed in 1822, Cherry Island now measures 60 feet by 48 feet (18.28 x 14.63 meters).

view of Cherry Island (center right) from Loch Ness' southern shore; Tuesday, Sep. 24, 1974: Ben Brooksbank, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

The construction of the Cherry Island crannog dates to prehistory, with later medieval usage.

During the 15th century, the Fraser Clan of Lovat (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Frisealach), a Highland Scottish clan associated with Inverness-shire, with lands rimming eastern Loch Ness, built a castle, now submerged and waterlogged, on the island for defense and domestic purposes. A causeway once linked the northwest corner of the island to three large boulders on the mainland.

The raising of the loch's water level obscured a nearby natural island, Eilean nan Con ("Dog Island"), of rocky formation with no artificial elements. Eilean nan Con is thought to have measured about 20 yards (18.2 meters) in length, with a width of 15 yards (13.7 meters). Eilean nan Con may have sheltered hunting dogs associated with Cherry Island's castle.

In the United Kingdom, designation as a scheduled monument, which bestows national importance on an archaeological site or historic building, provides protection against unauthorized changes. On Dec. 10, 2001, Cherry Island was subscribed as a Scheduled Monument.

Today Cherry Island is appreciated as Loch Ness’ unique island, viewed as part of a tour of the lake’s outstanding scenery and tourist destinations.

Fort Augustus Abbey was constructed from 1876 to 1880 a on southwestern site gifted in 1876 by Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat (Dec. 21, 1828–Sept. 6, 1887).

Urquhart Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal na Sròine) was built during the 13th to 16th centuries on a northwest sandstone promontory. The castle stands on the site of a medieval fortification of the 5th to 11th centuries.

Nessie the Loch Ness Monster is a world-famous cryptid (Ancient Greek: κρυπτός, kryptos, "hidden") whose existence is suggested but eludes scientific discovery or documentation. Nessie's identity is likened to a floating island; a gigantic octopus or squid; or an extinct dinosaur such as the long-necked plesiosaur.

For information on Cherry Island, Loch Ness as travel destination:
website for Visit Inverness/Loch Ness: http://www.visitinvernesslochness.com/travel/

early one misty morning on Loch Ness; Cherry Island in the mist: Des Colhoun, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Cherry Island explained; view of Cherry Island from explanatory marker, with graphic of castle, on shore; Wednesday, April 9, 2008: Des Colhoun, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cherry_Island_Explained.jpg;
Des Colhoun, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Geograph Britain and Ireland @ https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/757520

view of Cherry Island from Loch Ness' southern shore; Tuesday, Sep. 24, 1974: Ben Brooksbank, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loch_Ness_geograph-3208041-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg;
Ben Brooksbank, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Geograph Britain and Ireland @ https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3208041

early one misty morning on Loch Ness; Cherry Island in the mist: Des Colhoun, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Early_one_misty_morning_on_Loch_Ness_-_geograph.org.uk_-_758506.jpg;
Des Colhoun, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Geograph Britain and Ireland @ https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/758506

For further information:

Blundell, the Rev. Odo. “Notice of the Examination, by Means of a Diving-Dress, of the Artificial Island, or Crannog, of Eilean Muireach, in the South End of Loch Ness.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Session MDCCCCVIII-MDCCCCIX [1908-1090], vol. XLIII (vol. VII--Fourth Series) (MDCCCCIX [1909]): 159–164.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.19200/page/159/mode/1up

“Cherry Island, crannog, Inchnacardoch Bay, Loch Ness.”Historic Scotland > Scheduled Monuments.
Available @ http://data.historic-scotland.gov.uk/pls/htmldb/f?p=2300:35:4100614368032993::::P35_SELECTED_MONUMENT:9762

“Cherry Island, Loch Ness.” ScotlandsPlaces.
Available @ http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/rcahms/12226/cherry-island-loch-ness/rcahms

Coventry, Martin. Castles of the Clans: The Strongholds and Seats of 750 Scottish Families and Clans. Musselburgh UK: Goblinshead, 2008.

Glen-Albyne or Tales of the Scottish Highlands. With illustrations from original sketches and photographs. Fort Augustus UK: Abbey Press, 19--.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/glenalbynortales00slsnuoft

Leighton, John M., John Fleming, and John Wilson. The Lakes of Scotland: A Series of Views, from Paintings Taken Expressly for the Work, by John Fleming, Esq.; with Historical and Descriptive Illustrations, by John M. Leighton; and Remarks on the Character of the Highland Scenery of Scotland, by John Wilson. Edinburgh and London: A. Fullerton & Sons, MDCCCXXXIX (1839).

Morrison, Ian. Landscape with Lake Dwellings: The Crannogs of Scotland. Edinburgh UK: University Press, 1985.