Septima's Clubtail Dragonfly: Clubbed, Pale-Marked Body, Wavy Crest

Summary: North American Septima's clubtail dragonfly habitats get chunky thoraxes, clubbed, pale-marked bodies, dusky-tipped wings, long hind legs and wavy crests.

Female and male Septima's Clubtail dragonflies (Gomphus septima) described by American entomologist Minter Jackson Westfall Jr. (Jan. 28, 1916-July 20, 2003) were collected by American odonatologist and collector Robert S. Hodges in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama from Warrior River's Lock 16 on May 17, 1938, and from Warrior River above Blue Creek on May 23, 1940, respectively; Wednesday, June 16, 1999, image of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)-constructed Holt Lake Lock and Dam, which opened in 1966 at mile marker 347.0 from the Black Warrior River's mouth and replaced four old locks (numbers 14 to 17), including the 1938 findspot of the female Septima's Clubtail dragonfly, Lock 16, whose construction at mile marker 364.0 had begun in 1909: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

North American Septima's clubtail dragonfly habitats applaud rock-, sand- and silt-loving cultivators and wet woodland-loving naturalists with distribution ranges in Alabama, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.

Septima's clubtails bear their common name as a North American odonatologist's namesake and for clubbed abdomens and the scientific name Gomphus septima (Septima's [crossbow arrow-like] bolt). The common and the species names commemorate Septima Cecilia Smith (Nov. 6, 1891-July 9, 1984) of the Biology Department at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, 1927-1962. Delawarensis subspecies descriptions by Frank Carle and Thomas Donnelly in 2000 and septima by Minter Jackson Westfall, Jr. (Jan. 28, 1916-July 20, 2003) in 1956 decide scientific designations.

Septima's clubtail life cycles expect clean, large- or medium-sized, moderate-flowing woodland rivers with rocky riffles, rocky, sandy or silty banks and bottoms and grassy, log-scattered watersides.

May through June function as earliest to latest flight seasons and furnish wildlife mapping opportunities in all of Septima's clubtail habitat niches in the United States.

Septima's clubtails go out from night-time roosts between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to gain mates; get field, ground, log, rocky, treetop perches; and grab prey. They have midday breaks away from water, head to sunny fields and forest clearings, hold horizontally onto leaves, logs, rocks and wood and hover over water. Their itineraries involve immobilizing invertebrate prey, especially butterflies and dragonflies, as sallier perchers like broadwings, dancers, nonglider nonsaddlebag skimmers and spreadwings.

Ants, assassin flies, biting midges, ducks, falcons, fish, flycatchers, frogs, grebes, lizards, spiders, turtles and water beetles and mites jeopardize North American Septima's clubtail dragonfly habitats.

Immature Septima's clubtails keep rock-, sand-, silt-, woodland-kind colors whereas adults know darker downsizing in the northern delawarensis (Delaware River) subspecies than in the southern septima.

Incomplete metamorphosis launches round eggs loosened by females tapping abdominal tips three times over 13.12-foot (4-meter) intervals of water after mating as late as 7 p.m. Egg-hatched, immature, little adult-like, multimolting, nonflying larvae, naiads or nymphs metamorphose on rocks, sand and silt into shiny-winged, tender-bodied, weak-flying tenerals that mature, mate and oviposit. Aphids, beetles, borers, caddisflies, copepods, crane flies, dobsonflies, gnats, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, rotifers, scuds, water fleas and worms nourish common clubtail members of the Gomphidae dragonfly family.

North American Septima's clubtail dragonfly habitats offer northward to southward, season-coldest temperatures from minus 15 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26.11 to minus 12.22 degrees Celsius).

Beech, bellflower, birch, bladderwort, cattail, daisy, grass, greenbrier, heath, laurel, madder, maple, nettle, olive, pepperbush, pine, pondweed, rush, sedge, water-lily and willow families promote Septima's clubtails.

Ovipositors, pale-streaked hind thighs, pointed tubercle for each compound and simple side eye, two claspers and wavy crests with v-indented middles qualify as adult female hallmarks. Adult males reveal black-brown, chunky thoraxes, brown, dark-shinned, long hind legs, dark-veined, dot-tipped clear wings, clubbed, pale-lined, pale-spotted black-brown abdomens, three claspers and turquoise eyes. Adults show off 2.09- to 2.44-inch (53- to 62-millimeter) head-body lengths, 1.54- to 1.81-inch (39- to 46-millimeter) abdomens and 1.26- to 1.42-inch (32- to 36-millimeter) hindwings.

Turquoise eyes, chunky thoraxes, dark-veined, dot-tipped wings and clubbed, pale-lined and pale-spotted abdomens tell Septima's clubtails from other odonates in North American Septima's baskettail dragonfly habitats.

(lower left and right) male and female Septima's Clubtail dragonflies (Gomphus septima; Gomphurus septima); Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Bibb County, central Alabama: Mary Jane Krotzer, via Facebook April 25, 2020

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Female and male Septima's Clubtail dragonflies (Gomphus septima) described by American entomologist Minter Jackson Westfall Jr. (Jan. 28, 1916-July 20, 2003) were collected by American odonatologist and collector Robert S. Hodges in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama from Warrior River's Lock 16 on May 17, 1938, and from Warrior River above Blue Creek on May 23, 1940, respectively; Wednesday, June 16, 1999, image of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)-constructed Holt Lake Lock and Dam, which became operable June 30, 1966, at mile marker 347.0 from the Black Warrior River's mouth and replaced four old locks (numbers 14 to 17), including the 1938 findspot of the female Septima's Clubtail dragonfly, Lock 16, whose construction at mile marker 364.0, near the foot of Squaw Shoals, had begun in 1909 and been completed in 1915: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USACE_Holt_Lock_and_Dam_Alabama.jpg;
"A-6 Navigation Locks and Dams Operable June 30, 1966," page 116, Annual Report on U.S. Army Civil Works Activities for Fiscal Year 1966, vol. I (1966), via Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) @ https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA636401.pdf;
"Black Warrior River, Ala. From Tuscaloosa to Mulberry and Locust Forks," between pages 1702-1703 (Appendix R "Improvement of Rivers and Harbors in the Mobile, Ala., District," pages 1697-1734; R-3 Improvement of Black Warrior, Warrior, and Tombigbee Rivers, Ala. and Miss.," pages 1702-1711), Report of the Chief of Engineers U.S. Army 1911, in Three Parts, Part II, via U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Library @ https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16021coll6/id/1158;
Nelson Brooke, "River Facts," via Black Warrior Riverkeeper @ https://blackwarriorriver.org/river-facts/

(lower left and right) male and female Septima's Clubtail dragonflies (Gomphus septima; Gomphurus septima); Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Bibb County, central Alabama: Mary Jane Krotzer, via Facebook April 25, 2020, @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/119127804903860/posts/1549346525215307/

For further information:

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Beaton, Giff. Dragonflies & Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast. Athens GA; London UK: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Berger, Cynthia. Dragonflies. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books: Wild Guide, 2004.

Donnelly, Thomas W.; and Frank L. Carle. "A New Subspecies of Gomphus (Gomphurus) Septima from the Delaware River of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania (Odonata, Gomphidae)." International Journal of Odonatology, vol. 3, no. 2 (2000): 111-123. Leiden, Netherlands: Backhuys, 1998-.
Available @ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13887890.2000.9748142

"Gomphus septimus." James Cook University-Medusa: The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies > Anisoptera > Gomphidae > Gomphus.
Available via James Cook University-Medusa @ https://medusa.jcu.edu.au/Dragonflies/openset/displaySpecies.php?spid=1268

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Westfall, Minter J., Jr. 1956. "A New Species of Gomphus from Alabama (Odonata): Gomphus septima n. sp." Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences, vol. 19, no. 4 (December 1956): 251-258. p. 253. Gainesville FL: Florida Academy of Sciences, 1956.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41518404 Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/24315226

Included Bark Ages Safely With Fused, Entwining Natural Braces

Summary: Included bark in branch junctions ages safely with fused, entwining natural braces for bending strength, according to the May 2020 Arboriculture & Urban Forestry.

Crack starting at junction of codominant branches, with included bark, reveals safety hazards presented by bark-included branch junctions: Joseph OBrien, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Included bark ages safely with fused, entwining natural braces for bending strength in branch junctions, according to an article by Dean Meadows and Duncan Slater for Arboriculture & Urban Forestry May 2020.

Thigmomorphogenesis growth processes begin the article Assessment of the Load-Bearing Capacity of Bark-Included Junctions in Crataegus monogyna Jacq. in the Presence and Absence of Natural Braces. Mechanically stimulated growth counterbalances dynamic and static loading by causing radially thickened limbs with elliptically shaped cross sections toward bending directions and controlling overall tree height. Both co-authors at Myerscough College, Preston, Lancashire, England, discern co-embedded basal tissue and xylem-tissue density, grain-patterning and moisture content of branch-junction axillary wood increasing mechanical strength.

Mechanical strains enfeeble branch junctions whose included bark natural braces and vertical inclination angles exacerbate and whose sequential repairing extracts cup-shaped from wide-mouthed and cracked unions.

Low-failure anastomosis-fashioned, inosculation-formed, sapwood-fused, xylem-fused limbs and low-failure entwining branches and stems, less frequent than high-failure crossing branches, figure among climbing-plant, compex-object, intermeshing-twig, resting-stem nature braces.

Thirty-seven control branch junctions, without included bark or natural braces, garnered mean diameter ratios of approximately 81 percent and mean internal angles of approximately 42 percent. Twenty treatment-specimen included-bark branch junctions no longer harboring natural braces harvested mean diameter ratios of approximately 80 percent and vertical inclination angles of approximately 21 percent. Seventeen treatment-specimen branch junctions with included bark and natural braces inspired mean diameter ratios and mean vertical inclination angles of approximately 80 and 13 percent, respectively.

Study results joined higher- and lower-diameter ratios for control and treatment-specimen branch junctions with respectively weaker and stronger attachments and respective lesser- and greater-loaded mechanical strains.

Rupture testing kindled as the most frequent of three failure types that at branch junctions, for 21 of 37 controls and 22 of 37 treatment specimens.

Nine controls, 7 treatment specimens no longer lodging natural braces and 2 treatment specimens with natural braces logged compression-failed smaller-diameter branch outer edges, then junction failure. Seven controls, no treatment specimens no longer manifesting natural braces and 5 treatment specimens with natural braces manifested initial compression-failed outer edges before small-diameter branch failure. Rupture testing necessitated greater-loaded mechanical strains for 37 control hawthorn trees (Crataegus monogyna Jacq.), without included bark, than for 37 hawthorn treatment specimens, with included bark.

Ruptured branch junctions with included bark occurred under greater forces from mechanical strains for treatment specimens with crossing, fused, entwining natural braces than for those without.

Included-bark and normal-formed branch junctions presented wide internal angles even as as tight internal angles of branch attachments persist at branch junctions prevailing below natural braces.

Close-sized diameters and high branch junction ratios versus disparate-sized diameters and low branch junction ratios qualify their respective paired branches for less versus more junction-rupturing force. Rupture testing static-loaded mechanical strains revealed constant, linear rates, even as dynamic-loaded mechanical strains perhaps realize crossing-branch friction resisting wind-gusted failure of underlying included-bark branch junctions. Not one of 150-plus surveyed hawthorns, only one, whose junction sustained mechanical strains thrice those of normal-formed unions, of 37 treated, sheltered a fused-limb natural brace.

Fused, entwining natural braces, not branch junctions, whose axillary wood, denser, drier than stem wood, thwarts radial- and tangential load-transmitting mechanical strains, trigger branch-junction included bark.

multiple branch junctions (also known as tree forks) in hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna); Fleecefaulds Meadow Nature Reserve, Ceres, Fife, East Central Scotland; Wednesday, June 5, 2013, 15:12:09: Oor Woolie, 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:

Crack starting at junction of codominant branches, with included bark, reveals safety hazards presented by bark-included branch junctions: Joseph OBrien, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images @ https://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5053033

multiple branch junctions (also known as tree forks) in hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna); Fleecefaulds Meadow Nature Reserve, Ceres, Fife, East Central Scotland; Wednesday, June 5, 2013, 15:12:09: Oor Woolie, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/kaskaandjim/8967662361/

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Marriner, Derdriu. 13 June 2015. “Tree Friendly Urban Soil Management: Assemble, Assess, Assist, Astound.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/06/tree-friendly-urban-soil-management.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 April 2015. “Tree Wound Responses: Healthy Wound Closures by Callus and Woundwood.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/tree-wound-responses-healthy-wound.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2015. “Urban Forest Maintenance and Non-Maintenance Costs and Benefits.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/02/urban-forest-maintenance-and-non.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 December 2014. “Tree Dwelling Symbionts: Dodder, Lichen, Mistletoe, Moss and Woe-Vine.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/12/tree-dwelling-symbionts-dodder-lichen.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 October 2014. “Tree Cable Installation Systems Lessen Target Impact From Tree Failure.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/10/tree-cable-installation-systems-lessen.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 August 2014. “Flood Tolerant Trees in Worst-Case Floodplain and Urbanized Scenarios.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/08/flood-tolerant-trees-in-worst-case.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 June 2014. “Integrated Vegetation Management of Plants in Utility Rights-of-Way.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/06/integrated-vegetation-management-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 April 2014. “Tree Twig Identification: Buds, Bundle Scars, Leaf Drops, Leaf Scars.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/04/tree-twig-identification-buds-bundle.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2014. “Tree Twig Anatomy: Ecosystem Stress, Growth Rates, Winter Identification.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/tree-twig-anatomy-ecosystem-stress.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 December 2013. “Community and Tree Safety Awareness During Line- and Road-Clearances.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/community-and-tree-safety-awareness.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2013. “Chain-Saw Gear and Tree Work Related Personal Protective Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/chain-saw-gear-and-tree-work-related.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 October 2013. “Storm Damaged Tree Clearances: Matched Teamwork of People to Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/storm-damaged-tree-clearances-matched.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 August 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Damage Assessments: Pre-Storm Planned Preparedness.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/storm-induced-tree-damage-assessments.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Failures From Heavy Tree Weights and Weather Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/storm-induced-tree-failures-from-heavy.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 April 2013. “Urban Tree Root Management Concerns: Defects, Digs, Dirt, Disturbance.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/04/urban-tree-root-management-concerns.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 February 2013. “Tree Friendly Beneficial Soil Microbes: Inoculations and Occurrences.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/tree-friendly-beneficial-soil-microbes.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 December 2012. “Healthy Urban Tree Root Crown Balances: Soil Properties, Soil Volumes.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/healthy-urban-tree-root-crown-balances.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2012. “Tree Adaptive Growth: Tree Risk Assessment of Tree Failure, Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/10/tree-adaptive-growth-tree-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 August 2012. “Tree Risk Assessment Mitigation Reports: Tree Removal, Tree Retention?” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/tree-risk-assessment-mitigation-reports.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 June 2012. “Internally Stressed, Response Growing, Wind Loaded Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/06/internally-stressed-response-growing.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 April 2012. “Three Tree Risk Assessment Levels: Limited Visual, Basic and Advanced.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/three-tree-risk-assessment-levels.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Risk Ratings for Targets and Trees.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Falling Trees Impacting Targets.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 December 2011. “Tree Risk Assessment: Tree Failures From Defects and From Wind Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/tree-risk-assessment-tree-failures-from.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 October 2011. “Five Tree Felling Plan Steps for Successful Removals and Worker Safety.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/10/five-tree-felling-plan-steps-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 August 2011. “Natives and Non-Natives as Successfully Urbanized Plant Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/natives-and-non-natives-as-successfully.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 June 2011. “Tree Ring Patterns for Ecosystem Ages, Dates, Health and Stress.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/06/tree-ring-patterns-for-ecosystem-ages.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 April 2011. “Benignly Ugly Tree Disorders: Oak Galls, Powdery Mildew, Sooty Mold, Tar Spot.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/04/benignly-ugly-tree-disorders-oak-galls.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 February 2011. “Tree Load Can Turn Tree Health Into Tree Failure or Tree Fatigue.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/02/tree-load-can-turn-tree-health-into.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 December 2010. “Tree Electrical Safety Knowledge, Precautions, Risks and Standards.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-electrical-safety-knowledge.html

Meadows, Dean; and Duncan Slater. May 2020. "Assessment of the Load-Bearing Capacity of Bark-Included Junctions in Crataegus monogyna Jacq. in the Presence and Absence of Natural Braces." Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 46(3): 210-227.

Black-Brown Southeastern Five-Lined Skink: Blue-Gray Tail, Four Legs

Summary: North American southeastern five-lined skink habitats get dark bodies with blue-gray tails, five lengthwise, light, thin stripes and four five-toed legs.

young southeastern five-lined skinks (Plestiodon inexpectatus): National Park Service (NPS), Public Domain, via NPS Great Smoky Mountains National Park

North American southeastern five-lined skink habitats appear in Gulf and southeastern coastal piedmont and plain distribution ranges from Maryland and Virginia, through the Florida Keys, eastern Tennessee, southeastern Kentucky and everywhere in-between.

Southeastern five-lined skinks bear their common name for biogeography, for broad banding from neck through tail and for Scincidae family membership with the world's scincid lizards. The scientific name Plestiodon inexpectatus concentrates upon the many teeth and the unexpected discovery that respectively characterize the first, genus name and the second, species name. Scientific designations draw upon descriptions in 1932 by Edward Harrison Taylor (April 23, 1889-June 16, 1978), zoology department head at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Southeastern five-lined skink life cycles expect dry niches with semi-permanent and temporary fresh water, sparse herbaceous vegetation and trees for climbing and moist grasslands and woodlands.

May through June fit southeastern skinks with broad-headed, coal, five-lined, four-lined, Gilbert's, ground, many-lined, mole, Plains, prairie, sand and western skinks variously mating January through August.

Southeastern five-lined skinks go from building cracks, rock crevices and woody fissures to grab the morning sun's rays on fallen trunks and rotting logs and stumps. They hasten after crawling and paused, low-lying and low-flying, ground-level, near-ground and underground, suburban and woodland invertebrate prey once their body temperatures head into optimum ranges. Defensive and offensive involvements initiate hissing, inundating predators and rivals with tail tips shattered along fracture lines and sticking out oval, thick tongues with shallow-notched tips.

Agro-industrialists, breeders, collectors, polluters and predatory crows, foxes, hawks, kestrels, moles, opossums, raccoons, shrews, shrikes, snakes and striped skunks jeopardize North American southeastern five-lined skink habitats.

Southeastern five-lined skinks know angry confrontations among rival males, brief courtships and internal fertilizations of calcium carbonate-shelled eggs that summer's brooding females keep laying in June.

Brooding mothers-to-be lace themselves around successive 6- to 12-egg clutches since each brooded incubation lasts two months and leads to bright-bodied, little adult-like hatchlings in August. Juveniles manifest bold, brilliant stripes from neck to tail and bright blue or purple tails and measure about one-half mature snout-vent (excrementary opening) and total lengths. Crawling and low-, slow-flying, day-active, ground- to near-ground-level, opportunistic ants, beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, flies, gnats, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, moths, slugs, snails, spiders and termites nourish adults.

North American southeastern five-lined skink habitats offer season's coldest temperature ranges, north to southward, from 0 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17.77 to 1.66 degrees Celsius).

Cypress heads, dry and wet pine flatwoods, lowland pines, mixed hardwood-pine forests, ridgetops, sandy scrublands, seashore islands and suburban and urban woodlots protect southeastern five-lined skinks.

Three to 3.5 inches (7.62 to 8.89 centimeters) and 5.5 to 8.5 inches (13.97 to 21.59 centimeters) respectively queue as snout-vent (excrementary opening) and total lengths. Adults reveal black or brown bodies with five light, narrow stripes from neck to long tail, four five-clawed, five-toed short legs, smooth scales and blue-gray tails. Age ultimately scours the striking sheen of streamlined stripes down to an overall brown sheen even though adult males always show red-orange heads during mating seasons.

North American southeastern five-lined skink habitats tether black-brown, five-striped, four-legged, smooth-scaled, 20-toed bodies, without lengthwise-tending, scaly rows under blue-gray tails, to grasslands, seasonal wetlands and woodlands.

Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, map of "geographic distribution of Plestiodon inexpectatus, syn. Eumeces inexpectatus," with range data from Hammerson, G.A. 2007. Plestiodon inexpectatus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 03 December 2012, @ https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/64229/12756436: rbrausse; IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, 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:

young southeastern five-lined skinks (Plestiodon inexpectatus): National Park Service (NPS), Public Domain, via NPS Great Smoky Mountains National Park @ https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/reptiles.htm

Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, map of "geographic distribution of Plestiodon inexpectatus, syn. Eumeces inexpectatus," with range data from Hammerson, G.A. 2007. Plestiodon inexpectatus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 03 December 2012, @ https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/64229/12756436: rbrausse; IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plestiodon_inexpectatus_distribution.png

For further information:

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, 2003.

Holbrook, John Edwards. 1838. "Scincus quinquelineatus. -- Linnaus. Plate VI." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. III: 39-43. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3683010

Taylor, Edward H. May 1932. "Eumeces inexpectatus: A New American Lizard of the Family Scincidae." University of Kansas Science Bulletin, vol. XX, part 2, no. 13 (May 1932): 251-259; Plate XVII. Lawrence KS: University of Kansas.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4395944
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/universityofkans20univ#page/251/mode/1up

Uetz, Peter. "Plestiodon inexpectatus (Taylor, 1932)." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Plestiodon&species=inexpectatus&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27Plestiodon+inexpectatus%27%29%29

Ellora Hindu Cave 20 Adds the Last Adventure of Buffalo Demon Mahisha

Summary: Ellora Hindu Cave 20 in Maharaashtra, India, accepts Shiva as fertility god, Nandi as fertility bull, Mahisha as buffalo demon and Devi as demon slayer.

door and façade of Ellora Hindu Cave 20; sketch by Scottish archaeologist James Burgess (Aug. 14, 1832-Oct. 3, 1916), in J. Fergusson and J. Burgess, The Cave Temples of India (1880), Plate LXXVIII: via Internet Archive

Ellora Hindu Cave 20 in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India, allies Nandi with Shiva as fertility bull to fertility god and Mahisha with Devi Mahishasuri as demon buffalo to the demon slayer.

Itinerant artisans, merchants and monks built Ellora Hindu Cave 20 as a cave temple to basic beliefs in animal and divine bearers of healthy population levels. They carved cut stone into a round-pedestal, square-based linga (from Sanskrit लिङ्ग, "emblem") that copies reproductive parts of the Hindu (from Sanskrit सिन्धु, "stream") fertility god. The destroyer god Shiva (from Sanskrit शिव, "auspicious") and his mount Nandi (from Sanskrit नन्दि, "joy") respectively do multi-tasking duties as fertility god and fertility bull.

Ellora Hindu Cave 20 exhibits the entry-level exploits that established Shiva's consort and female energy as demon slayer of the buffalo demon Mahisha (from Sanskrit महिष, "buffalo").

Vaishnavite (from Sanskrit विष्णु, "all-pervasive") Hindu itinerant artisans fashioned and finished Ellora Hindu Cave 20 under tolerant Kalachuri (from Sanskrit कलचुरि, "country chieftain") dynasts (753?-982 C.E.?).

Indus Valley centers at Harappa around 4000 B.C.E. and Mohenjodaro (from Sindhi موئن جو دڙو, "dead men's mound") around 2000 B.C.E. gave Hindu mythology fertility deities. Hindu mythology honors Indus-like fertility deities Shiva Mahadeva (from Sanskrit मह, "great" and देव, "deity") and Devi Mahadevi (from Sanskrit मह, "great" and देवी, "female deity"). Indus Valley mythologies invest fertility goddesses and fertility gods respectively with half-bull half-ram fertility animals and with fertility bulls, buffaloes, deer, elephants, rhinoceroses, snakes and tigers.

Shiva's consort juggles Shiva's fierce shakti (from Sanskrit शक्ति, "female-empowered"

Creator god Brahma's (from Sanskrit ब्रह्म, "grow"), preserver god Vishnu's (from Sanskrit विष्णु, "all-pervasive") and Shiva's flaming mouths kindled the Ellora Hindu Cave 20 demon slayer.

The beautiful, ten-armed, yellow-bodied demon slayer located a Himalayan (from Sanskrit हिम, "winter" and आलय, "abode") tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) as her charger and 10 weapons. One hand maintained the arrow and quiver of sun god Surya (from Sanskrit सूर्य, "sun"), another the bow of wind god Vayu (from Sanskrit वायु, "air"). The club of the wealth god Kubera (from Sanskrit कुबेर, "bad-limbed") and the conch shell of western regent Varuna (from Sanskrit वरुण, "water") nestled into other hands.

The demon slayer observed in Ellora Hindu Cave 10 operated the discus of Vishnu and the flaming dart of fire god Agni (from Sanskrit अग्नि, "fire").

Buffalo demon Mahisha of Ellora Hindu Cave 20 never perished from the demon slayer presenting the snake garland of serpent king Shesha (from Sanskrit शेष, "surplus").

The demon slayer quickened fatal outcomes for buffalo demon Mahisha with the thunderbolt of storm god Indra (from Sanskrit इन्द्र, "raindrop-possessing"). The iron rod of King Yama (from Sanskrit यम, "twinborn") of the Dead ripped through buffalo demon Mahisha for ravaging Mount Meru (from Sanskrit मेरु, "central"). Demon slayer Mahishasuri saved her fellow deities' celestial kingdom, Mount Meru, after its storming by buffalo demon Mahisha of the Vindhya (from Sanskrit विन्ध्य, "thought-opposing") Mountains.

Hindu fertility bull Nandi and Hindu fertility god Shiva triumph, thanks to demon slayer Mahishasuri, in Ellora Hindu Cave 20, over Indus fertility buffaloes and deities.

"Plan of Cave XX"; sketch by Scottish archaeologist James Burgess (Aug. 14, 1832-Oct. 3, 1916), Report on the Elura Cave Temples (1883), Plate XXXII: via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

door and façade of Ellora Hindu Cave 20; sketch by Scottish archaeologist James Burgess (Aug. 14, 1832-Oct. 3, 1916), in J. Fergusson and J. Burgess, The Cave Temples of India (1880), Plate LXXVIII: via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cavetemplesofind00ferguoft/page/n716/mode/1up

"Plan of Cave XX"; sketch by Scottish archaeologist James Burgess (Aug. 14, 1832-Oct. 3, 1916), Report on the Elura Cave Temples (1883), Plate XXXII: via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1544/page/n165/mode/1up

For further information:

"About Ellora Caves." Yatra > Monuments of India > Monuments in Aurangabad. Copyrighted 2019.
Available @ https://www.yatra.com/indian-monuments/aurangabad/ellora-caves

Anh-Huong, Nguyen; and Thich Nhat Hanh. 2019. Walking Meditation. Boulder CO: Sounds True.

Barrett, Douglas. "Wall Painting (Second to Sixteenth Century)." Pages 17-48. In: Douglas Barrett and Basil Gray. Paintings of India. Treasures of Asia. Distributed in the United States by The World Publishing Company, Cleveland OH. Geneva, Switzerland: Editions d'Art Albert Skira, 1963.

Berkson, Carmel. Ellora Concept and Style. First Edition, 1992. Second Edition, 2004. New Delhi, India: Abhinav Publications.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books/about/Ellora_Concept_and_Style.html?id=tH7KRNqIin4C

Burgess, Jas. (James). Report on the Elura Cave Temples and the Brahmanical and Jain Caves of Western India. The Results of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Seasons' Operations of the Archaeological Survey 1877-78, 1878-79, 1879-80. Supplementary to the Volume on "The Cave Temples of India." London [UK]: Trübner & Co., 1883.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1544/page/n5/mode/1up

Cartwright, Mark. 8 March 2016. "Ellora Caves." Ancient History Encyclopedia > Article.
Available @ https://www.ancient.eu/article/874/ellora-caves/

"Cave 19." The Ellora Caves.
Available @ https://elloracaves.org/caves.php?cmd=search&words=&image_ID=&cave_ID=19&plan_floor=1

Cook, Sharell. Updated June 3, 2019. "Ajanta and Ellora Caves Essential Travel Guide." TripSavvy > Destinations > India > Maharashtra.
Available @ https://www.tripsavvy.com/ajanta-and-ellora-caves-travel-guide-1539340

Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. 1976. The Goddesses of India, Tibet, China and Japan. With illustrations by Anna Durdin-Robertson. Huntington Castle, Clonegal, Enniscorthy, Eire: Cesara Publications.
Available @ http://www.fellowshipofisis.com/ldr_india_tibet_china_japan.pdf

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 7 March 2019. "Ellora Caves." Encyclopædia Britannica > Geography & Travel > Historical Places. Chicago IL: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Available @ https://www.britannica.com/place/Ellora-Caves

"Elapura, aka: Elpāra; 6 Definition(s)." Wisdom Library.
Available @ https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/elapura

"Ellora." Exotic Journeys International > India City Details.
Available @ http://www.ejiusa.com/india_city_details/Ellora.html

"Ellora Caves." Atlas Obscura > Places > Verul, India. Copyrighted 2020.
Available @ https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ellora-caves

"Ellora Caves." UNESCO > Culture > World Heritage Centre > The List > World Heritage List.
Available @ https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/243/

Fergusson, James; and James Burgess. 1880. The Cave Temples of India. London [United Kingdom]: W.H. Allen @ Co., Trübner & Co. E. Stanford and W. Briggs.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cavetemplesofind00ferguoft

Huntington, John C.; and Dina Bangdel. "Glossary M-Y." The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art.
Available @ https://huntingtonarchive.org/resources/downloads/COBGlossaryM-Y.pdf

"Interview with Shrikant Ganvir, Pune, January 2016." Sahapedia > Ellora Caves > Buddhist Caves of Ellora. Published 9 November 2016.
Available @ https://www.sahapedia.org/buddhist-caves-of-ellora

Ions, Veronica. 1967. Indian Mythology. London UK: Paul Hamlyn Limited.

Kannal, Deepak. 25 September 2017. "A Riddle Called Ellora." Sahapedia > Overview.
Available @ https://www.sahapedia.org/riddle-called-ellora

Lee, Eva. 17 February 2014. "Ellora Caves: Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain Coexistence." Eva Lee Studio.
Available @ http://www.evaleestudio.com/2014/02/12/ellora-caves-buddhist-hindu-and-jain-coexistence/

Malandra, Geri H. 1993. Unfolding a Mandala: The Buddhist Cave Temples at Ellora. Albany NY: State University of New York Press.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=MU44LPu3mbUC

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 May 2020. "Ellora Hindu Cave 21 Acclaims Shiva and Alludes to Jumna and Krishna." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/ellora-hindu-cave-21-acclaims-shiva-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 May 2020. "Ellora Hindu Cave 29 Assumes That Parvati and Shiva Adore One Another." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/ellora-hindu-cave-29-assumes-that.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 May 2020. "Ellora Hindu Cave 19 Appears Third Most Ancient Among Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/ellora-hindu-cave-19-appears-third-most.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 May 2020. "Ellora Hindu Cave 27 Appears Second Most Ancient Among Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/ellora-hindu-cave-27-appears-second.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 April 2020. "Ellora Hindu Cave 28 Accesses Waterfall Rainbows Over Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/ellora-hindu-cave-28-accesses-waterfall.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 April 2020. "Ellora Caves Are Arranged as Buddhist, Hindu and Jain Cave Temples." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/ellora-caves-are-arranged-as-buddhist.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 April 2020. "Are Indian Ring-Necked Rose-Ringed Parakeets Still at Ellora Caves?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/are-indian-ring-necked-rose-ringed.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 April 2020. "Indian Three-Striped Palm Squirrels Augur the Hindu Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/indian-three-striped-palm-squirrels.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 March 2020. "Ellora Caves Accept Walking Meditations Advocated by Thich Nhat Hanh." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ellora-caves-accept-walking-meditations.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 March 2020. "Ellora Caves Ally With Ajanta Caves and Thich Nhat Hanh in Indra's Net." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ellora-caves-ally-with-ajanta-caves-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 March 2020. "Ellora Caves Are Painted, Sculpted Temples Like and Unlike Ajanta Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ellora-caves-are-painted-sculpted.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 March 2020. "Ailing Ellora Caves Are Among Ameliorable World Heritage Centre Sites." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ailing-ellora-caves-are-among.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 February 2020. "Schneider's Leaf-Nosed Bats Are Artful Annihilators at Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/schneiders-leaf-nosed-bats-are-artful.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 February 2020. "Greater Indian False Vampire Bats Are Artful Assassins at Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/greater-indian-false-vampire-bats-are.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 February 2020. "Are Grey Junglefowl Avoiding Artful Areas Around Ellora Caves? Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/are-grey-junglefowl-avoiding-artful.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 February 2020. "Blue Indian Peafowl No Longer Prettify the Artistic Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
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