Friday Creature Feature - Spinybacked orbweaver spider

This month's featured creature is the Spinybacked orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis), also known locally as the crab spider. This species is the only one of its genus that occurs in the New World and it is found from the southern U.S. to northern Argentina. Other members of the genus occur in tropical portions of the Old World.

Females are 5-9 mm in length and 10-13 mm wide (about 3/8”). Only the females have the red abdominal “spines”, with males having four or five small posterior humps. Males are also only about 1/3 the size of the females, and are slightly longer than wide.

The First Friday Creature Feature is a monthly event on this blog, held on the first Friday of every month. Check back next month to see what new creature is lurking in my garden!

Friday Creature Feature - Mole

The garden mole is a subterranean creature that tunnels through gardens and lawns in search of earthworms, grubs, and other small invertebrates. Their saliva contains a toxin that paralyzes their prey so that moles can store still-living food for later consumption. They dig special underground chambers for this purpose.

Moles do not eat plant roots, but may damage young plants by burrowing under or near fragile root systems. Reducing the amount or frequency of lawn watering, and reducing the square footage of turf grass in the landscape helps reduce visible tunneling.

There are six species of moles in North America. They are 6-8 inches in length, and females give birth in the spring to a litter of two to six young. A single mole consumes 45-50 pounds of earthworms and insects in a year. Moles can dig new tunnels at a rate of approximately 18 feet per hour, and move through existing tunnels at 80 feet per minute.

Mole fur is very fine and soft. Unlike most mammals, the hairs do not point toward the tail, but bend easily in any direction. This allows the mole to move forward and backward in the tunnels without accumulating dirt in its fur.

The First Friday Creature Feature is hosted right here on the first Friday of every month.  You're invited to join in!  Here's how:

1. Write a post featuring some creature that lives in your garden.

2. Within your post, include a link to my Creature Feature post so your readers will know where to find the creatures.

3. Add your link below and leave a comment.

Thanks for participating and please join in again next month!

Friday Creature Feature - Grasshopper

The grasshopper is a menace to gardeners everywhere. Their feeding habits disfigure large-leafed plants, leaving irregular chewed areas along the edges of leaves. Fortunately, birds are effective predators. More than 200 species of birds are known to feed on grasshoppers, so planting seed- or berry-producing trees and shrubs to attract more birds to your garden may help keep the grasshopper population down. Sadly, the birds may also be interested in your vegetable garden and fruit-producing plants. Perhaps the best solution is vigilance and two bricks or a sharp pair of pruners to quickly dispatch any grasshoppers caught in the act of feeding on your garden.

The First Friday Creature Feature is hosted right here on the first Friday of every month.  You're invited to join in!  Here's how:

1. Write a post featuring some creature that lives in your garden.

2. Within your post, include a link to my Creature Feature post so your readers will know where to find the creatures.

3. Add your link below and leave a comment.

Thanks for participating and please join in again next month!

Friday Creature Feature - Opossum

This month's creature is a mostly nocturnal animal and the only marsupial in North America, the opossum. Although they are seldom seen and rarely heard, opossums are intelligent creatures that help control the population of vermin around homes. They eat just about anything, including insects, fruit, mice, rats and carrion. They are nomadic and go wherever the food is. Learning and discrimination tests indicate they are smarter than dogs. Opossums are clean animals that bathe and groom themselves as meticulously as any cat.

As a species, they are survivors. Fossil remains of these creatures have been found from 70 million years ago. They have a high level of immunity to most diseases and are more resistant to rabies than virtually any other mammal.
The gestation period of an opossum is only 13 days and the young are the size of a honeybee when born.  Litters of 5 to 8 are produced up to twice a year and they remain in the mother's pouch for about three months. Although they sometimes live in trees, they prefer nesting in underground dens. They do not dig their own burrows, but use those abandoned by other animals.
When cornered, opossums may hiss and bare their teeth, but if there is no avenue of escape, they fall over and play dead. They remain in this state until the danger has passed.
Now, don't you play 'possum! Join the fun below!

Y'all come back now!

The First Friday Creature Feature is hosted right here on the first Friday of every month.  You're invited to join in!  Here's how:

1. Write a post featuring some creature that lives in your garden.

2. Within your post, include a link to my Creature Feature post so your readers will know where to find the creatures.

3. Add your link below and leave a comment.

Thanks for participating and please join in again next month!

Friday Creature Feature - Glass Lizard

It's not a snake! It's a legless lizard. They differ from snakes in the following ways: they have moveable eyelids, external ear openings, and inflexible jaws. Adults can grow to more than three feet in length.

Glass lizards get their name from the ability to break off all or part of their tail when seized by a predator. The tail makes up more than half of their total length, so the predator is easily distracted by the squirming tail while the lizard escapes. The tail regrows over a period of months or years.

Eastern glass lizards (Ophisaurus ventralis) are found throughout the southeastern U.S. in a variety of habitats. Florida is home to four different species of glass lizards.

They spend most of their lives burrowing through soil and piles of leaves in search of food. They eat a wide variety of insects, spiders, and other invertebrates, as well as small reptiles.

In early summer, the female lays several eggs in a protected spot, which she then guards until the eggs hatch later in the summer.

Creature Feature - Ant lion

This month's featured creature is the antlion, also sometimes known as the doodlebug. This carnivorous insect gets its name because it preys primarily on ants.
Larvae of this species dig a pit in the sand, bury themselves at the bottom, and wait for ants to tumble in. The loose sand and steep walls of the pit prevent the ant from easily climbing out. If an ant does manage to start climbing, the antlion literally throws sand at the ant, causing it to fall back to the bottom of the pit, where it is devoured.

There are more than 2000 species of antlions around the world. Larvae of most North American species are about the size of a human fingernail. The crater they dig is usually a few inches across. Interestingly, the size of the crater is not related to the size of the larvae, but how hungry it is. The longer it has been since an antlion has eaten, the larger the crater will be.

The larval stage lasts for up to three years. The insect then spins a cocoon, where it spends around three weeks in a pupal stage. After that, the adult emerges, spending about a month mating and laying eggs, and then it dies.
Here's a National Geographic video that features an antlion capturing its prey.

The First Friday Creature Feature is hosted right here on the first Friday of every month.  You're invited to join in!  Here's how:

1. Write a post featuring some creature that lives in your garden.

2. Within your post, include a link to my Creature Feature post so your readers will know where to find the creatures.

3. Add your link below and leave a comment.

Thanks for participating and please join in again next month!

Creature Feature - Lovebugs

In spring and fall, Lovebugs fill the air (and cover windshields) throughout the southeastern United States. They get their common name from the fact that you almost always see them joined together in an act of passion, even while flying!
Lovebugs (Plecia nearctica) are actually a type of fly with a red thorax. Males are 1/4 inch in length and females are 1/3 inch.
Sex seems to be more important to them than food, and you rarely see them feeding on anything. This year, however, I did discover that they are attracted to the flowers of parsley. Swarms of them have descended on my flowering parsley patch to partake of the nectar therein. This makes them much easier to photograph than trying to catch them in mid-flight. At night, they never leave the plant, choosing to sleep on the underside of the parsley umbels, still joined together.
Lovebugs are so numerous in this part of the country that one would think they are native here. However, according to the University of Florida, lovebugs were only seen in Southern Louisiana in the 1920s. They were not reported in Florida until they were spotted in the panhandle in 1947. By 1974 they had made their way another 500 miles to the southern end of the state, and as far north as South Carolina.

There are two major flights of lovebugs during the year, spring and fall. The flights extend over a period of 4 to 5 weeks, but individual females only live 2-3 days. During their brief life, females lay from 100 to 350 eggs in decaying vegetation. The larvae feed on this until they pupate, a stage which lasts 7 to 10 days. The adults then emerge to repeat the process all over again.
Driving during lovebug season can be hazardous. Their smeared bodies on the windshield will reduce visibility, and permanently damage the finish on painted areas of automobiles. Large swarms can clog radiators and cause engine overheating.

The First Friday Creature Feature is hosted right here on the first Friday of every month.  You're invited to join in!  Here's how:

1. Write a post featuring some creature that lives in your garden.

2. Within your post, include a link to my Creature Feature post so your readers will know where to find the creatures.

3. Add your link below and leave a comment.

Thanks for participating and please join in again next month!

Friday Creature Feature - Honeybee

Today's featured creature is the honeybee. Without this vital insect, life on earth would be entirely different. The honeybee is responsible for the pollination of large amounts of fruit crops around the world, and some plants would not produce fruit at all without the help of honeybees. Interestingly, pollination is accomplished accidentally as the bee forages for nectar and pollen to take back to the hive.

There are four different species of honeybee around the world, all belonging to the genus Apis. Cave paintings indicate that people have been harvesting honey from bees for at least 8,000 years. The honey we eat is produced as the bees refine and concentrate the nectar they collect.

The First Friday Creature Feature is hosted right here on the first Friday of every month.  You're invited to join in!  Here's how:

1. Write a post featuring some creature that lives in your garden.

2. Within your post, include a link to my Creature Feature post so people know where to find the creatures.

3. Add your link below and leave a comment.

Thanks for participating and please join in again next month!

Creature Feature - Blue Tailed Skink

The blue tailed Skink is more properly known as the Five-lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus).  They are usually black or dark brown, with five distinct stripes running the length of the body.  It is one of the most common lizards in Florida, growing up to eight inches in length.
Juveniles have the distinct bright blue tail.  The stripes and the tail both fade as the Skink ages.  In males, the tail turns brown, and in females it becomes a dull blue-gray.
Eggs are laid in the spring in clutches of 15 to 18, usually in a crevice or hollowed cavern under logs or rocks. The incubation period ranges from 3 to 8 weeks, depending on soil temperature.

These just-hatched skinks will take 2-3 years to reach sexual maturity, with an ultimate lifespan of up to 6 years.

The Five-lined Skink prefers a moist, vegetated habitat.  They are carnivorous and will eat just about anything that will fit in their mouths.

Creature Feature - Monarch butterfly

If you aren't familiar with the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly, you might not recognize that this is an insect at all.  But it is.  Last week one of the last Monarch caterpillars of the season finally made the change.  Inside this gold-encrusted turquoise chrysalis is a caterpillar on its way to becoming a butterfly.
In the larval (caterpillar) stage, Monarchs only feed on milkweed.  As adult butterflies they return to the milkweed for nectar and to lay eggs.  Here's a sneak preview of what it will look like during the next stage of its life.

Join in on the fun by blogging about a creature in your garden and posting the link here!



The First Friday Creature Feature happens right here on the first Friday of every month.  Check back again next month to see what other creatures are lurking in the garden.

Creature Feature - Sandhill crane

Florida Sandhill cranes like wide open spaces for grazing and performing their elaborate courtship dance.  My property is too densely planted for their liking, but just over the fence in my neighbor's clear-cut acres of grass, they make a daily appearance.
These are big birds, standing four foot tall at rest, with a wingspan of  6-8 feet.  Florida's Sandhill cranes are a threatened species that do not adapt well to changing environments or high human populations.  They are non-migratory and their population is only about 4,000 individuals.  Every winter they are joined by about 25,000 migratory Greater Sandhill cranes.
Sandhill cranes can live up to 20 years, and they remain with the same mate for several years.  They are omnivores and will eat a wide variety of plant and animal matter.
Hear the call of the Sandhill crane here.
Further reading:
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Southwest Florida Water Management District

The First Friday Creature Feature is hosted right here on the first Friday of every month.  You're invited to join in!  Here's how:

1. Write a post featuring some creature that lives in your garden.

2. Within your post, include a link to my Creature Feature post so people know where to find the creatures.

3. Add your link below and leave a comment.

Thanks for participating and feel free to join in again next month!

Creature Feature - the "good" snail

At some point or another, nearly every gardener has done battle with snails and slugs. What many don't know is that some snails are beneficial and actually eat the snails and slugs that do damage. In Florida, there are five species of predatory snails. The most common of these is the Rosy Predator Snail (Euglandina rosea). This is a fairly large snail, growing up to 2 ½ inches in length. It is easily identified by the glossy, elongated shell and the rosy or brownish-pink coloration.

Hot on the trail of the bad guy that ate that hole in the leaf!

The Rosy Predator Snail (also known as the Rosy Wolf Snail) is widespread in Florida, but is also found in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Southeastern Texas.

The snail lives for up to two years, and one study showed that a single individual can consume more than 350 damaging snails in its lifetime. The Rosy Predator follows the slime trails of its prey in order to find its next meal. Small snails are eaten whole and larger snails are eaten live, right in the shell. Here's an adult feeding on a bush snail.

When the predators reach sexual maturity they search out a mate. Snails are hermaphroditic so both partners of a successful mating will be pregnant.

Approximately thirty eggs are laid at a time in the soil and these hatch in about a month.

They immediately begin exploring their territory and looking for prey.

Here's a baby predator feeding on a bush snail.

Newborn rosy predators are usually pale, but the shells develop more coloration as the snail grows.

Young Rosy Predator

In 1955, Euglandina rosea was sent to Hawaii in an attempt to control the invasive Giant African Snail. The newest inhabitants reproduced quickly, and within three years 12,000 Rosy Predators were collected to send to other tropical regions, including New Guinea, Okinawa, and the Philippines. Like most attempts to introduce predatory species into a new environment, this one ended in disaster. The Rosy Predator preferred to feed on the colorful native Hawaiian tree snails, eventually eating several species to extinction.

In areas where the Rosy Predator snail is native, it is a very beneficial creature to have living in your landscape. Gardeners can often find empty shells of the destructive Bush Snail where the Rosy Predator has been feeding.

Gone but not forgotten!

Be on the lookout for this “good snail” and make it welcome in your garden!

Creature Feature - Tree Cattle

Since Halloween has just passed, I thought it appropriate this month to feature a web-spinner that can cover trees with their webs.

No, not spiders... these insects are called Psocids (pronounced SO-sids), or Tree Cattle.  They are scavengers that feed on lichens, fungi, and other bits of organic matter.  Although their webbing can be extensive, they cause no harm to the tree.  The webbing is simply a protective cover for them to hide under.  They can form webs on any tree.  The above photo is on Ceiba.  The nymphs feed as a group and even when disturbed they will move together as a group.

It is this herd behavior that gives them the "Tree Cattle" moniker.  The adults are about 1/4 inch in length at full size.

The First Friday Creature Feature is hosted right here on the first Friday of every month.  You're invited to join in!  Here's how:
1. Write a post featuring some creature that lives in your garden.
2. Within your post, include a link to my Creature Feature post so people know where to find the creatures.
3. Add your link below and leave a comment.
Thanks for participating and feel free to join in again next month!

Creature Feature - Gaudy Sphinx moth

This is a Gaudy Sphinx moth (Eumorpha labruscae), with a wingspan of over 4.5 inches!  In their larval form they feed on grapevine.
The First Friday Creature Feature is held right here on the first Friday of every month.
Join in on this fun and educational event!  Write about some creature living in your garden, include a link to my Creature Feature post, and then submit your info below.
Thanks for participating!

Creature Feature - Grizzled Mantis

This is a Grizzled Mantis (Gonatista grisea) female.  The males have wings that cover the abdomen.  They are predaceous insects, typically feeding on other arthropods.  The females are more commonly seen because the males are often eaten immediately after mating.  
They are known for their ability to blend in with their surroundings.  This species is also sometimes known as the Lichen Mimic Mantid.  This two inch long one was nearly invisible on the trunk of a starfruit tree.
*UPDATE* -- When I published this post this morning, I had only seen this bug the one time I took the photo, but lo and behold... when I went out in the garden this afternoon, there was a male on the same tree!  Maybe I'll soon have lots of little Lichen Mimic Mantids running around here!  Here's his picture..

The First Friday Creature Feature is a monthly event on this blog, held on the First Friday of every month.
This month I'm inviting anyone who has recently posted about a creature in their garden to join in on the fun.  Simply link below and leave a comment.  Thanks for participating!

Creature Feature - Hornworm

This month's Creature Feature is a Hornworm.  Hornworms are often considered to be damaging pests of tomato plants but since this one is feeding on a fast-growing Clerodendrum, I'll leave him be.  As adults, Hornworms are known as Hawk moths or Sphinx moths.

The First Friday Creature Feature is a monthly event with a new creature every month.  Check back next month to find out what other creatures are lurking in my garden!

Creature Feature - Mantis

This is a Mantis hanging on the underside of a small twig.  The Mantis is a beneficial, carnivorous insect, feeding on other insects in the garden.  There are about 2000 different species of Mantids in the world, ranging in size from 1/4 inch to 6 inches in length!

The First Friday Creature Feature happens monthly only on this blog!

Creature Feature - Oak Timberworm

This weird looking bug was hanging out on a banana leaf.  Before you start thinking "That doesn't look like a worm", this is the adult stage.  In the larval stage it is a worm-like wood borer.

Thank you to RBell of The Lazy Shady Gardener for correctly identifying this weevil!

Friday Creature Feature - Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar

This is my monthly spotlight on one of the creatures that lives in my garden.  Today we have the Gulf Fritillary caterpillar feeding on Maypop (Passiflora incarnata).  Soon it will pupate and emerge as a beautiful butterfly!

For more creatures that live in my garden, click HERE

Friday Creature Feature - Turtle

This month's Creature Feature is a shot of a turtle passing through the back yard.  This may be one of the residents of the many burrows located on my property.