Drift, attached to bivalve shell, next for Nereocystis luetkeana (blue arrow shows S. latissima).
Second photo shows close-up the two holdfasts. Both highly-branched and “root-like”, but S. latissima holdfast on left has more, thinner, branches (this branched kind of holdfast in kelps is called a “haptera”).
Empress Figurehead, Stanley Park.
Drift specimen, attached to a clam shell. Annotated photo shows Colpomenia on the left and the similar-looking Leathesia marina on the right.
Got microscope photos of slime mold! First two at 40x, third at 100x, last two at 400x. I may have messed up the order by trying to adjust default (sorry). Will link prior obs in comments. Photos taken after specimen sat out for ~2hr, not sure if relevant.
Was white -> pink yesterday, will link prev obs in comments
Others observed white in the morning, was pinkish and oozing red liquid when I observed at 4:00ish
Marine plankton on coast of Pembrokeshire UK. Visible with hand lens, about a millimetre diameter moving around in water on rocky shore. Photos taken under microscope and stitched.
What kind of alien pods are attached to my magnolia tree? There are several of them, different sizes. It almost looks like a type of ladybug forming (but not the kind of ladybug larvae I am used to seeing and have learned about, these are different). They are not all over the tree. Though I did not do a full inspection, they seem to be isolated to this one branch.
Apologies for blurry pics — it was windy, and these are the size of a pencil eraser or smaller!
Growing in a moist meadow in Albion Basin.
Rapid lifecycle changes (1) 5.25 pm 8/9 white, (2) 8.15 am 9/9 pinkish brown, (3) 5.08 pm 9/9 black, (4) 3.45 pm 10/9 silvery tan, (5) 4.15 12/9 flaking peridium and spore release.
length 5 cm, very light and fragile, found at forest egde
I could be wrong about this ID, but the copper colored head with a grean eye line makes me wonder if this is a hybrid.
2nd-5th pics are comparisons of key ID features of common dandelion on the left and red-seeded dandelion on the right. Note the red seed bases, red on the stems and sepal tips, and even triangular leaves that look like a cartoon Christmas tree.
Not sure if this is a myxomycete or a fungi.
Does anyone know what this is? I saw it on at the bus station on a wooden door near some waterfalls in Costa Rica.
Captive culture. Host: Porcellio silvestrii
Recorded by Schmidt Ocean Insitute at a depth of 1980m
Bought at antique market. Flat and feels hard like bone. Possibly a sturgeon scute.
I managed to catch the moment where two Juniperus virginiana pollen grains' intines expanded and ruptured their exines. I think the first probably helped trigger the second. Check out this paper for more on the mechanism at work here.
Measurements
Unruptured exines
23–27×21–25 μm; Q=1.01–1.15
Images
All slides in water
1: External intines hydrating and expanding to rupture exines
2: Intact pollen grains
3: Ruptured pollen grains
4: Habit
Found washed up on the beach, adult female with eggs still in the shell! Shoutout to Ellie the original discoverer as we walked to snorkel!
More phages from the deep water of this tea-stained lake. The first shot is of a bacterium captured at the moment of rupture by tailed phages. It looks like they made a pretty efficient transfer of bacterium to phage biomass. The burst size of 10 (if none were lost) is in line with other observations from nutrient-poor lakes. Next is a close-up of a tailless phage. The capsomeres are clearly evident, suggesting that this one is a single-stranded DNA virus of the Microviridae (I'm just guessing here). Number three has a long, non-contractile tail. That makes it a siphovirus. Four appears to have a contractile tail that will allow it to inject its DNA hypodermic-style. Nice head. Then two attached phages. Many bacterial cells seemed to have attached phages - hard to explain. Finally, an interesting community of viruses, tailed and tailless, on what might be a conjugation tube that is used to transfer DNA between bacterial cells. Conjugation is a handy way to pass on genes to confer immunity to phages. But it comes with a tradeoff - phages attach to the tube to inject their own nucleic acids. I like the curious structure of the lengthened icosahedra (?) of some of the phages.
So, this is a polyergus bilateral gynandromorph! ½ worker caste (red), ½ alate (black). The mandibles, eyes, single wing, and antennae are the more obvious caste traits reflected in each half of this individual. Found them shortly after leaving the colony possibly (I found one a few feet away).
See: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124878696
& https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124879042
Hanging out in a corn field. Saw two adults, one with at least four young and the other with at least one. Another young individual wasn't too far from the second adult, but they blended in well so I imagine there were plenty more we didn't see.
These were everywhere and I have no idea what they are. Plant? Animal? They were attached to each other via a stalk.
¿Podría ser Cordyceps? En libélula Sympetrum foscolombii aún viva y sin dificultades para volar.
looks like a pair to me.
giving back to the earth. such a sacred journey.
At work!
Tortoiseshell butterflies? There aren’t many webs but many of the caterpillars died when small. They are defoliating shrub willow in the road ditch.