Dog Tick

Dog Tick Dermacentor variabilis; the most common tick in the ILC area is the Dog Tick.  This flattened, “hard tick” has a lighter colored tab on the cephalo-thorax, but otherwise the body is leathery.  The larval stage is referred to as a “seed tick”, which is so small it is hard to see, and only has six legs.  It is never infectious, and feeds only once, thereafter falling off till next year.  If its first meal is from an animal that is infected it might pick up Rickettsia bacteria. As an eight legged nymph it might carry virus or bacteria for Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever, or Tularemia, but never Lyme’s disease.  Lyme’s is carried by the Deer Tick, which is rare here.  The adult Dog Tick would much rather snack on your dog than you, and at 1/8″ long it is much easier to see.  Nymphs and adults crawl up on long grass or brush, waiting for an animal, or your legs to go by, when it grabs on and tries to burrow into the skin. You might feel them gently crawling along your skin, hoping to find your dog.  After it has fed it will engorge to a round grey blob, then fall off and lay eggs.  An engorged tick can be 3/8″ long.  Rocky  Mountain Spotted Tick Fever is more common in the NE coastal woodlands, but was first described by patients from the Rocky Mountains.  It is fast acting, marked by high fever, weakness, muscle and joint aches, and sometimes a rash of bright red spots.  It does not develop the “Bull’s-Eye” rash that marks Lyme’s.  RMSTF is serious, but usually responds well to antibiotics.

The other ticks in the area are the Woodland Tick (which looks a lot like the Dog Tick), Lone-Star Tick (with a bright yellow spot on the thorax tab), and the uncommon Deer Tick (reddish-brown with black legs and long snout).

Dog Tick: note: the light colored tab on the back, and dark, leathery body with 8 legs, and chewing mouth parts.

Bold Jumping Spider

Bold Jumping Spider Phidippus audax; the common, bold jumping spider seems fearless, happily living in houses, and seeming to enjoy human company.  At only 1/2″ across, they are harmless to humans, and so although they can and will bite, they cause only a slight singing sensation.  They have spinnerets, but do not spin a web, hunting tiny insects in yards and houses by stalking them.  The long, curved fangs enable them to grab and kill prey with poison.  The Bold Jumping Spider is marked by striped black and white legs, 2 sets of shiny black eyes, and a bright green bib.  The front pair of legs are longer than the other pairs, giving them an alert, upright posture. Jumping Spiders live up to their names, jumping as far as 3″.  They often anchor themselves before jumping so they can let themselves down gently.

Bold Jumping Spider; Note; the stocky build and eight pair of fuzzy black and white striped legs and prominent green “bib”.

Note; the longer front set of legs.

Note; the 4 prominent, black, button eyes which give the Bold Jumper wide peripheral vision.

Note; the prominent, hooked “fangs” below the green bib.

Texas Brown Tarantula

Texas Brown Tarantula Aphonopelma hentzi; The most common tarantula in the southern United States, the Brown Tarantula reaches 4″ across with the legs spread out.  Males have slimmer legs, and an angular cephalo-thorax, while the females have a larger, rounded abdomen.  Tarantula have prominent spinnerets, but do not spin webs, instead digging a tunnel which they line with silk, and spin a door that is camouflaged with leaves, twigs and dirt.  Solitary hunters, trap-door tarantula move around in the evenings, hunting insects, and mates.  While tarantula have large “fangs”, and kill their prey with poison, they are neither aggressive toward people, nor is their bite worse than a large wasp.  However,  the hairs on their legs can cause a rash, especially the hair on the shed exoskeletons.

Texas Brown Tarantula; note; 8 long, slender, black legs, brownish cephalo-thorax, and prominent spinnerets.

Note; females have a larger, abdomen.

Io Moth Automeris io

Io Moth Automeris io; A large, heavy moth with an overall rounded shape, 2.5 to 3.5 inches across, the Io is distinctive in its yellowish hew with large red eye-spots.  Multiple eggs are laid singly on the bottom of leaves, hatching into lime-green caterpillars with a white or cream-yellow side stripe, and covered in branching, green spines which are mildly poison to the touch.  The only caterpillars seen were on Mexican Buckeye.

Io Moth caterpillar; note the lime-green stinging hairs growing from the top and sides of the caterpillar

Note: Caterpillars over two inches long, with white to yellow side-stripes and stinging hairs.

 

Vetch, Purple Vetch

Purple Vetch Vicia benghalensis.  This early blooming legume forms dense masses of slightly flattened, smooth stems with alternating, compound leaves comprised of pointed leaflets in opposite pairs.  Each leaf ends in a climbing tendril which coils around vegetation, helping keep the vine like plant from collapsing.  spikes of dark purple tube flowers, with a protruding light blue to lavender lip which is split into two lobes.  spikes are usually less than3″ long, the flowers hanging in dense clusters from the last third of the spike.  Unlike Common or Spring Vetch (V satvia), Purple Vetch sports up to 20 flowers packed closely together.  all the flowers hang off one side of the spike.  Seedpods are flattened bean like capsules, unlike the round, full pods of common vetch.  Most common on roadsides, this vetch has not been spotted in any natural habitat on the ILC, so it is likely an introduced plant that has extended its range. 5/14/15-6/10/15; 16 no obs; 17 no observation; 18 no obs; 3/25/19; 20 no obs;

Purple Vetch habit; clumps of loose, vine like masses with flattened, smooth stems with composite leaves, each ending in climbing tendrils, sporting spikes of purple and lavender flowers.

Note; upturned spikes branching alternately along the flattened stems bear dense strings of tube like flowers, all of which are arranged along one side of the spike.

Note; purple, tube flowers with a protruding, lighter lavender, two lobed lip.

Bermuda Grass

Bermuda Grass; Cynodon dactylon; going by any number of names, some of them repeatable, Bermuda Grass is an invasive that is as difficult to grow as it is to eradicate.  It is marked by a sprawling, low growing mass of tough rhizomes with densely spaced thin, short leaves, and short flower spikes with a single joint, that divides into 4 sprigs of tiny flowers.  Originally from somewhere in Africa, it is drought resistant, has a deep, dense root system, and wears well, taking over many places, such as Bermuda, from whence it was brought to the USA.  Favored for ball fields, it provides a dense sod if watered consistently, but goes dormant in the winter, turning brown and quickly wearing down to the rhizomes.  It transplants as easily from rhizomes, so must be disposed of properly if it is unwanted.  It does not tolerate shade, so is not a good choice for lawns with trees.

Bermuda Grass habit; a low growing grass marked by spreading rhizomes lined with thin, short, pointed leaves, nodes that take root where they touch the ground, and short flower spikes that branch into four flower bearing sprigs.

Note; the four identical sprigs on each flower spike, lined with tiny flowers

Note; the creeping radial pattern, rhizomes taking root wherever they touch soil, quickly growing over exposed soil

Texas Blue Grass

Texas Blue Grass; Poa arachnifera.; comprising the largest family of grasses, the Bluegrasses are characterized by slender stems, thick mats of rhizomes, and narrow, slightly folded leaves.  Kentucky Blue Grass is actually a European introduction brought over to feed horses, but over 50 species of Poa are indigenous to the USA.  As the name arachnifera (spider like) implies, Texas Blue Grass grows outward from a dense center of roots, rhizomes reaching out in every direction.  But when crowded, the stems and leaves grow upright, forming dense stands of soft green leaves and thin, jointed flower stalks.  Tiny white flowers are widely spaced along thin spikes, the miniscule seeds hidden deep within tough bracts.  Native to prairies, Blue Grass occurs mingled in with other vegetation, as long as taller plants are kept mowed back.  Buffalo, then cattle, originally kept prairies mowed down, but where there are no large grazers, or periodic fires, shorter grasses like Blue Grass get shaded out.

Blue Grass habit; a relatively low growing grass that radiates out from a dense, central root clump, sending up flower stems ending in a loose spike of tiny, white flowers.

Note; medium height, jointed stalks amidst slightly folded, blunt tipped grass blades interspersed with other prairie vegetation.

Buffalo Grass

Buffalo Grass; Buchloe dactyloides; growing by tough stolons which take root at every node, and by seeds that are born at ground level, Buffalo Grass can form thick, dense mats of smooth grass where the surrounding vegetation is kept cut down.  Locally it only grows 4-6″ tall, the short, narrow blades curling under when the weather is dry, it is able to withstand prolonged drought, even though it only has fine, fibrous, wiry roots.  Root mats of Buffalo Grass were so dense sod houses were once made from prairie turf.  It endures fire, intense grazing, and drought, but cannot stay inundated for long.  It turns a dun or tan color with the first killing frost, so some do not find it appealing for lawns, but it is hardy, rarely needs mowed, and forms a smooth, even mat if given full sun and watered occasionally.  Male flowers are born on short, filamentous shafts, all the tiny white flowers pointing the same direction, making the dense spikes look feathered, or lopsided.  Female flowers are carried at nearly ground level in sparse, but dense clusters, protecting the burr like seeds from being burnt or eaten by grazers like cattle or Buffalo.  Buffalo Grass is common on mowed surfaces that are not watered heavily, and abundant on the paths across open land, where the taller vegetation is mowed down, but it does not spread quickly, making propagation slow if mowed land is not seeded.

Buffalo Grass habit; a low growing, spreading grass of open areas that forms dense mats of closely spaced clumps sprouting from tough rhizomes or stolons, and bears short spikes of tiny white flowers

Note; all the male flowers, carried above the leaf blades point the same direction, the seed forming female flowers budding at ground level

Note; Buffalo Grass can form wide, dense mats of short, hardy turf where taller vegetation is kept cut back

Bunch Grass

Bunch Grass; thick clumps of jointed stems and long, narrow blades form compact lumps on the prairie, making the surface uneven.  Bunch Grass does not spread by rhizomes, but stays in a tight clump, forming a solid, deep root mass.

 

Nutsedge

Nutsedge; Cyperus sp (Nut Grass); a pithy, thick stemmed grass like sedge with knot like seed heads that look like burrs, but which are mildly soft and not prickly.  This grass like plant, which grows from a small bulb like tuber, elsewhere called “grass-nuts”, prefers well watered, partially shaded areas, is probably an ornamental that escaped cultivation, as it does not occur in native prairies.  The thick, somewhat triangular stems are light and pithy, dividing into sets of three at prominent nodes, but otherwise there are no joints in the stems.  The long, narrow leaves are thickened and arch away from the plant center.

Burr Grass habit; clumps of thick, smooth, unjointed stems that are nearly triangular in cross-section, which rise from dense clumps of fibrous roots, which produces dense clumps of soft, burr like seed heads

Note; dense clumps of burr like heads