Monthly Archives: November 2024

Golden Scalycap

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01 Golden Scalycap_2463

While hiking along the edge of a swamp in southern Illinois last month, these very colorful mushrooms with their golden yellow hues caught my eye.

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This species is perhaps the most noticeable member of its genus. It grows in large clusters on live trees, snags, and logs of conifers and hardwoods – most commonly Beeches.

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The cap is sticky when young, and bears dark brown or reddish-brown scales that contrast with the yellow cap color.

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Having the scientific name Pholiota adiposa, Pholiota means “scaly” and adiposa comes from the Latin word “adeps” which means lard or grease in reference to the texture of the caps.

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Like other mushrooms, Golden Scalycap serve as decomposers in ecosystems, breaking down organic matter from dead plants and animals and recycling nutrients back into the soil. They play a crucial role in the carbon cycle.

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With its striking golden-brown caps and intricate scales, the Golden Scalycap presents a visual spectacle in an otherwise dark swamp and made for a neat encounter on my trip.

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Southern Painted Turtle

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1 Southern Painted Turtle_1576

While visiting Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Missouri last month, I observed several of these fine reptiles basking. This species was officially recognized as a separate species from other Painted Turtles in 2014.

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The Southern Painted Turtle is a small, colorful aquatic turtle with an olive brown to almost black shell, featuring a prominent yellow, orange, or red lengthwise stripe down its center. The adult upper shell length is 4–5 inches, occasionally reaching 6 inches.

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This reptile is often found in the quiet water of shallow swamps, slow-moving streams, sloughs, oxbow lakes, and occasionally drainage ditches with aquatic vegetation and soft bottoms. Its preferred habitat is wetlands embedded within bottomland forest dominated by Water Tupelo, Bald Cypress, and Oak.

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The Southern Painted Turtle’s diet consists mainly of aquatic insects, snails, crayfish, and plant material, with duckweed and algae also readily consumed. Younger individuals consume more animal matter in their compared to adults.

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Their range is the midwestern and southeastern parts of the United States, stretching from Texas to Florida and up to southern Illinois. Finding these completed my quest to find all four types of Painted Turtles (Eastern, Midland, Western and Southern) in the wild.

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Overcup Oak

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01 Cache River_2493

This tree is native to lowland wetlands in the eastern and south-central United States and in all the coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, inland as far as Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois.

02 Overcup Oak _2245

Its common name refers to its acorns that are mostly enclosed within the acorn cup. This is a medium to large-sized deciduous tree, growing as tall as 150 feet, with typical height of 80 feet. The trunk averages 30 inches in diameter. It is slow-growing and often takes 25 to 30 years to mature.

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Overcup Oak occurs in wet bottomland forests bordering swamps and in valleys with floodplain forests bordering rivers. This tree is adapted to use seasonal floodwaters as a way to float its acorns to new sites for dispersal. The cap that covers each seed is very corky, which causes the acorns to float.

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This species is unique among the White Oaks in that their acorns exhibit a prolonged dormancy. Normally, acorns of the various White Oaks germinate in the Fall, not long after they are shed from their parent trees. However, living in areas prone to flooding would make germinating at that time of year a risky endeavor. As such, Overcup Oak acorns lay dormant for months until environmental cues signal that enough time has passed.

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The species is known to provide both food and habitat for a range of wildlife. Its acorns can be eaten by small mammals and birds such as squirrels and Wild Turkey. Trees in general create their own small habitats upon their surfaces and with their shade. Countless insects creep around on the bark. Many plants, including wildflowers, can only survive among the leaf litter on a shaded forest floor.

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Overcup Oak’s Latin Name Quercus lyrata, and the species name lyrata, means “lyre-shaped” referring to the shape of this tree’s leaves.

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Murky Ground Beetle

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01 Murky Ground Beetle_7034

Flipping rocks in southern Illinois revealed this cool creature. Adults are about one inch long, oblong, flattened, and dark in color with deeply grooved wing covers. There are a dozen or more common species of beetles in the genus, but all others are considerably smaller than this one.

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Murky Ground Beetles are active insects, with long legs, large eyes, and strong sickle-like mandibles. They run rapidly and are active mostly at night.

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These are regarded as very beneficial to agriculture. Adults feed on the larvae of Colorado Potato Beetle and other harmful larvae, ragweed seeds, and occasionally fruit (probably in search of needed water). They are often attracted to electric lights. Their larvae are wormlike in appearance with powerful prominent jaws.

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The Murky Ground Beetle is distributed across North America and found in a wide range of habitats including grasslands, open meadows, forests, agricultural fields, and even in urban areas. Like many Ground Beetles, it can release pungent odor when threatened.

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Rough Earth Snake

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01 Rough Earth Snake_4561

While visiting a glade in Missouri, I found my first-ever specimen of this small reptile. This uniformly brown creature has a somewhat cone-shaped head and is usually less than ten inches long.

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Rough Earth Snakes are entirely terrestrial and are most commonly found under objects on the ground surface. This is primarily a species of open hardwoods, pine woods, grassy areas, and suburban woodlots – it prefers areas with sunlit openings.

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This reptile eats invertebrates. It feeds almost exclusively on earthworms, although slugs, snails, sow bugs, insect eggs and larvae have also been found in their stomachs. It is seldom found above ground. During warm, damp weather, individuals may become active at night.

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Rough Earth Snakes typically mate in spring or early summer and give live birth to 3-11 babies in July or August. The babies are usually darker than the adults and often have a distinct neckband.

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To verify its identification, and to distinguish it from the very similar Smooth Earth Snake, one must look closely: the Rough Earth Snake has strongly keeled scales along the back (which makes it feel rough).

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It was neat to encounter this snake in the field, especially after having found several example of its smooth-scaled relative.

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