The fruit bodies of Mycena haematopus are the reproductive structures produced by cellular threads or hyphae which grow in rotting wood. The shape of the cap of the fruit body will vary depending on its maturity. Young caps, or "buttons", are ovoid (egg-shaped) to conical; later they are campanulate (bell-shaped), and as the fruit body matures, the margins (cap edge) lift upward so that the cap becomes somewhat flat with an umbo (a central nipple-shaped bump). The fully grown cap can reach up to 4 cm (1+5⁄8 in) in diameter. The surface of the cap initially appears dry and covered with what appears to be a very fine whitish powder, but it soon becomes polished and moist. Mature caps appear somewhat translucent, and develop radial grooves mirroring the position of the gills underneath. The color of the cap is reddish- or pinkish-brown, often tinged with violet, and paler towards the edge. The margin is wavy like the edge of a scallop, and may appear ragged because of lingering remnants of the partial veil.
The mushroom flesh can range from pale to the color of red wine (vinaceous), and has no distinctive odor. It oozes a red latex when cut. The gills have an adnate attachment to the stem, meaning they are more or less directly attached to it. They are initially whitish or "grayish vinaceous" in color, and can develop reddish-brown stains. Between 20 and 30 gills reach from the cap edge to the stem, resulting in a gill spacing that is described as "close to subdistant"—gaps are visible between adjacent gills. There are additional gills, called lamellulae, that do not extend directly from the margin to the stem; these are arranged in two or three series (tiers) of equal length. The stem is up to 9 cm (3+1⁄2 in) tall and 0.1 to 0.2 cm (1⁄32 to 3⁄32 in) thick, hollow and brittle, and a dark reddish-brown color. In young fruit bodies, the upper part of the stem is densely covered with a pale cinnamon-colored powder which wears off with age. The stem has a mass of coarse hairs at the base. Like the cap, the stem also bleeds a red latex when it is cut or broken.
Mycena haematopus can be parasitized by Spinellus fusiger, another fungal species which gives the mushroom a strikingly hairy appearance.


The Atlantic ghost crab, Ocypode quadrata, is a species of ghost crab. It is a common species along the Atlantic coast of the United States, where it is the only species of ghost crab; its range of distribution extends from its northernmost reach on beaches in Westport, Massachusetts, south along the coasts of the tropical Western Atlantic Ocean to the beach of Barra do Chui, in Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil.


Adults are greyish or the color of straw, and around 5 cm (2.0 in) wide at maturity. They must return to water periodically to moisten their gills, and when larvae must be released into the sea, but are otherwise terrestrial. Their stalked compound eyes can swivel to give them 360° vision. Young crabs are cryptically colored to blend in with their sandy habitats.


In the United States, smallmouth bass were first introduced outside of their native range with the construction of the Erie Canal in 1825, extending the fish's range into central New York state.  During the mid-to-late 19th century, smallmouth were transplanted via the nation's rail system to lakes and rivers throughout the northern and western United States, as far as California.  Shippers found that smallmouth bass were a hardy species that could be transported in buckets or barrels by rail, sometimes using the spigots from the railroad water tanks to aerate the fingerlings.  They were introduced east of the Appalachians just before the Civil War, and afterwards transplanted to the states of New England.
With increased industrialization and land use changes, many of the nation's eastern trout rivers were polluted or experienced elevated water temperatures, reducing the range of native brook trout. Smallmouth bass were often introduced to northern rivers with increased water temperatures and slowly became a popular gamefish with many anglers.  Equally adaptable to large, cool-water impoundments and reservoirs, the smallmouth also spread far beyond its original native range. Later, smallmouth populations also began to decline after years of damage caused by overdevelopment and pollution, as well as a loss of river habitat caused by damming many formerly wild rivers to form lakes or reservoirs. In recent years, a renewed emphasis on preserving water quality and riparian habitat in the nation's rivers and lakes, together with stricter management practices, eventually benefited smallmouth populations and has caused a resurgence in their popularity with anglers.
Today, smallmouth bass are very popular game fish, frequently sought by anglers using conventional spinning and bait casting gear, as well as fly fishing tackle. The smallmouth bass is potentially the toughest fighting freshwater fish in North America, and is commonly the targeted species in many fresh water fishing tournaments. In addition to wild populations, the smallmouth bass is stocked in cool rivers and lakes throughout Canada and the United States.  In shallow streams, it is a wary fish, though usually not to the extent of most trout.  The smallmouth is highly regarded for its topwater fighting ability when hooked – old fishing journals referred to the smallmouth bass as "ounce for ounce and pound for pound the gamest fish that swims".  Smallmouth bass are not usually taken for the table, but rather are caught and released by most anglers. However, smaller specimens in cooler water often have higher quality filets of white, firm flesh when cooked.
The current all-tackle world record for a smallmouth bass is 11 lb 15 oz, caught by David Hayes in the Dale Hollow Reservoir, on the Kentucky/Tennessee border, in 1955.


The smallmouth bass is found in clearer water than the largemouth, especially streams, rivers, and the rocky areas and stumps and also sandy bottoms of lakes and reservoirs.  It can also survive in a stronger current than other black bass. The smallmouth prefers cooler water temperatures than its cousin the largemouth bass, and as a result will often seek out deeper, faster moving water during the hot summer months. Because it is intolerant of pollution, the smallmouth bass is a good natural indicator of a healthy environment, though they are still much more resilient than most trout species. Carnivorous, its diet comprises crayfish, amphibians, insects, and smaller fish, while the larvae feed on various zooplankton and insect larvae. Adults also cannibalize young of other parents.
The female can lay up to 21,100 eggs, which are guarded by the male in his nest.


Despite its name, the crab-eating macaque typically does not consume crabs; rather, it is an opportunistic omnivore, eating a variety of animals and plants. Although fruits and seeds make up 60 - 90% of its diet, it also eat leaves, flowers, roots, and bark. It sometimes preys on vertebrates including bird chicks, nesting female birds, lizards, frogs, and fish, invertebrates, and bird eggs. In Indonesia, it has become a proficient swimmer and diver for crabs and other crustaceans in mangrove swamps.  In Bukit Timah, Singapore its diet consists of 44% fruit, 27% animal matter, 15% flowers and other plant matter, and 14% food provided by humans.
The crab-eating macaque exhibits particularly low tolerance for swallowing seeds. Despite its inability to digest seeds, many primates of similar size swallow large seeds, up to 25 mm (0.98 in), and simply defecate them whole. The crab-eating macaque, though, spits seeds out if they are larger than 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in). This decision to spit seeds is thought to be adaptive; it avoids filling the monkey's stomach with wasteful bulky seeds that cannot be used for energy.  It also can help the plants by distributing seeds to new areas:  Crab-eating macaques eat durians such as Durio graveolens and D. zibethinus, and are a major seed disperser for the latter species.
Although the crab-eating macaque is ecologically well-adapted and poses no threat to population stability of prey species in its native range, in areas where it is not native, it can pose a substantial threat to biodiversity. Some believe the crab-eating macaque is responsible for the extinction of forest birds by threatening critical breeding areas  as well as eating the eggs and chicks of endangered forest birds.
The crab-eating macaque can become a synanthrope, living off human resources. It feeds in cultivated fields on young dry rice, cassava leaves, rubber fruit, taro plants, coconuts, mangos, and other crops, often causing significant losses to local farmers. In villages, towns, and cities, it frequently takes food from garbage cans and refuse piles. It can become unafraid of humans in these conditions, which can lead to macaques directly taking food from people, both passively and aggressively.


The crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis), also known as the long-tailed macaque and referred to as the cynomolgus monkey in laboratories, is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. A species of macaque, the crab-eating macaque has a long history alongside humans. The species has been alternately seen as an agricultural pest, a sacred animal, and, more recently, the subject of medical experiments.
The crab-eating macaque lives in matrilineal social groups of up to eight individuals dominated by females. Male members leave the group when they reach puberty. It is an opportunistic omnivore and has been documented using tools to obtain food in Thailand and Myanmar. The crab-eating macaque is a known invasive species and a threat to biodiversity in several locations, including Hong Kong and western New Guinea. The significant overlap in macaque and human living space has resulted in greater habitat loss, synanthropic living, and inter- and intraspecies conflicts over resources.


After a gestation period of 162–193 days, the female gives birth to one infant. The infant's weight at birth is about 320 g (11 oz). Infants are born with black fur which will begin to turn to a grey or reddish-brown shade (depending on the subspecies) after about three months of age. This natal coat may indicate to others the status of the infant, and other group members treat infants with care and rush to their defense when distressed. Immigrant males sometimes kill infants not their own in order to shorten interbirth intervals. High-ranking females will sometimes kidnap the infants of lower-ranking females. These kidnappings can result in the death of the infants, as the other female is usually not lactating. A young juvenile stays mainly with its mother and relatives. As male juveniles get older, they become more peripheral to the group. Here they play together, forming crucial bonds that may help them when they leave their natal group. Males that emigrate with a partner are more successful than those that leave alone. Young females, though, stay with the group and become incorporated into the matriline into which they were born.
Male crab-eating macaques groom females to increase the chance of mating. A female is more likely to engage in sexual activity with a male that has recently groomed her than with one that has not.


Previously, it was referred to as the black salamander, and was thought to have a fragmented range across most of California and southern Oregon. However, a 2019 taxonomic study found it to represent a species complex of multiple species: the speckled black salamander (A. flavipunctatus sensu stricto), the Shasta black salamander (A. iecanus), the Santa Cruz black salamander (A. niger), and the Klamath black salamander (A. klamathensis). These were thus split off as distinct species.


The speckled black salamander (Aneides flavipunctatus), previously known as just the black salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the U.S. state of California. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and temperate grassland. It is threatened by habitat loss.


The speckled black salamander can grow to 60 to 75 millimeters (2.4 to 3.0 in) long. The color varies, black with coarse can be the color or fine white spots, black with yellow spots, or black with a greyish or greenish sheen. The underside is paler. Juveniles are greenish-grey or bronze and have yellow at the base of their legs.


The speckled black salamander is mostly terrestrial but has a prehensile tail so may sometimes climb as does the related arboreal salamander Aneides lugubris. It feeds on small invertebrates such as millipedes, beetles, ants and termites. Juveniles have a similar diet but include flies and springtails. Like other plethodont salamanders, it is mainly nocturnal and hides during the day.
The breeding habits of the speckled black salamander have been little studied. The eggs are laid in July or August in underground chambers, where they are attached by short stalks to the moist soil. The female seems to guard the eggs until they hatch. In captivity, the black salamander is aggressive towards its own species and adults in the wild are often scarred, so the species is probably territorial. In the laboratory it has been known to bite the western garter snake when attacked.


The domestic cat is a cosmopolitan species and occurs across much of the world. It is adaptable and now present on all continents except Antarctica, and on 118 of the 131 main groups of islands, even on the isolated Kerguelen Islands. Due to its ability to thrive in almost any terrestrial habitat, it is among the world's most invasive species. It lives on small islands with no human inhabitants. Feral cats can live in forests, grasslands, tundra, coastal areas, agricultural land, scrublands, urban areas, and wetlands.
The unwantedness that leads to the domestic cat being treated as an invasive species is twofold. On one hand, as it is little altered from the wildcat, it can readily interbreed with the wildcat. This hybridization poses a danger to the genetic distinctiveness of some wildcat populations, particularly in Scotland and Hungary,  possibly also the Iberian Peninsula, and where protected natural areas are in close proximity to human-dominated landscapes, such as Kruger National Park in South Africa. On the other hand, and perhaps more obviously, its introduction to places where no native felines are present contributes to the decline of native species.


The shape and structure of cats' cheeks is insufficient to allow them to take in liquids using suction. Therefore, when drinking they lap with the tongue to draw liquid upward into their mouths. Lapping at a rate of four times a second, the cat touches the smooth tip of its tongue to the surface of the water, and quickly retracts it like a corkscrew, drawing water upward.
Feral cats and free-fed house cats consume several small meals in a day. The frequency and size of meals varies between individuals. They select food based on its temperature, smell and texture; they dislike chilled foods and respond most strongly to moist foods rich in amino acids, which are similar to meat. Cats reject novel flavors (a response termed neophobia) and learn quickly to avoid foods that have tasted unpleasant in the past. It is also a common misconception that cats like milk/cream, as they tend to avoid sweet food and milk. Most adult cats are lactose intolerant; the sugar in milk is not easily digested and may cause soft stools or diarrhea. Some also develop odd eating habits and like to eat or chew on things like wool, plastic, cables, paper, string, aluminum foil, or even coal. This condition, pica, can threaten their health, depending on the amount and toxicity of the items eaten.
Cats hunt small prey, primarily birds and rodents, and are often used as a form of pest control. Cats use two hunting strategies, either stalking prey actively, or waiting in ambush until an animal comes close enough to be captured. The strategy used depends on the prey species in the area, with cats waiting in ambush outside burrows, but tending to actively stalk birds. Domestic cats are a major predator of wildlife in the United States, killing an estimated 1.3 to 4.0 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals annually.
Certain species appear more susceptible than others; in one English village, for example, 30% of house sparrow mortality was linked to the domestic cat. In the recovery of ringed robins (Erithacus rubecula) and dunnocks (Prunella modularis) in Britain, 31% of deaths were a result of cat predation. In parts of North America, the presence of larger carnivores such as coyotes which prey on cats and other small predators reduces the effect of predation by cats and other small predators such as opossums and raccoons on bird numbers and variety.
Perhaps the best-known element of cats' hunting behavior, which is commonly misunderstood and often appalls cat owners because it looks like torture, is that cats often appear to "play" with prey by releasing it after capture. This cat and mouse behavior is due to an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat.
Another poorly understood element of cat hunting behavior is the presentation of prey to human guardians. One explanation is that cats adopt humans into their social group and share excess kill with others in the group according to the dominance hierarchy, in which humans are reacted to as if they are at, or near, the top. Another explanation is that they attempt to teach their guardians to hunt or to help their human as if feeding "an elderly cat, or an inept kitten". This hypothesis is inconsistent with the fact that male cats also bring home prey, despite males having negligible involvement in raising kittens.


Female cats, called queens, are polyestrous with several estrus cycles during a year, lasting usually 21 days. They are usually ready to mate between early February and August.
Several males, called tomcats, are attracted to a female in heat. They fight over her, and the victor wins the right to mate. At first, the female rejects the male, but eventually, the female allows the male to mate. The female utters a loud yowl as the male pulls out of her because a male cat's penis has a band of about 120–150 backward-pointing penile spines, which are about 1 mm (1⁄32 in) long; upon withdrawal of the penis, the spines may provide the female with increased sexual stimulation, which acts to induce ovulation.
After mating, the female cleans her vulva thoroughly. If a male attempts to mate with her at this point, the female attacks him. After about 20 to 30 minutes, once the female is finished grooming, the cycle will repeat. Because ovulation is not always triggered by a single mating, females may not be impregnated by the first male with which they mate. Furthermore, cats are superfecund; that is, a female may mate with more than one male when she is in heat, with the result that different kittens in a litter may have different fathers.
The morula forms 124 hours after conception. At 148 hours, early blastocysts form. At 10–12 days, implantation occurs. The gestation of queens lasts between 64 and 67 days, with an average of 65 days.
Data on the reproductive capacity of more than 2,300 free-ranging queens were collected during a study between May 1998 and October 2000. They had one to six kittens per litter, with an average of three kittens. They produced a mean of 1.4 litters per year, but a maximum of three litters in a year. Of 169 kittens, 127 died before they were six months old due to a trauma caused in most cases by dog attacks and road accidents.
The first litter is usually smaller than subsequent litters. Kittens are weaned between six and seven weeks of age. Queens normally reach sexual maturity at 5–10 months, and males at 5–7 months. This varies depending on breed. Kittens reach puberty at the age of 9–10 months.
Cats are ready to go to new homes at about 12 weeks of age, when they are ready to leave their mother. They can be surgically sterilized (spayed or castrated) as early as seven weeks to limit unwanted reproduction. This surgery also prevents undesirable sex-related behavior, such as aggression, territory marking (spraying urine) in males and yowling (calling) in females. Traditionally, this surgery was performed at around six to nine months of age, but it is increasingly being performed before puberty, at about three to six months. In the United States, about 80% of household cats are neutered.


Calocera cornea is a jelly fungus that grows on decaying wood. It is a member of the Dacrymycetales, an order of fungi characterized by their unique "tuning fork" basidia.
Its yellow, finger-like, tapering basidiocarps are somewhat gelatinous in texture. In typical specimens the basidiocarps become up to 3 mm in diameter, and 2 cm in height. The hymenium covers the sides of the basidiocarps, each basidium producing and forcibly discharging only two basidiospores.
It is inedible. Calocera viscosa is related.


The bluegill occurs naturally in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains from coastal Virginia to Florida, west to Texas and northern Mexico, and north to western Minnesota and western New York. Today they have been introduced to almost everywhere else in North America, and have also been introduced into Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Asia, South America, and Oceania. Bluegills have also been found in the Chesapeake Bay, indicating they can tolerate up to 1.8% salinity.
In some locations where they have been transplanted, they are considered pests: trade in the species is prohibited in Germany and Japan. In the case of Japan, bluegills were presented to the then-crown prince, Akihito in 1960 as a gift by Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago. The prince, in turn, donated the fish to fishery research agencies in Japan, from which they escaped and became an invasive species that has wreaked havoc with native species, especially in Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. Akihito has since apologized.
Bluegill live in the shallow waters of many lakes and ponds, along with streams, creeks, and rivers. They prefer water with many aquatic plants, and seclude themselves within or near fallen logs, water weeds or any other structure (natural or manmade) that is under water.  They can often be found around weed beds, where they search for food or spawn.  In the summer, adults move to deep, open water where they suspend just below the surface and feed on plankton and other aquatic creatures.  Bluegill try to spend most of their time in water from 60 to 80 °F (16 to 27 °C), and tend to have a home range of about 320 square feet (30 m²) during nonreproductive months.  They enjoy heat, but do not like direct sunlight – they typically live in deeper water, but will linger near the water surface in the morning to stay warm.  Bluegill are usually found in schools of 10 to 20 fish, and these schools will often include other panfish, such as crappie, pumpkinseeds, and smallmouth bass.


Young bluegills' diet consists of rotifers, copepods, water fleas, and insects (mainly chironomids). The adult diet consists of aquatic insect larvae (mayflies, caddisflies, dragonflies), but can also include terrestrial insects, zooplankton, shrimp, crayfish, leeches, other worms, snails, and other small fish (such as minnows). If food is scarce, bluegill will also feed on aquatic vegetation and algae, and if scarce enough, will even feed on their own eggs or offspring. As bluegill spend a great deal of time near the surface of water, they can also feed on surface bugs.  Most bluegills feed during daylight hours, with a feeding peak being observed in the morning and evening (with the major peak occurring in the evening).  Feeding location tends to be a balance between food abundance and predator abundance.  Bluegill use gill rakers and bands of small teeth to ingest their food.  During summer months, bluegills generally consume 3.2 percent of their body weight each day.  To capture prey, bluegills use a suction system in which they accelerate water into their mouth.  Prey comes in with this water.  Only a limited amount of water is able to be suctioned, so the fish must get within 1.75 centimeters of the prey.
In turn, bluegill are prey to many larger species, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, striped bass, trout, muskellunge,  turtles, northern pike, yellow perch, walleye, catfish, and even larger bluegill.  Herons, kingfishers, and otters have also been witnessed catching bluegill in shallow water.  However, the shape of the fish makes them hard to swallow. Raccoons are also believed to be among their predators.


The bluegill is noted for the black spot (the "ear") that it has on each side of the posterior edge of the gills and base of the dorsal fin. The sides of its head and chin are commonly a dark shade of blue. The precise coloration will vary due to the presence of neurally controlled chromatophores under the skin. The fish usually displays 5–9 vertical bars on the sides of its body immediately after being caught as part of its threat display.  It typically has a yellowish breast and abdomen, with the breast of the breeding male being a bright orange.  The bluegill has three anal spines, ten to 12 anal fin rays, six to 13 dorsal fin spines, 11 to 12 dorsal rays, and 12 to 13 pectoral rays.  They are characterized by their deep, flattened bodies.  They have a terminal mouth, ctenoid scales, and a lateral line that is arched upward anteriorly. The bluegill typically ranges in size from about four to 12 inches, and reaches a maximum size just over 16 inches. The largest bluegill ever caught was 4 lbs. 12 oz. in 1950.
The bluegill is most closely related to the orangespotted sunfish and the redear sunfish, but different in a distinct spot at or near the base of the soft dorsal fin.


The marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) is a species of water frog native to Europe and parts of western Asia.


They occur in a large part of Europe starting from western France and spreading out into the Middle East and about a quarter into Russia. There are also isolated populations in Saudi Arabia and the Russian Far East, along with some introduced populations in the United Kingdom and other places.
These frogs are very lenient in their habitats, and are able to inhabit a majority of different types of water bodies. Marsh frogs hibernate during the winter either underwater or in burrows, and are able to use the magnetic field of the Earth to locate breeding ponds.


The marsh frog is the largest type of frog in most of its range, with males growing to a size around 100 mm (3.9 in) SVL and females slightly larger (4 in) SVL. There is a large variation in colour and pattern, ranging from dark green to brown or grey, sometimes with some lighter green lines; a lighter line on the back is generally present. The frog will usually be darker coloured in early spring to absorb heat more efficiently.
Tadpoles can reach up to 190 mm (7.3 in) in length, but this usually occurs in places with long winters where the tadpole has time to grow.


Armillaria mellea, commonly known as honey fungus, is a basidiomycete fungus in the genus Armillaria. It is a plant pathogen and part of a cryptic species complex of closely related and morphologically similar species. It causes Armillaria root rot in many plant species and produces mushrooms around the base of trees it has infected. The symptoms of infection appear in the crowns of infected trees as discoloured foliage, reduced growth, dieback of the branches and death. The mushrooms are edible but some people may be intolerant to them. This species is capable of producing light via bioluminescence in its mycelium.
Armillaria mellea is widely distributed in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The fruit body or mushroom, commonly known as stump mushroom, stumpie, honey mushroom, pipinky or pinky, grows typically on hardwoods but may be found around and on other living and dead wood or in open areas.


There are no known fungicides or management practices that will kill Armillaria mellea after infection without damaging the infected plant, but there are practices that can extend the life of the plant and prevent further spreading. The best way to extend the plant life is to improve the host condition through supplemental watering and fertilization. To prevent further spread, regulate irrigation to avoid water stress, keep the root collar dry, control defoliating pathogens, remove stumps, fertilize adequately, avoid physical root damage and soil compaction, and don't plant trees that are especially susceptible to the disease in places where Armillaria mellea has been recorded. There is also some evidence that biological control using the fungus genus Trichoderma may help. Trichoderma is a predator of Armillaria mellea and is often found in woodchips. Therefore, chipping or grinding dead and infected roots will give Trichoderma its preferred habitat and help it proliferate. Solarization will also create an ideal habitat as dry soil and higher soil temperatures are preferable for Trichoderma but poor conditions for Armillaria mellea.


The basidiocarp of each has a smooth cap 3 to 15 cm (1 to 6 in) in diameter, convex at first but becoming flattened with age often with a central raised umbo, later becoming somewhat dish-shaped. The margins of the cap are often arched at maturity and the surface is sticky when wet. Though typically honey-coloured, this fungus is rather variable in appearance and sometimes has a few dark, hairy scales near the centre somewhat radially arranged. The gills are white at first, sometimes becoming pinkish-yellow or discoloured with age, broad and fairly distant, attached to the stipe at right angles or are slightly decurrent. The stipe is of variable length, up to about 20 cm (8 in) long and 3.5 cm (1+1⁄2 in) in diameter. It is fibrillose and of a firm spongy consistency at first but later becomes hollow. It is cylindrical and tapers to a point at its base where it is fused to the stipes of other mushrooms in the clump. It is whitish at the upper end and brownish-yellow below, often with a very dark-coloured base. There is a broad persistent skin-like ring attached to the upper part of the stipe. This has a velvety margin and yellowish fluff underneath and extends outwards as a white partial veil protecting the gills when young. The flesh of the cap is whitish and has a sweetish odour and flavour with a tinge of bitterness. Under the microscope, the spores are approximately elliptical, 7–9 by 6–7 μm, inamyloid with prominent apiculi (short, pointed projections) at the base. The spore print is white. The basidia (spore-producing structures) lack basal clamps.
The main part of the fungus is underground where a mat of mycelial threads may extend for great distances. They are bundled together in rhizomorphs that are black in this species. The fungal body is not bioluminescent but its mycelia are luminous when in active growth.


Suillellus amygdalinus (formerly Boletus amygdalinus) is a fungus of the bolete family found in western North America.  The fruit bodies, or mushrooms, are characterized by their thick, red to brown caps, red pores, and the strong bluing reaction observed when the mushroom tissue is injured or cut. The cap can reach diameters of up to 12 cm (4.7 in) and the stipe 9 cm (3.5 in) long by 3 cm (1.2 in) thick at maturity. This mushroom has been found in manzanita and madrone woodlands of central California north to southern Oregon. Although the edibility of the mushroom is not known with certainty, it may be poisonous, and is not recommended for consumption. Other similar red-pored, bluing boletes from North America, including Rubroboletus eastwoodiae, Boletus luridiformis, and B. subvelutipes, can be distinguished from S. amygdalinus either by the color of the cap, the degree of reticulation (a network of raised ridges) on the stipe, or by location.


Suillellus amygdalinus produces a dark olive-brown spore print. The spores are thick-walled, smooth, and ellipsoid to somewhat spindle-shaped, with dimensions of 11.2–16 by 5.2–8 µm. They become dark ochraceous when stained with Melzer's reagent, and, because of the occasional presence of two large vacuoles, may appear as if they are two-celled. The basidia (the spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, contain numerous vacuoles, and measure 30–35 by 9–11 µm. Cystidia are present on sides of the tubes, and they measure 45–54 by 10–12 µm. Clamp connections are not present in the hyphae of S. amygdalinus.
Various chemical color tests can be used to help identify fruit bodies suspected to be S. amygdalinus. A drop of dilute potassium hydroxide (KOH) will turn the cap flesh dingy orange, while it turns the cap cuticle red, or darker. Ammonia (as ammonium hydroxide, NH₄OH) produces a dingy yellow on the flesh, and brown on the cap. Iron sulphate (FeSO₄₎ produces either no change to a pale grey color with both the flesh and the cuticle. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) causes the flesh to turn orange or pink, but has no color reaction with the cuticle.


Suillellus amygdalinus mushrooms grow on the ground in groups, or scattered about. The fungus has been reported from low-elevation hardwood forests composed of live oak, manzanita and madrone in California, and Oregon. Fruiting occurs after the onset of autumn rains, usually between the October and January.  The mushroom can be difficult to spot, as its cap is similar in coloring to the leaves of the madrone tree with which it is associated, and because the mushroom is frequently buried under leaves.


Suillellus amygdalinus is a large solid mushroom with a convex to somewhat flattened, irregular cap that can reach diameters of 6 to 12 cm (2.4 to 4.7 in) at maturity. The surface of the cap is dry, and matted with fibers; the cap color of young specimens is red, but the mushrooms typically change to more brownish tones as they mature. The margin of the cap starts out curved inwards (incurved) and gradually becomes curved downwards (decurved) with age. The pores on the underside of the cap are 0.5 to 1 mm (0.02 to 0.04 in) wide, angular, and red or red-orange, while the tubes are 1 to 1.5 cm (0.4 to 0.6 in) deep.
The stipe lacks a netted pattern (reticulation) and is yellow in color but is often covered by red hairs, especially near the base. The stipe is either equal in width throughout, or thicker in the middle; it reaches dimensions of 4–9 cm (1.6–3.5 in) long by 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) thick. The base of the stipe is typically bent.  The flesh is 1 to 2 cm (0.4 to 0.8 in) thick, and yellow in color, but like all parts of the mushroom, will stain blue immediately upon bruising or cutting. Both the odor and taste of the fruit bodies are mild.
Although the edibility of S. amygdalinus is not known with certainty, authorities often recommend to avoid consuming blue-staining, red-pored boletes, as several are poisonous. The species was implicated in one group of poisonings in California in 1996–97, but because of the nature of the symptoms experienced, there was probably more than one type of mushroom consumed.


There are several other red-pored, bluing boletes that could be confused with S. amygdalinus. The poisonous European species Rubroboletus satanas and its North American counterpart R. eastwoodiae have lighter colored caps and a reticulate pattern on the stipe. B. subvelutipes is a highly variable species from eastern North America that includes red in its range of cap colors, and has a fuzzy coating of hairs near the base of its stipe; it may represent a group of species. Another similar species is B. luridiformis, found in North America and Northern Europe under both broadleaf trees and conifers. Unlike S. amygdalinus, however, B. luridiformis has a dark brown to nearly blackish-brown cap, and a yellow stipe with a dense covering of red pruina (dots). B. frostii is also similar.


The natterjack toad (Epidalea calamita) is a toad native to sandy and heathland areas of Europe. Adults are 60–70 mm in length, and are distinguished from common toads by a yellow line down the middle of the back and parallel paratoid glands. They have relatively short legs, which gives them a distinctive gait, contrasting with the hopping movement of many other toad species.
Natterjacks have a very loud and distinctive mating call amplified by the single vocal sac found under the chin of the male.


Populations of the natterjack extend through 17 European countries. In the UK, the toad is now almost completely confined to coastal sites. The natterjack is the only species of toad native to Ireland. It is found in County Kerry (Dingle Peninsula and Derrynane) and also in County Wexford, where it was introduced to a dune site.
In mainland Europe, particularly in the southern part of its range, it lives inland in a variety of habitats.


The natterjack toad spawns between the end of April and July, laying strings of eggs in shallow, warm pools. Because the natterjack toad is often present in low numbers, its loud mating calls are important so that the sexes can find each other.
For natterjacks, pools need to have a very slight slope with sparse vegetation on the banks and in the water. As such pools are often temporary, sometimes the tadpoles die when the pools dry out. The natterjack compensates for that risk by mating over an extended period each summer. Thus, in September, the age of the juveniles can vary from one to three months.  Early breeders seldom breed again later in the season, though some females do spawn twice in a year.


Coprinellus micaceus is an edible species, and cooking inactivates the enzymes that cause autodigestion or deliquescence—a process that can begin as soon as one hour after collection. It is considered ideal for omelettes, and as a flavor for sauces, although it is "a very delicate species easily spoiled by overcooking". The flavour is so delicate that it is easy to overpower and hide with almost anything. The fungus also appeals to fruit flies of the genus Drosophila, who frequently use the fruit bodies as hosts for larvae production.
A study of the mineral contents of various edible mushrooms found that C. micaceus contained the highest concentration of potassium in the 34 species tested, close to half a gramme of potassium per kilogram of mushroom. Because the species can bioaccumulate detrimental heavy metals like lead and cadmium, it has been advised to restrict consumption of specimens collected from roadsides or other collection sites that may be exposed to or contain pollutants.


Coprinellus micaceus is a common species of mushroom-forming fungus in the family Psathyrellaceae with a cosmopolitan distribution. The fruit bodies of the saprobe typically grow in clusters on or near rotting hardwood tree stumps or underground tree roots. Depending on their stage of development, the tawny-brown mushroom caps may range in shape from oval to bell-shaped to convex, and reach diameters up to 3 cm (1+1⁄4 in). The caps, marked with fine radial or linear grooves that extend nearly to the center, rest atop whitish stipes up to 10 cm (4 in) long. In young specimens, the entire cap surface is coated with a fine layer of reflective mica-like cells that provide the inspiration for both the mushroom's species name and the common names mica cap, shiny cap, and glistening inky cap. Although small and with thin flesh, the mushrooms are usually bountiful, as they typically grow in dense clusters. A few hours after collection, the gills will begin to slowly dissolve into a black, inky, spore-laden liquid—an enzymatic process called autodigestion or deliquescence. The fruit bodies are edible before the gills blacken and dissolve, and cooking will stop the autodigestion process.
The microscopic characteristics and cytogenetics of C. micaceus are well known, and it has been used frequently as a model organism to study cell division and meiosis in Basidiomycetes. Chemical analysis of the fruit bodies has revealed the presence of antibacterial and enzyme-inhibiting compounds. Formerly known as Coprinus micaceus, the species was transferred to Coprinellus in 2001 as phylogenetic analyses provided the impetus for a reorganization of the many species formerly grouped together in the genus Coprinus. Based on external appearance, C. micaceus is virtually indistinguishable from C. truncorum, and it has been suggested that many reported collections of the former may be of the latter.


The spores of C. micaceus are reddish-brown or black, with dimensions of 7–10 by 4.5–6 µm. Generally, they are lentiform (shaped like a biconvex lens), but viewed from the side they appear more almond-shaped or spindle-shaped, while in front view they appear oval or mitriform (roughly the shape of a miter—a peaked cap). Spores have a germ pore, a flattened area in the center of the spore surface through which a germ tube may emerge. The spore-bearing cells (the basidia) are four-spored, club-shaped, and measure 10–15 by 4–7 µm. Studies have shown that the basidia develop in four discrete generations. The first generation basidia are the most protuberant and extend out the greatest distance from the surface of the hymenium. Subsequent generations of basidia have shorter and less protuberant bodies. When a living gill is viewed with a microscope, the four sets of basidia can be seen distinctly. Arthur Buller coined the term inaequihymeniiferous to describe this mode of hymenial development. The purpose of the staggered basidia sizes is to facilitate the release of spores from the hymenium. There are four zones of spore discharge that correspond to the four sets of basidia, and basidia that have released all of their spores quickly begin to autodigest. The staggered setup minimizes the chance of spores colliding with neighboring basidia during release.
Cystidia that are located along the edge of the cap (called cheilocystidia) are spherical, and 30–120 by 20–74 µm. The facial cystidia (called pleurocystidia) are club-shaped or elongated ellipses, up to 130–155 µm in length. The pleurocystidia protrude from the face of the gill and act as guards, preventing adjacent gills from touching each other, and also ensuring that the basidia and spores have sufficient room for development. C. micaceus may also have scattered caulocystidia (cystidia on the stipe) that are 60–100 by 5–10 µm, but their presence is variable and cannot reliably be used for identification. Both De Bary and Buller, in their investigations into the structure of the cystidia, concluded that there is a central mass of cytoplasm formed where numerous thin plates of cytoplasm meet at the center of the cell. De Bary believed that the plates were filamentous branching processes, but Buller thought that they were formed in a process similar to the walls of foam bubbles and that the central mass was able to slowly change form and position by altering the relative volumes of the vacuoles enclosed by the numerous thin cytoplasmic walls. In older cells, the cytoplasm may be limited to the periphery of the cell, with one huge vacuole occupying the cell center.
The globular cells that make up the mica-resembling scales on the cap are colorless, smooth-walled, and range in size from about 25–65 µm, although most are between 40 and 50 µm. Buller explained the "glitter" of these cells as follows: "The sparkling of the meal-cells, as well as of the cystidia on the edges and faces of the gills, is simply due to light which strikes them from without and is refracted and reflected to the eye in the same manner as from the minute drops of water one so often sees at the tips of grass leaves on English lawns early in the morning after a dewy night."
In 1914, Michael Levine was the first to report successfully cultivating C. micaceus from spores in the laboratory. In his experiments, fruit bodies appeared roughly 40 to 60 days after initially inoculating the growth media (agar supplemented with soil, horse dung, or cornmeal) with spores. Like other coprinoid species, C. micaceus undergoes synchronous meiosis. The chromosomes are readily discernible with light microscopy, and all of the meiotic stages are well-defined. These features have made the species a useful tool in laboratory investigations of Basidiomycete cytogenetics.  The chromosome number of C. micaceus is n=12.


The checkered whiptail (Aspidoscelis tesselata) is a species of lizard found in the southwestern United States in Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, and in northern Mexico in Chihuahua and Coahuila. Many sources believe that the species originated from the hybridization of the marbled whiptail, Aspidoscelis marmorata, the plateau spotted whiptail, Aspidoscelis septemvittata, and possibly the six-lined racerunner, Aspidoscelis sexlineata. It is one of many lizard species known to be parthenogenic. It is sometimes referred to as the common checkered whiptail to differentiate it from several other species known as checkered whiptails.


The checkered whiptail grows to about 4 inches in length. Their pattern and base coloration varies widely, with brown or black blotching, checkering or striping on a pale yellow or white base color. Their rear legs often have dark spotting, and their underside is usually white with dark flecking on the throat area. They are slender bodied, with a long tail.


Like other species of whiptail lizard, the checkered whiptail is diurnal and insectivorous. They are wary, energetic, and fast moving, darting for cover if approached. They are found in semi-arid, rocky habitats, normally in canyon lands or hilled regions. They are parthenogenic, laying up to eight unfertilized eggs in mid summer, which hatch in six to eight weeks.


Bontebok live in the Highveld, where they eat short grasses, while bontebok are restricted to the coastal Fynbos and the Renosterveld. They are diurnal, though they rest during the heat of the day. Herds contain only males, only females, or are mixed, and do not exceed 40 animals for bonteboks or 70 for blesboks.


The bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus) is an antelope found in South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia. D. pygargus has two subspecies; the nominate subspecies (D. p. pygargus), occurring naturally in the Fynbos and Renosterveld areas of the Western Cape, and the blesbok (D. p. phillipsi) occurring in the Highveld.
The bontebok is related to the common tsessebe.


Trichonephila edulis is a species of large spider of the family Araneidae, formerly placed in the genus Nephila. It is referred to the common name Australian golden orb weaver. It is found in Indonesia from Java eastwards, Papua New Guinea, Australia, northern New Zealand, and New Caledonia.
It has a large body size variability, females can reach a body length of up to 40 millimetres, males about 7 mm. The cephalothorax is black with a white pattern on the back, and a yellow underside; the abdomen is grey to brown.
The web is about 1 metre in diameter and protected on one or both sides by a strong "barrier" web. T. edulis breeds from February to May, and produces an average of 380 eggs.
According to the phylogeny tree of Nephilidae, T. edulis is closely related to its congener Trichonephila plumipes (tiger spider) which is also commonly found in Australia.


The flathead mullet is cosmopolitan in coastal waters of the tropical, subtropical and temperate zones of all seas, as far north as the Bay of Biscay and Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean.
It occupies fresh, brackish and marine habitats in depths ranging between 0–120 metres (0–394 ft) and with temperatures between 8–24 °C (46–75 °F).


The flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) is an important food fish species in the mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in coastal tropical and subtropical waters worldwide.  Its length is typically 30 to 75 centimetres (12 to 30 in). It is known with numerous English names, including the flathead mullet, striped mullet (US, American Fisheries Society name), black mullet, bully mullet, common mullet, grey mullet, sea mullet and mullet, among others.
The flathead grey mullet is a mainly diurnal coastal species that often enters estuaries and rivers. It usually schools over sand or mud bottoms, feeding on zooplankton. The adult fish normally feed on algae in fresh water. The species is euryhaline, meaning that the fish can acclimate to different levels of salinity.


The white-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii), also known as the prairie hare and the white jack, is a species of hare found in western North America. Like all hares and rabbits, it is a member of the family Leporidae of order Lagomorpha. It is a solitary individual except where several males court a female in the breeding season. Litters of four to five young are born in a form, a shallow depression in the ground, hidden among vegetation. This jackrabbit has two described subspecies: L. townsendii townsendii occurring west of the Rocky Mountains and L. townsendii campanius occurring east of the Rocky Mountains.


The white-tailed jackrabbit is nocturnal and lies up during the day in a form, a shallow depression in the ground hidden under vegetation, emerging at dusk to feed. The forms of this species range from 46 to 61 cm (18 to 24 in) long, 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 11.8 in) wide, and up to 20 cm (7.9 in) deep. Often, discernible paths lead away from the form and others among the plants at often-visited feeding sites. In winter snow, the forms are interconnecting, cave-like structures. This jackrabbit is a solitary species and feeds on grasses and other green plants, including cultivated crops. In southern Colorado, from summer through fall into winter, the diet varied from 70% (summer) to 4% (winter) forbs, 43% (fall) to 4% (winter) grasses and 76% (winter) to 7% (summer) scrubs. During the winter its diet includes buds, twigs and bark feed on off of low shrubs. It tends to be more selective in its feeding habits than the black-tailed jackrabbit which disadvantages it where their ranges overlap. It has good eyesight, excellent hearing, and sensitive whiskers and is probably able to detect olfactory clues as to whether another jackrabbit is ready to breed.
The breeding season is variable and depends upon latitude and environmental factors; it extends from February to July in different parts of the range. Several males may compete aggressively for the attention of a female by charging at each other, leaping, and jostling. Ovulation by the female takes place after copulation. The gestation period is about 42 days and in preparation for the birth, the female prepares a fur-lined nest under dense vegetation. A litter consists of up to 11 young, although four or five is a more typical number. The leverets weigh about 100 g (3.5 oz). They have their eyes open and are fully furred at birth and soon begin to move around. They start to forage around two weeks old and are weaned at four weeks. They are sexually mature around seven months old, but do not breed until the year after their birth.


White-tailed jackrabbits influence the composition of the turf through their selective grazing activities. They are important prey species for various mammalian predators. Red (Vulpes vulpes) and grey foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) occasionally capture one, though not many large adults. They are perhaps most important prey for mid-sized carnivores such as the American badger (Taxidea taxus), the coyote (Canis latrans), and the bobcat (Lynx rufus) and small supplemental prey for larger ones such as the mountain lion (Puma concolor) and the gray wolf (Canis lupus). Snakes sometimes attack them (usually young ones) and bird predators include eagles, hawks, and owls. Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) are the only avian predators large enough to regularly take full-grown white-tailed jackrabbits, though ferruginous hawks (Buteo regalis) and great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) may occasionally take an adult, though these latter two species and other largish raptorial birds typically attack young. They attempt to evade detection by crouching in the vegetation where their cryptic colouration makes them difficult to observe. They may slink away, but if detected, they bound away at speed, adopting a zigzag course. They can run up to 55 km/hr (34 mi/hr) and leap up to 5 m (16 ft). They are also hunted and eaten by humans.


The white-tailed jackrabbit is native to western and central parts of North America. Its range includes British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario in Canada and Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois in the United States. It is found in plains and prairie and in alpine meadows with scattered coniferous trees up to an elevation of about 3,000 m (10,000 ft) in Colorado. The white-tailed jackrabbit is slightly larger than the black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) and where their ranges overlap, they are segregated by their habitat, as the former tends to live in higher altitudes and the latter in more arid lowland habitats.
Whitetails are often seen in urban parks and on suburban parks in Western Canada.  People often come across bunnies alone during the day in spring and mistakenly assume they are abandoned by their mothers.  The Edmonton Humane Society has issued public statements asking that bunnies not be brought into animal shelters.


The massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) is a rattlesnake species found in midwestern North America from southern Ontario to northern Mexico and parts of the United States in between. Like all rattlesnakes, it is a pit viper and is venomous.
Three subspecies were recognized for more than a century, although research published in 2011 elevated two subspecies Sistrurus catenatus catenatus and Sistrurus catenatus tergeminus, to full species: the eastern massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) and the western massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus). The status of the third subspecies was somewhat unresolved and it is tentatively recognized as the desert massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus edwardsii) by some, or synonymized with the western massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus) by others.


The diet of S. catenatus consists of a variety of small vertebrates, including mammals, lizards, and other snakes, as well as invertebrates such as centipedes. Mammals and reptiles make up the bulk of their diet. Adults feed mainly on rodents, while juveniles usually prey on reptiles, more often lizards in western populations and snakes in eastern ones. Frogs also constitute an important part of their diet: Ruthven (1928) mentioned that in Michigan they made up the main portion of their diet. According to Klauber (1956), S. catenatus feeds on frogs more frequently than any other rattlesnake. In general, however, frogs are not an important part of the diet, although this does seem to be more typical in certain northern and eastern populations.


S. catenatus is found in North America from Ontario, Canada and western New York southwest to southeastern Arizona in the United States and northern Tamaulipas, Mexico. In Mexico, isolated populations exist in southern Nuevo León, north-central Coahuila, and Samalayuca, Chihuahua. It occurs in various habitats ranging from swamps and marshes to grasslands, usually below 1500 m elevation. The type locality given is "... on the prairies of the upper Missouri" (Valley, USA).
According to Campbell and Lamar (2004), a population also exists in southeastern Colorado that is morphologically somewhat intermediate between S. c. tergeminus and S. c. edwardsii.


Adults of S. catenatus are not large, ranging from 60 to 75 cm (24 to 30 in) in length. Their color pattern consists of a grey or tan ground color with a row of large, rounded, brown/black blotches or spots down the center of the back and three smaller rows of alternating spots down each side. Solid black melanistic examples are also known, as well as cases where the back blotches join with those on the sides. Young massasaugas are well-patterned, but paler than the adults. They have heat-sensing pits on each side of their smallish heads, their scales are keeled, and their anal scales are single.


Pituophis deppei, commonly known as the Mexican bullsnake and the Mexican pine snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Mexico. There are two recognized subspecies.


Dorsally, P. deppei is yellowish tan, with a series of large quadrangular blotches, which are dark brown to black. It has smaller dark spots on the sides. Ventrally, it is yellowish, with squarish brown spots. Adults may attain a total length of 1.69 m (5.5 ft), including a tail length of 18 cm (7.1 in).


The preferred natural habitats of P. deppei are forest, shrubland, and grassland, but it is also found in agricultural, suburban, and urban areas.


The northern tamandua inhabits forests from southern Mexico, through Central America to western Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, and the northwestern corner of Peru. It has been reported from various types of forest within this region, including evergreen, deciduous, mangrove swamps, cloud forests, and secondary forest. Four subspecies of T. mexicana are currently recognised:
T. m. mexicana - Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador
T. m. instabilis - Venezuela, northern Colombia
T. m. opistholeuca - Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, most of Colombia
T. m. punensis - Ecuador, Peru


Northern tamanduas are mainly nocturnal, but are also often active during the day, and spend only around 40% of their time in the trees. They are active for about eight hours each day, spending the rest of the time sheltering in hollow trees. They are solitary animals, occupying home ranges of between 25 and 70 ha (62 and 170 ac). Known predators include jaguars and harpy eagles.
Northern tamanduas subsist almost entirely on diets of ants and termites, although they have also been observed to eat small quantities of fruit. They prefer relatively large insects, over 4 mm (0.16 in) in length, including Camponotus, Azteca, Crematogaster, and Nasutitermes, among others. They may eat up to 9,000 insects per day, from 50 to 80 different nests, which they locate by scent and then dig into with their powerful claws. They extract the ants with their long, narrow, sticky tongues, but seem to do little permanent damage to the nests, perhaps because they do not spend long at each one before being driven away by the insects' natural defences.
The anteaters can communicate with each other by leaving scent marks with their anal scent glands. Though infants can be quite vocal, adults rarely make any sounds. If provoked, they can prop themselves up on their hind legs and tails using a tree or rock for support, and lash out with their claws.


The northern tamandua (Tamandua mexicana) is a species of tamandua, an anteater in the family Myrmecophagidae. They live in tropical and subtropical forests from southern Mexico, through Central America, and to the edge of the northern Andes.


With no defined breeding season for northern tamanduas, females appear to be able to enter oestrus at any time of year. Males locate fertile females by scent, and court them with repeated sniffing and swatting with their claws. Eventually, they use their strong fore limbs and tails to secure the females while they mate. Gestation lasts from 130 to 190 days, and results in the birth of a single offspring. The young anteater initially shelters in a nest in a hollow tree, but later moves about by clinging to its mother's back. Young leave the mother at about a year of age, and northern tamanduas have been reported to live up to 9.5 years in captivity.


This species is found in the lowlands of the northern half of South America, throughout Central America, and into southeastern Mexico. From Ecuador south, it is limited to east of the Andes; its range extends south to the northern half of Bolivia and much of Brazil. It seldom occurs above 300 meters (980 feet) in elevation. It usually lives around wetlands and is frequently found in riparian forests, pastures swamps, and all near water.


Proboscis bats live in groups. The colonies are usually between five and ten individuals, and very rarely exceed forty. The bats are nocturnal, sleeping during the day in an unusual formation: they line up, one after another, on a branch or wooden beam, nose to tail, in a straight row.
A colony of proboscis bats usually has a regular feeding area, typically a small patch of water. Here the bats catch insects (in the form of midges [including chironomids], mosquitoes, beetles, and caddisflies) using echolocation. They have no specific breeding season, forming stable year-round harems. One young is born per female. Both sexes disperse after weaning at around 2–4 months.
This small species of bat has been found to occasionally fall prey to the large spider Argiope savignyi.


The proboscis bat (Rhynchonycteris naso) is a bat species from South and Central America. Other common names include Long-nosed proboscis bat, sharp-nosed bat, Brazilian long-nosed bat and river bat in English, and murciélago narizón in Spanish. It is monotypic within its genus.
This species is in the family Emballonuridae, the sac-winged or sheath-tailed bats. Like most bats, it is nocturnal. It is found from southern Mexico to Belize, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, as well as in Trinidad.


The Brazilian guinea pig has a wide distribution in South America at altitudes between 400 and 3,000 metres (1,300 and 9,800 ft) above sea level. Its range extends from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela to northern Argentina. Its typical habitat is open grassland and savannah.


Cavia aperea is a herbivore and feeds on grasses and other herbs. It is diurnal, mainly emerging in the early morning to forage and again in the evening. It does not dig a burrow, but makes an intricate maze of surface tunnels that are 8 to 12 cm (3 to 5 in) wide. It has latrine areas beside the trackways where piles of bean-shaped droppings can be seen, as can piles of cut grass stems.
Breeding takes place at any time of year but mostly in the austral summer. The gestation period is about 62 days and females can have five litters in a year. The number of young born averages two and ranges from one to five. The minimum age at which the young adults can breed is thirty days.


The gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri), also known as the giant western fiery chiton or giant Pacific chiton, is the largest of the chitons, growing to 36 cm (14 in) and capable of reaching a weight of more than 2 kg (4.4 lb). It is found along the shores of the northern Pacific Ocean from Central California to Alaska, across the Aleutian Islands to the Kamchatka Peninsula and south to Japan. It inhabits the lower intertidal and subtidal zones of rocky coastlines. The gumboot chiton's appearance has led some tidepoolers to refer to it, fondly, as the "wandering meatloaf". The name "gumboot chiton" seems to derive from a resemblance to part of a rubber Wellington boot or "gum rubber" boot.
Chitons are molluscs that have eight armored plates (called valves) running in a flexible line down their back. Unlike most chitons, the gumboot's valves are completely hidden by its leathery upper skin or girdle that usually is reddish-brown or brown, but occasionally is orange in color.
Chitons have long arrays of fine teeth that are partially made of magnetite, making its teeth hard enough to scrape algae off rocks. The styli enclosing their teeth contain the mineral santabarbaraite, making the gumboot the first organism known to use this material that was discovered during 2000 in Italy.


It has few natural predators, the most common being the lurid rocksnail, Paciocinebrina lurida—although the small snail's efforts to consume the chiton generally are limited to the outer mantle only. Sometimes it is reported that the lurid rocksnail is the gumboot chiton's only predator, but others list such animals as the sea star Pisaster ochraceus, some octopus species, and the sea otter as predators upon the gumbooot.


The gumboot chiton's underside is orange or yellow and consists mostly of a large foot similar to that of other molluscs such as snails or slugs, with gills found in grooves running along the outer edge of the foot. The gumboot chiton is found clinging to rocks, moving slowly in search of its primary diet of algae that is scraped off rocks with its rasp-like retractable radula, which are covered with rows of magnetite-tipped teeth. It also eats other marine vegetation such as sea lettuce and giant kelp. A nocturnal creature, the gumboot generally feeds at night and often remains in a hiding place during the day—although on foggy days it may be found exposed in tide pools or on rocks.
The gumboot may live for more than 40 years. Several other animal species have been observed living within the gumboot's gills; the relationship is thought to be commensal: neither harmful nor helpful to the chiton. One researcher found that more than a quarter of gumboots hosted an Arctonoe vittata, a pale yellow scale worm that can grow up to 10 cm (3.9 in) length. Sometimes Opisthopus transversus, a small crab, may be found within the gills of the gumboot.
The gumboot chiton's bony armoring plates, called "butterfly shells" due to their shape, sometimes are found washed up on beaches, as may whole chitons. The gumboot keeps a weaker grip on the rocks that make up its home than most chitons do and therefore, it is not unusual for them to be knocked loose by heavy waves.


The Japanese tree frog (Dryophytes japonicus) is a species of tree frog distributed from Hokkaidō to Yakushima in Japan and from Korea along the Ussuri River to north-eastern China, northern Mongolia, and the southern parts of the Russian Far East.
The Japanese tree frog was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the European tree frog... Animals from northern China, the Korean Peninsula, eastern Russia, and Mongolia have been considered to be a separate species H. ussuriensis, which would make D. japonicus endemic to Japan.
In 2007, a population of Japanese tree frogs was discovered in Jerusalem, Israel and possibly to have gone extinct shortly thereafter. They were originally described as a separate species, Hyla heinzsteinitzi, but based on more recent molecular analysis are now considered to have been an introduced population of Japanese tree frogs.
These tree frogs are commonly found in rice paddies, and rest during the day on rice leaves and other broad-leaved vegetation. During the early evening, they are active and move to lights to catch the insects attracted to the lights.
Acting as opportunistic predators, D. japonicus mainly preys on species which are the most widely available to them, including a number of insects, such as ants, beetles, caterpillars, dipterans, and spiders.
The Japanese Tree Frog is a widespread species that is behaviorally plastic, using a large variety of microhabitats and environments as its breeding sites.
Journalist Toyohiro Akiyama carried some Japanese tree frogs with him during his trip to the Mir space station in December 1990. Calling behavior of the species was used to create an algorithm for optimizing Wi-Fi networks.


Coprinus comatus, the shaggy ink cap, lawyer's wig, or shaggy mane, is a common fungus often seen growing on lawns, along gravel roads and waste areas. The young fruit bodies first appear as white cylinders emerging from the ground, then the bell-shaped caps open out. The caps are white, and covered with scales—this is the origin of the common names of the fungus. The gills beneath the cap are white, then pink, then turn black and secrete a black liquid filled with spores (hence the "ink cap" name). This mushroom is unusual because it will turn black and dissolve itself in a matter of hours after being picked or depositing spores.
When young it is an excellent edible mushroom provided that it is eaten soon after being collected (it keeps very badly because of the autodigestion of its gills and cap). If long-term storage is desired, microwaving, sauteing or simmering until limp will allow the mushrooms to be stored in a refrigerator for several days or frozen. Also, placing the mushrooms in a glass of ice water will delay the decomposition for a day or two so that one has time to incorporate them into a meal. Processing or icing must be done whether for eating or storage within four to six hours of harvest to prevent undesirable changes to the mushroom. The species is cultivated in China as food.


The young mushrooms, before the gills start to turn black, are a choice edible mushroom, but should be prepared soon after being collected as the black areas quickly turn bitter. The taste is mild; cooking produces a large quantity of liquid.  It can sometimes be used in mushroom soup with parasol mushroom.  Large quantities of microwaved-then-frozen shaggy manes can be used as the liquid component of risotto, replacing the usual chicken stock.
Coprinus comatus is not to be confused with Coprinopsis atramentaria, which can induce coprine poisoning, particularly when consumed with alcohol. Symptoms of coprine poisoning include vomiting, diarrhoea, palpitations and a metallic taste in the mouth.


It grows in groups in places which are often unexpected, such as green areas in towns. It occurs widely in grasslands and meadows in Europe and North America, from June through to November in the UK. It appears to have been introduced to Australia, New Zealand and Iceland. In Australia the species is sufficiently common to have been featured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post in 1981.
Coprinus comatus is a nematophagous fungus capable of killing and digesting the nematode species Panagrellus redivivus and Meloidogyne arenaria.


The shaggy ink cap is easily recognizable from its almost cylindrical cap which initially covers most of its stem. The cap ranges from 4–8 cm (1+5⁄8–3+1⁄8 in) in width and 6–20 cm (2+3⁄8–7+7⁄8 in) in height. It is mostly white with shaggy scales, which are more pale brown at the apex. The free gills change rapidly from white to pink, then to black. It is deliquescent. The white and fairly thick stipe measures 6–40 cm (2–16 in) high by 1–2.5 cm (1⁄2–1 in) in diameter and has a loose ring near the bottom. Microscopically, the mushroom lacks pleurocystidia. The spore print is black-brown and the spores measure 10–13 by 6.5–8 µm. The flesh is white and the taste mild.


The mushroom can sometimes be confused with the magpie fungus which is poisonous. In America, the 'vomiter' mushroom Chlorophyllum molybdites is responsible for most cases of mushroom poisoning due to its similarity with shaggy mane and other edible mushrooms. Coprinopsis atramentaria (the common Ink Cap) is similar, and contains coprine and can induce coprine poisoning, particularly when consumed with alcohol. Podaxis pistillaris is also similar.


Optimal eastern cottontail habitat includes open grassy areas, clearings, and old fields supporting abundant green grasses and herbs, with shrubs in the area or edges for cover. The essential components of eastern cottontail habitat are an abundance of well-distributed escape cover (dense shrubs) interspersed with more open foraging areas such as grasslands and pastures. Habitat parameters important for eastern cottontails in ponderosa pine, mixed species, and pinyon (Pinus spp.)-juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands include woody debris, herbaceous and shrubby understories, and patchiness. Typically eastern cottontails occupy habitats in and around farms including fields, pastures, open woods, thickets associated with fencerows, wooded thickets, forest edges, and suburban areas with adequate food and cover. They are also found in swamps and marshes and usually avoid dense woods.


The diet of eastern cottontails is varied and largely dependent on availability. Eastern cottontails eat vegetation almost exclusively; arthropods have occasionally been found in pellets. Some studies list as many as 70 to 145 plant species in local diets. Food items include bark, twigs, leaves, fruit, buds, flowers, grass seeds, sedge fruits, and rush seeds. There is a preference for small material: branches, twigs, and stems up to 0.25 in (0.64 cm). Leporids including eastern cottontails are coprophagous, producing two types of fecal pellets, one of which is consumed. The redigestion of pellets greatly increases the nutritional value of dietary items.
In summer, eastern cottontails consume tender green herbaceous vegetation when it is available. In many areas Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratense) and Canada bluegrass (P. compressa) are important dietary components. Other favored species include clovers (Trifolium spp.) and crabgrasses (Digitaria spp.). In Connecticut important summer foods include clovers, alfalfa, timothy (Phleum pratense), bluegrasses (Poa spp.), quackgrass (Elytrigia repens), crabgrasses, redtop (Agrostis alba), ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya), goldenrods (Solidago spp.), plantains (Plantago spp.), chickweed (Stellaria media), and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Eastern cottontails also consume many domestic crops.
During the dormant season, or when green vegetation is covered with snow, eastern cottontails consume twigs, buds, and bark of woody vegetation. In Connecticut, important winter foods include gray birch (Betula populifolia), red maple, and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra).


The eastern cottontail is chunky, red-brown or gray-brown in appearance, with large hind feet, long ears, and a short, fluffy white tail. Its underside fur is white. There is a rusty patch on the tail. Its appearance differs from that of a hare in that it has a brownish-gray coloring around the head and neck. The body is lighter color with a white underside on the tail. It has large brown eyes and large ears to see and listen for danger. In winter the cottontail's pelage is more gray than brown. The kits develop the same coloring after a few weeks, but they also have a white blaze that goes down their forehead; this marking eventually disappears. This rabbit is medium-sized, measuring 36–48 cm (14–19 in) in total length, including a small tail that averages 5.3 cm (2.1 in). Weight can range from 1.8 to 4.4 lb (800 to 2,000 g), with an average of around 2.6 lb (1,200 g). The female tends to be heavier, although the sexes broadly overlap in size. There may be some slight variation in the body size of eastern cottontails, with weights seeming to increase from south to north, in accordance with Bergmann's rule. Adult specimens from the Florida Museum of Natural History, collected in Florida, have a mean weight of 2.244 lb (1,018 g). Meanwhile, 346 adult cottontails from Michigan were found to have averaged 3.186 lb (1,445 g) in mass. Due to Eastern Cottontails being so small and since they don’t usually fight back they are easy prey for other animals such as coyotes, bobcats, and even foxes.


The eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) is a New World cottontail rabbit, a member of the family Leporidae. It is the most common rabbit species in North America.


The onset of breeding varies between populations and within populations from year to year. The eastern cottontail breeding season begins later with higher latitudes and elevations. Temperature rather than diet has been suggested as a primary factor controlling onset of breeding; many studies correlate severe weather with delays in the onset of breeding. In New England breeding occurs from March to September. In New York the breeding season occurs from February to September, in Connecticut from mid-March to mid-September. In Alabama the breeding season begins in January. In Georgia the breeding season lasts nine months and in Texas breeding occurs year-round. Populations in western Oregon breed from late January to early September. Mating is promiscuous.
The nest is a slanting hole dug in soft soil and lined with vegetation and white fur from the mother's underside. The average measurements are: length 7.09 in (18 cm), width 4.9 in (12 cm), and depth 4.71 in (12 cm). The average period of gestation is 28 days, ranging from 25 to 35 days. Eastern cottontail young are born with a very fine coat of hair and are blind. Their eyes begin to open by four to seven days. Young begin to move out of the nest for short trips by 12 to 16 days and are completely weaned and independent by four to five weeks. Litters disperse at about seven weeks. Females do not stay in the nest with the young but return to the opening of the nest to nurse, usually twice a day.
Reproductive maturity occurs at about two to three months of age. A majority of females first breed the spring following birth; but 10% to 36% of females breed as juveniles (i.e., summer of the year they were born). Males will mate with more than one female. Female rabbits can have one to seven litters of one to twelve young, called kits, in a year; however, they average three to four litters per year, and the average number of kits is five. In the southern states of the United States, female eastern cottontails have more litters per year (up to seven) but fewer young per litter. In New England female eastern cottontails have three or four litters per year. The annual productivity of females may be as high as 35 young.


Crassadoma gigantea is found on the Pacific Coast of North America, from British Columbia south to Baja California and Mexico. It does not move around as an adult but lives on the sea floor. Its favoured habitats include inside crevices and under boulders, or cemented to rock surfaces, corals or man-made structures such as harbour pilings. It is found at depths down to about 80 metres (260 ft).


Like other scallops, Crassadoma gigantea is a suspension feeder, filtering phytoplankton from water as it passes over the gills. The particles are moved by cilia along grooves to the mouth where edible matter is separated from sediment particles. The waste is incorporated into mucous balls which are removed from the mantle cavity periodically by a clapping of the valves.
Crassadoma gigantea is cryptic and difficult to detect because of the sponges, sea anemones, hydroids, barnacles, bryozoans, worms and algae which tend to grow on the shell. The parasitic boring sponge Cliona celata damages the shell by making hollows in it. Additional shell material is laid down by the mantle tissue to compensate for this. Other sponges, such as the yellow boring sponge (Cliona californiana) that grow on the shell may be considered mutualistic, granting some protection against predators such as the sunflower starfish (Pycnopodia helianthoides) and purple sea star (Pisaster ochraceus). It has been found experimentally that rock scallops grow at a faster rate when living in deep rather than shallow water, perhaps because they are then less hindered by these fouling organisms.
The sexes are separate in Crassadoma gigantea and spawning takes place in the summer. The veliger larvae that develop from the eggs form part of the zooplankton for about 40 days before settling, undergoing metamorphosis and beginning to form a shell. Juveniles are free living, are able to swim and can attach themselves temporarily to the substrate by byssus threads. By the time they have grown to 4.5 centimetres (1.8 in) in diameter they have usually cemented themselves to a hard surface and become sessile. Rock scallops can live for at least 20 years  but by about half way through their adult life, growth slows, and energy is concentrated into gamete production.


Adults of Crassadoma gigantea have one valve (the right valve) fixed to a base, often a vertical rock face. This valve often becomes deformed to fit the contours of the rock. The left valve is roughly circular but irregular in outline, thick and heavy, with deep radial ribs. Every third or fourth rib is clad with blunt spines that overhang each other. These often get abraded and worn smooth as the scallop ages. There are flaps of shell known as auricles on either side of the straight hinge. The general colour is brown with the inside of the shell being glossy white with a purple patch at the hinge and a large, central adductor muscle scar. Crassadoma gigantea grows to a diameter of 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in the intertidal zone and 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in the subtidal zone. Between the valves, the margin of the orange mantle can be seen, with a row of tiny blue eyes and a sparse fringe of short tentacles.


This mushroom is a choice edible, and is collected widely for consumption in Eurasia, the United States, Canada and some parts of Mexico. A. augustus has been implicated in specifically bioaccumulating the metal cadmium, with a quantity of 2.44 mg per kilogram of fresh weight as recorded in one Swiss study. The same phenomenon is true for other edible species of Agaricus, namely A. arvensis, A. macrosporus and A. silvicola, though quantities may vary greatly depending on species, which part of the fruiting body is analysed, and the level of contamination of the substrate. Specimens collected near metal smelters and urban areas have a higher cadmium content. The hymenium contains the highest concentration of metal, followed by the rest of the cap, while the lower part of the stem contains the least.


Agaricus augustus has a widespread distribution, occurring throughout Europe, North America, North Africa and Asia. This mushroom is found in deciduous and coniferous woods and in gardens and by roadside verges. The fungus is saprotrophic and terrestrial — it acquires nutrients from decaying dead organic matter and its fruiting bodies occur on humus-rich soil. The species seems adapted to thriving near human activity, for it also emerges from disturbed ground. In Europe, A. augustus fruits in late summer and autumn.


The fruiting bodies of Agaricus augustus are large and distinctive agarics. The cap shape is hemispherical during the so-called button stage, and then expands, becoming convex and finally flat, with a diameter from 8–30 cm (3–12 in). The cap cuticle is dry, and densely covered with concentrically arranged, brown-coloured scales on a white to yellow background.
The flesh is thick, firm and white and may discolour yellow when bruised. The gills are crowded and pallid at first, and turn pink then dark brown with maturity. The gills are not attached to the stem—they are free. Immature specimens bear a delicate white partial veil with darker-coloured warts, extending from the stem to the cap periphery.
The stem is clavate and 7–30 cm (3–12 in) tall, and 2–6 cm (3⁄4–2+3⁄8 in) thick. In mature specimens, the partial veil is torn and left behind as a pendulous ring adorning the stem. Above the ring, the stem is white to yellow and smooth. Below, it is covered with numerous small scales. Its flesh is thick, white and sometimes has a narrow central hollow. The stem base extends deeply into the substrate.
The mushroom's odour is strong and nutty, of anise or almonds, which can be associated with the presence of benzaldehyde and benzyl alcohol. Its taste has been described as not distinctive.
Under a microscope, the ellipsoid-shaped spores are seen characteristically large at 7–10 by 4.5–6.5 μm. The basidia are 4-spored. The spore mass is coloured chocolate-brown.
A species initially reported from North America, A. subrufescens closely resembles A. augustus in appearance. However, A. subrufescens produces smaller spores, sized 6–7.5 by 4–5 µm.


Agaricus augustus shows a red positive Schaeffer's test reaction. The cap cuticle turns yellow when a 10% potassium hydroxide solution is applied.
Toxic lookalikes include Amanitas which stain yellow when bruised or emit bad odor. Another similar-looking toxic species is Agaricus moelleri.


When feeling threatened, this snake will seek shelter in a nearby water source. Occasionally, while the snake is hunting for food in a stream, it will flick its tongue above the water to mimic an insect that a small fish would usually eat, thus luring the prey into its mouth.


The aquatic garter snake grows up to 18-40 inches (46–102 cm) long. Its dorsal coloration varies greatly. The different coloration patterns are: pale gray with alternating rows of darker blotches on the sides, dark brown with borders that are less distinct, or nearly all black. A long yellow stripe running down the back may be present or absent, only confined to the neck, or just very indistinct. The throat and underside of the snake are whitish to yellow.
One color morph of the aquatic garter snake has a blue-gray background color with a faint olive-colored dorsal stripe and white dots along its sides. Another color morph has a yellow dorsal stripe with black spots along its sides. The second color morph has the more classic garter snake look; however, due to its behavior and scalation, it is grouped in this species.


It can most commonly be found on the edges of bushlands, woodlands, grasslands, and forests near ponds, marshes, streams and lakes.


The thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus), also known as the striped gopher, leopard ground squirrel, squinney, (formerly known as the leopard-spermophile in the age of Audubon), is a ground squirrel that is widely distributed over grasslands and prairies of North America.


The thirteen-lined ground squirrel is strictly diurnal and is especially active on warm days. A solitary or only somewhat colonial hibernator, it often occurs in aggregations in suitable habitats.
In late summer, it puts on a heavy layer of fat and stores some food in its burrow. It enters its nest in October (some adults retire much earlier), rolls into a stiff ball, and decreases its respiration from between 100 and 200 breaths per minute to one breath about every five minutes. It emerges in March or early April.
The burrow may be 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 metres) long, with several side passages. Most of the burrow is within one to two feet (about half a meter) of the surface, with only the hibernation nest in a special deeper section. Shorter burrows are dug as hiding places. This ground squirrel's home range is two to three acres (0.8 to 1.2 ha).

Its primary diet includes grass and weed seeds, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and crickets, but it may also eat mice and shrews; it will viciously attack and consume cicadas if able to catch them. This squirrel sometimes damages gardens by digging burrows and eating vegetables, but also devours weed seeds and harmful insects.
It is well known for standing upright to survey its domain, diving down into its burrow when it senses danger, then sometimes poking out its nose and giving a bird-like trill. The "trill" is an alarm call that is most often used by females to warn nearby relatives. It has a maximum running speed of 8 mph (13 km/h) and reverses direction if chased.


Axis is a genus of deer occurring in South and Southeast Asia. As presently defined by most authorities, four species are placed in the genus.


Phidippus clarus is found in old fields throughout eastern North America. It lives among flowers, often sharing habitats with the small to medium-sized crab spider Misumena vatia, which waits for prey. P. clarus often waits upside down near the top of a plant such as basil leaves, a position which may be useful for detecting prey and then quickly jumping down before the prey can escape. In a 2002 survey of jumping spiders in Minnesota, P. clarus accounted for 52% of the total found.


Phidippus clarus is a species of jumping spider (family Salticidae) found in old fields throughout eastern North America. It often waits upside down near the top of a plant, which may be useful for detecting prey, and then quickly jumps down before the prey can escape. The spider is one of 60 species in the genus Phidippus, and one of about 5,000 in the Salticidae, a family that accounts for about 10% of all spider species. P. clarus is a predator, mostly consuming insects, other spiders, and other terrestrial arthropods.
P. clarus is a relatively large salticid that is able to take prey up to the size of an adult earwig. In an experiment, P. clarus was offered as many fruit flies as it could eat in a four-hour session. On average individuals took 17 flies, with the maximum amount taken was a striking 41.
When P. clarus males compete for females, the winners are those that produce the most vibrations on the surface and those that are largest. Contests between females involve less displaying, and physical fights between females are more likely to end in injury or death. The most successful males choose the largest females, as these females produce the most eggs and are the quickest at producing. If a female that has mated already finds another larger male, she will often mate again with the larger male. The average clutch is 135 eggs. Unlike most of the genus Phidippus, P. clarus females die after one brood has left the nest.
P. clarus is parasitized by the Californian wasp Aporinellus completus and by mermithid nematodes. In an experiment in 2006, P. clarus showed promise for controlling the fourlined plant bug, Poecilocapsus lineatus, which severely damages the commercially grown sweet basil.


Almost all jumping spiders are predators, mostly preying on insects, other spiders, and other non-aquatic arthropods. The most common procedure is sighting the prey, stalking, fastening a silk safety line to the surface, using the two pairs of back legs to jump on the victim, and finally biting the prey. Most jumping spiders walk throughout the day, so that they maximize their chances of a catch.
After capturing the prey, P. clarus settles in one spot and does not move again until it has discarded the undigestible hard remains of the prey. If P. clarus has gone without food for a few days, it eats slowly.
P. clarus, which is large by the standards of salticids, takes prey up to the size of an adult earwig. In an experiment, when jumping spider were offered as many fruit flies as they could eat within a 4-hour sessions, specimens took 17 flies on average—while one took 41. When the courtship display of wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata combines visual signals with vibrations, P. clarus responds to its wolf spider prey more quickly than when the wolf spider presents only one of the types of signal.


Yellow-headed geckos feed on insects. They are mainly diurnal, although they avoid direct sunlight. A study in Panama found that they may lay eggs on a seasonal basis, laying more eggs during the rainy season. Only one egg is laid at a time.


Gonatodes albogularis, which has been called a number of vernacular names in English, is a smallish species of gecko found in warm parts of Central and South America, Cuba, Hispaniola and Jamaica. They prefer to live in tropical dry forest habitats. It is sexually dimorphic: the male is colourful, while the female is a more drab grey. The fingers do not have lamellar pads for climbing smooth surfaces like many other geckos but instead have normal claws like most lizards. At one time the species had a breeding population in southern Florida, especially Key West, but this population appears to have died out by the early 1990s. They are believed to be able to tell the difference between brightness and hues of conspecifics. Males are incredibly aggressive with territory defense against both other males and potential predators.


This gecko can grow up to between 69–90 mm (2.7–3.5 in). A maximal length of 100 mm (3.9 in) is also given. Like almost all Gonatodes species it is sexually dimorphic. Male geckos are colourful and have yellowish to orange-coloured heads and dark blue bodies, whereas the female geckos are more drab, having greyish white or light brown heads and bodies. The species are also identified by their round pupils and digits without extending lamellae. It has no eyelids. The young geckos are coloured like the females.
Males have a larger snout-vent length, distance from tip of head to the base of the tail. Both males and females reach sexual maturity at the same size with the ability to reproduce any time during the year. They reach this size around the age of 6 months. Similar to other geckos, G. albogularis does not accumulate fat in their abdomens. This suggests that reproductive abilities are not influenced by the amount of fat a lizard has. Reproductive abilities are driven by other factors. G. albogularis is typically found in dry habitats but have also been observed in moist habitats. Their main diet consists of insects and spiders. G. albogularis is also a very territorial lizard. They defend their territories by primarily waving their tails and other behaviors.


Strobilomyces strobilaceus is found solitary or in groups in deciduous as well as coniferous forests in low mountain ranges and alpine areas of Europe, North America and Asia (Iran and Taiwan). It is less common in lowlands. The fungus appears between August and October and young specimens are edible. Its taste is regarded as great.


The caps of the fruit bodies are between 4 to 10 cm (1.6 to 3.9 in) wide, with a convex shape and a villous, involute margin. The cap surface is covered with dark grey to black erect scales. The stipe is up to 14 cm (5.5 in) long and 2 cm (0.8 in) thick. It is coloured like the cap and has a woolly surface and a thick, ascending annulus. The pores on the underside of the cap are hexagonal, coloured dirty white or grey. The flesh is thick and initially white, but will stain pink and then slate grey and black after exposure to the air.
The dark brown to black spores are 9–15 by 8–12 μm, short elliptic and are covered with a mesh-like ornament.


The California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) is a species of frog found in California (USA) and northern Baja California (Mexico). It was formerly considered a subspecies of the northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora). The frog is an IUCN vulnerable species, and a federally listed threatened species of the United States, and is protected by law.


This species has disappeared from an estimated 70% of its range, and is now only found in about 256 streams or drainages in 28 counties of California. However, the species is still common along the coast, and most of their population declines are in the Sierra Nevada and Southern California. The California red-legged frog is an important food source for the endangered San Francisco garter snake in San Mateo County.
Breeding occurs from November to March, or sometimes earlier toward the southern limits of its range. The male frog's advertisement call is a series of a few small grunts, usually given while swimming around under water. Choruses are weak and easily missed. This species is usually active in daylight and inhabits dense, shrubby, or emergent riparian vegetation and still or slow-moving perennial and ephemeral water bodies that also serve as breeding sites.
The tadpoles (larvae) of this species may metamorphose into frogs within about 7 months of hatching from the egg, or may overwinter, taking up to 13 months. This is a recent discovery, which may have management implications for the species, particularly when aquatic habitat undergoes modification.


R. draytonii is a moderate to large (4.4–14 cm (1.7–5.5 in)) frog. The back is a brown, grey, olive, or reddish color, with black flecks and dark, irregular, light-centered blotches, and is coarsely granular. A dark mask with a whitish border occurs above the upper jaw, and black and red or yellow mottling is in the groin. The lower abdomen and the undersides of its hind legs are normally red. The male can be recognized by its large fore limbs, thumbs, and webbing. The juvenile frog has more pronounced dorsal spotting, and may have yellow, instead of red, markings on the undersides of the hind legs. A characteristic feature of the red-legged frog is its dorsolateral fold, visible on both sides of the frog, extending roughly from the eye to the hip. R. draytonii looks very similar to the northern red-legged frog.


Scolopendra cingulata, also known as Megarian banded centipede, and the Mediterranean banded centipede, is a species of centipede, and "the most common scolopendromorph species in the Mediterranean area".


Widely distributed, this species can be found throughout southern Europe and around the Mediterranean Sea, in such countries as Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece, as well as parts of North Africa.


Scolopendra cingulata is an opportunistic carnivore. It will attack and consume almost any animal that is not larger than itself. These include insects and small lizards.


Galiella rufa, commonly known as the rubber cup, the rufous rubber cup, or the hairy rubber cup, is a species of fungus in the family Sarcosomataceae. The fungus produces cup-shaped fruit bodies that typically grow in clusters on branches and exposed portions of buried wood throughout eastern and Midwest North America and in Malaysia. The fruit bodies have the texture of tough, gelatinous rubber, and have a rough, blackish-brown, felt-like outer surface and a smooth reddish-brown inner surface. Although generally considered inedible by North American mushroom field guides, it is commonly consumed in Malaysia. The fungus produces several interesting natural products.


Galiella rufa produces several structurally related hexaketide compounds that have attracted attention for their biological properties: pregaliellalactone, galiellalactone. The compounds have anti-nematodal activity, killing the nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans and Meloidogyne incognita. These compounds have been shown in laboratory tests to inhibit the early steps of the biosynthetic pathways induced by plant hormones known as gibberellic acids, and they also inhibit the germination of seeds of several plants. Galiellalactone is additionally a highly selective and potent inhibitor of interleukin-6 (IL-6) signaling in HepG2 cells. IL-6 is a multifunctional cytokine which is produced by a large variety of cells and functions as a regulator of immune response, acute phase reactions, and hematopoiesis. Researchers are interested in the potential of small-molecule inhibitors (such as the ones produced by G. rufa) to interfere with the IL-6 signaling cascade that leads to the expression of genes involved in disease.


Galiella rufa is a saprobic species, and can grow solitarily, but more usually in groups or in clusters on decaying hardwood branches and logs. The fungus fruits in late summer and autumn. The fungus has been noted to fruit readily on logs used for the cultivation of the shiitake mushroom. The fruit bodies are readily overlooked as they blend in with their surroundings.
Galiella rufa is found in Midwest and eastern North America, and has been collected in areas between New York and Minnesota, Missouri and North Carolina. The species is also found in Malaysia.


The species is found in Mexico and the United States. Woodrats are found from Oregon into the northern part of Baja California. They are found along the Pacific coast, west of the deserts and Great Basin. Woodrats prefer dense chaparral and are found near streams. They are also found in juniper and mixed coniferous forests, they prefer dense ground cover. In northeastern California, woodrats can survive in lava rims and beds with enough vegetation cover.