The canyon tree frog (Dryophytes arenicolor) is a species of tree frog native to the rocky plateau areas of southern United States, primarily in New Mexico and Arizona, but it also ranges to Utah, Texas, and Colorado, and as far south as the Mexican states of Michoacán, México, Guanajuato, Guerrero, and Oaxaca.


Canyon tree frogs are mostly nocturnal and carnivorous. They are typically found in semiarid, rocky habitats near a permanent water source. Breeding occurs during the spring rains, and large, floating egg masses of 100 or more eggs are laid on the water. During periods of low rainfall, the frogs will take refuge in rock/bolder crevices.


Canyon tree frogs grow to 5.0–5.5 cm (2.0–2.2 in) in length, and are typically brown, grey-brown, or grey-green in color, often with darker-colored blotching. They can vary considerably, but usually match the soil or rock coloration of their native habitats to serve as camouflage. Those from limestone habitats are lighter colored, and those from regions composed mostly of granite can even be pink in coloration. Most have bright yellow in their groin regions, and faded banding on their legs.


The black-bellied slender salamander (Batrachoseps nigriventris) is a small species of salamander that is endemic to California.


This salamander prefers California chaparral and woodlands habitats of Coast live oak - Quercus agrifolia and California sycamore - Platanus racemosa.


The black-bellied slender salamander is about 3.1 to 4.3 cm long. It has a worm-like body, a small head and small limbs, and a long cylindrical tail, often twice the length of its body.
The black-bellied slender salamander can have a black, tan, reddish, brown or beige dorsum often with a contrasting broad mid-dorsal stripe of similar colors. It has a purplish or black venter with fine light speckling over the entire surface.
This species will coil its body and tail when handled; it is fragile and easily injured.  Batrachoseps nigriventis looks similar to the related species Batrachoseps pacificus and Batrachoseps gabrieli.


Newly germinated coconuts contain a spherical edible mass known as the sprouted coconut or coconut sprout. It has a crunchy watery texture and a slightly sweet taste. It is eaten as is or used as an ingredient in various dishes. It is produced as the endosperm nourishes the developing embryo. It is a haustorium, a spongy absorbent tissue formed from the distal portion of embryo during coconut germination, facilitates absorption of nutrients for the growing shoot and root.


The roots are used as a dye, a mouthwash, and a folk medicine for diarrhea and dysentery. A frayed piece of root can also be used as a toothbrush. In Cambodia, the roots are used in traditional medicine as a treatment for dysentery.


The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus Cocos. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which botanically is a drupe, not a nut. The name comes from the old Portuguese word coco, meaning "head" or "skull", after the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features. They are ubiquitous in coastal tropical regions and are a cultural icon of the tropics.
The coconut tree provides food, fuel, cosmetics, folk medicine and building materials, among many other uses. The inner flesh of the mature seed, as well as the coconut milk extracted from it, form a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits because their endosperm contains a large quantity of clear liquid, called coconut water or coconut juice. Mature, ripe coconuts can be used as edible seeds, or processed for oil and plant milk from the flesh, charcoal from the hard shell, and coir from the fibrous husk. Dried coconut flesh is called copra, and the oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cooking – frying in particular – as well as in soaps and cosmetics. Sweet coconut sap can be made into drinks or fermented into palm wine or coconut vinegar. The hard shells, fibrous husks and long pinnate leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decoration.
The coconut has cultural and religious significance in certain societies, particularly in the Western Pacific Austronesian cultures where it features in their mythologies, songs, and oral traditions. It also had ceremonial importance in pre-colonial animistic religions. It has also acquired religious significance in South Asian cultures, where it is used in Hindu rituals. It forms the basis of wedding and worship rituals in Hinduism. It also plays a central role in the Coconut Religion of Vietnam. The falling of their mature fruit has led to preoccupation with death by coconut.
Coconuts were first domesticated by the Austronesian peoples in Island Southeast Asia and were spread during the Neolithic via their seaborne migrations as far east as the Pacific Islands, and as far west as Madagascar and the Comoros. They played a critical role in the long sea voyages of Austronesians by providing a portable source of food and water, as well as providing building materials for Austronesian outrigger boats. Coconuts were also later spread in historic times along the coasts of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans by South Asian, Arab, and European sailors. Based on these separate introductions, coconut populations can still be divided into Pacific coconuts and Indo-Atlantic coconuts, respectively. Coconuts were introduced by Europeans to the Americas only during the colonial era in the Columbian exchange, but there is evidence of a possible pre-Columbian introduction of Pacific coconuts to Panama by Austronesian sailors. The evolutionary origin of the coconut is under dispute, with theories stating that it may have evolved in Asia, South America, or on Pacific islands. Trees grow up to 30 metres (100 feet) tall and can yield up to 75 fruits per year, though fewer than 30 is more typical. Plants are intolerant of cold weather and prefer copious precipitation, as well as full sunlight. Many insect pests and diseases affect the species and are a nuisance for commercial production. About 75% of the world's supply of coconuts is produced by Indonesia, Philippines, and India. The coconut tree is the official state tree of Kerala, India.


Coconuts are susceptible to the phytoplasma disease, lethal yellowing. One recently selected cultivar, the 'Maypan', has been bred for resistance to this disease. Yellowing diseases affect plantations in Africa, India, Mexico, the Caribbean and the Pacific Region.
The coconut palm is damaged by the larvae of many Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species which feed on it, including the African armyworm (Spodoptera exempta) and Batrachedra spp.: B. arenosella, B. atriloqua (feeds exclusively on C. nucifera), B. mathesoni (feeds exclusively on C. nucifera), and B. nuciferae.
Brontispa longissima (coconut leaf beetle) feeds on young leaves, and damages both seedlings and mature coconut palms. In 2007, the Philippines imposed a quarantine in Metro Manila and 26 provinces to stop the spread of the pest and protect the Philippine coconut industry managed by some 3.5 million farmers.
The fruit may also be damaged by eriophyid coconut mites (Eriophyes guerreronis). This mite infests coconut plantations, and is devastating; it can destroy up to 90% of coconut production. The immature seeds are infested and desapped by larvae staying in the portion covered by the perianth of the immature seed; the seeds then drop off or survive deformed. Spraying with wettable sulfur 0.4% or with Neem-based pesticides can give some relief, but is cumbersome and labor-intensive.
In Kerala, India, the main coconut pests are the coconut mite, the rhinoceros beetle, the red palm weevil, and the coconut leaf caterpillar. Research into countermeasures to these pests has as of 2009 yielded no results; researchers from the Kerala Agricultural University and the Central Plantation Crop Research Institute, Kasaragode, continue to work on countermeasures. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kannur under Kerala Agricultural University has developed an innovative extension approach called the compact area group approach  to combat coconut mites.


It is native to SE Europe east to the Caucasus, introduced as a garden plant and widely naturalized as a garden escape on rough ground, roadsides and damp places.


Lysimachia punctata is a rhizomatous perennial herbaceous plant growing up to about 1.2m in height. The flowers have five petals, sepals and stamens and are produced in dense groups in the axils of leaves. The leaves are opposite and ovate. Both the leaves and the flower parts are hairy. The petals are fringed with hairs and the hairy sepals all-green, without the orange margin of L. vulgaris.


Young first-year garlic mustard plants contain up to 100ppm cyanide, a level which is toxic to many vertebrates. Once the plant is chopped up the cyanide gas is eliminated.


Garlic mustard is one of the oldest spices used in Europe. Phytoliths in pottery of the Ertebølle and Funnelneck-Beaker culture in north-eastern Germany and Denmark, dating to 4100–3750 BCE prove its use.
In the 17th century Britain, it was recommended as a flavouring for salt fish. It can also be made into a sauce for eating with roast lamb or salad. Early European settlers brought the herb to the New World to use as a garlic type flavouring. Its traditional medicinal purposes include use as a diuretic. The herb was also planted as a form of erosion control.
Today, the chopped leaves are used for flavouring in salads and sauces such as pesto, and sometimes the flowers and fruit are included as well. The leaves, best when young, taste of both garlic and mustard. The seeds are sometimes used in France to season food. Garlic mustard was once used medicinally as a disinfectant or diuretic, and was sometimes used to treat wounds.


Alliaria petiolata, or  garlic mustard, is a biennial flowering plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, north-western Africa, Morocco, Iberia and the British Isles, north to northern Scandinavia, and east to northern Pakistan and Xinjiang in western China.
In the first year of growth, plants form clumps of round, slightly wrinkled leaves, that when crushed smell like garlic. The plants flower in spring of the next year, producing cross shaped white flowers in dense clusters. As the flowering stems bloom they elongate into a spike-like shape. When flowering is complete, plants produce upright fruits that release seeds in mid-summer. Plants are often found growing along the margins of hedges, giving rise to the old British folk name of jack-by-the-hedge. Other common names include: garlic mustard, garlic root, hedge garlic, sauce-alone, jack-in-the-bush, penny hedge and poor man's mustard. The genus name Alliaria, "resembling Allium", refers to the garlic-like odour of the crushed foliage.
All parts of the plant, including the roots, give off a strong odour like garlic.


It is an herbaceous biennial plant growing from a deeply growing, thin, whitish taproot scented like horseradish. In their first years, plants are rosettes of green leaves close to the ground; these rosettes remain green through the winter and develop into mature flowering plants the following spring. Second-year plants often grow from 30–100 cm (12–39 in) tall, rarely to 130 cm (51 in) tall. The leaves are stalked, triangular through heart shaped, 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) long (of which about half being the petiole) and 5–9 cm (2.0–3.5 in) broad, with coarsely toothed margins. The flowers are produced in spring and summer in small clusters. Each small flower has four white petals 4–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.08–0.12 in) broad, arranged in a cross shape. The fruit is an erect, slender, four-sided capsule 4–5.5 cm (1.6–2.2 in) long, called a silique, green maturing to pale grey brown, containing two rows of small shiny black seeds which are released when a silique splits open. A single plant can produce hundreds of seeds, which often scatter several meters from the parent plant.
Depending upon conditions, garlic mustard flowers either self-fertilize or are cross-pollinated by a variety of insects.
Sixty-nine insect herbivores and seven fungi are associated with garlic mustard in Europe. The most important groups of natural enemies associated with garlic mustard were weevils (particularly the genus Ceutorhynchus), leaf beetles, butterflies, and moths, including the larvae of some moth species such as the garden carpet moth. The small white flowers have a rather unpleasant aroma which attracts midges and hoverflies, although the flowers usually pollinate themselves. In June the pale green caterpillar of the orange tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines) can be found feeding on the long green seed-pods from which it can hardly be distinguished.


Black ash is a medium-sized deciduous tree reaching 15–20 metres (49–66 ft) (exceptionally 26 metres (85 ft)) tall with a trunk up to 60 cm (24 inches) diameter, or exceptionally to 160 cm (63 inches). The bark is grey, thick and corky even on young trees, becoming scaly and fissured with age. The winter buds are dark brown to blackish, with a velvety texture. The leaves are opposite, pinnately compound, with 7–13 (most often 9) leaflets; each leaf is 20–45 cm (8–18 in) long, the leaflets 7–16 cm (2+3⁄4–6+1⁄4 in) long and 2.5–5 cm (1–2 in) broad, with a finely toothed margin. The leaflets are sessile, directly attached to the rachis without a petiolule. The flowers are produced in spring shortly before the new leaves, in loose panicles; they are inconspicuous with no petals, and are wind-pollinated. The fruit is a samara 2.5–4.5 cm (1–1+3⁄4 in) long comprising a single seed 2 cm (3⁄4 in) long with an elongated apical wing 1.5–2 cm (5⁄8–3⁄4 in) long and 6–8 mm (1⁄4–5⁄16 in) broad.


Fraxinus nigra, the black ash, is a species of ash native to much of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, from western Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba, and south to Illinois and northern Virginia. Formerly abundant, as of 2014 the species is threatened with near total extirpation throughout its range, as a result of infestation by a parasitic insect known as the emerald ash borer.


North American native ash tree species are used by North American frogs as a critical food source, as the leaves that fall from the trees are particularly suitable for tadpoles to feed upon in ponds (both temporary and permanent), large puddles, and other water sources. Species such as red maple, which are taking the place of ash, due to the ash borer, are much less suitable for the frogs as a food source—resulting in poor frog survival rates and small frog sizes. It is the lack of tannins in the American ash variety that makes them good for the frogs as a food source and also not resistant to the ash borer. Varieties of ash from outside North America typically have much higher tannin levels and resist the borer. Maples and various non-native invasive trees, trees that are taking the place of American ash species in the North American ecosystem, typically have much higher leaf tannin levels. Ash species native to North America also provide important habitat and food for various other creatures that are native to North America, such as the long-horned beetle, avian species, and mammalian species. Black ash is a food plant for the larvae of several species of Lepidoptera; see List of Lepidoptera that feed on ashes.


Pavonia lasiopetala is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names that include Texas swamp-mallow, Wright pavonia, and rock rose. It is native to Texas in the United States and Coahuila and Nuevo León in Mexico.
This is a shrubby perennial herb growing up to 4 feet tall. The alternately arranged leaves have toothed or lobed edges and are up to 2.5 inches long. The flowers have five red or pink petals and bloom from June until the fall months. They are attractive to hummingbirds.
Many animals feed on the plant, including livestock. It is added to seed mixes used to vegetate rangeland in its native range.
This plant is cultivated for use as a garden and landscaping flower. It has the capacity to become weedy.


It grows in the arid regions of western Canada, western United States (from the western Great Plains to the Pacific) and northern Mexico.


Along with associated species, like big sage and western wheat grass, rubber rabbitbrush is a significant source of food for browsing wildlife (including game animals and rabbits) on winter ranges. Dense stands of this species often grow on poorly managed rangelands, in disturbed areas along roadways and on abandoned agricultural property.
The species often occurs with Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus.


Ericameria nauseosa is a perennial shrub growing to 2 to 8 metres (6+1⁄2 to 26 feet). The leaves, depending on the subspecies, are 2–7.5 centimetres (3⁄4–3 inches) long and narrow to spatula-shaped. Both the flexible (rubbery) stems and the leaves are greenish-gray with a soft felt-like covering.
It blooms from August to October and produces pungent-smelling, golden-yellow flowers. The flower heads are 6–13 millimetres (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) long and made up of 5 small, yellow, tubular disk flowers, and occur in umbrella-shaped terminal clusters. The shrub reproduces from seeds and root sprouts.


Agropyron cristatum, the crested wheat grass, crested wheatgrass, fairway crested wheat grass, is a species in the family Poaceae. This plant is often used as forage and erosion control. It is well known as a widespread introduced species on the prairies of the United States and Canada.


Agropyron cristatum is a densely tufted grass, with culms ranging from 30–50 cm high at maturity. Its sheaths are scabrous or the lowest ones pubescent. Its blades are up to 8 mm wide and scabrous to pubescent above. Its spikes are flat and range from 2–7 cm long, with spikelets ranging from 8–15 mm long, being 3–5-flowered, densely crowded, and spreading to ascending. Its glumes are 4–6 mm long, awn-tipped, and its lemmas are 6–8 mm long and either awnless or awn-tipped.
Agropyron cristatum is  known among other grasses and wheats for its relatively high granivory. Granivory, or granivores, describe the interaction between animals and seeds. Agropyron cristatum's high granivory indicates that animals feed on the seeds of the plant as their primary, or even exclusive, food source. Although this raises concerns about the plant's continued ability to reproduce if its seeds are all being consumed, the high granivory of this species does indicate that Agropyron cristatum is an important food source.


This plant is popular in coastal gardens as an ornamental. It grows in coastal dunes and because of its vigorous and compact growth habit, it can be shaped into a dense hedge. It also produces attractive multicoloured berries throughout the year that are ornamental and attract frugivorous birds.
Osyris compressa has been grown in programs to stabilize coastal dunes.
The leaves and bark used to be valued for tanning. The wood is high-quality and fine-grained, but the plant seldom produces trunks or limbs large enough for most uses. Although not much active cultivation of the plant occurs, it seems to be of interest as a source of incense and essential oil in much the same way as sandalwood.
The flesh of the berries is edible and formed part of the diet of the local Khoikhoi, both fresh and preserved as the dried pulp. It shows little promise as a popular fruit for westerners, however, having a "tingly sour taste", according to some reports. Others however describe it as "plum-like", and the Afrikaans name pruimbos means "plum bush".  An extract from the boiled bark has been used to flavour tea.
Osyris compressa can be propagated by seed.


Cape sumach is a shrub or small tree of up to 5 m tall, though a more typical size for a plant growing in the open would be 2 to 3 m. The leaves are opposite, decussate, blue-green with a greyish bloom, elliptical, smooth, stiff, typically about 20–50 mm long, with thickened, entire margins.  The inflorescence is a terminal panicle, bearing small, slightly fragrant, bisexual flowers. The flowers are creamy-green and unspectacular, but they appear through much of the year, attracting pollinating insects of various types. The ovary has four ovules, but the fruit is a single-seeded drupe, a prolate spheroid in shape. It is about 15 to 25 mm long and perhaps 10 to 15 mm across. The drupe is fleshy with a smooth skin crowned with the perianth lobes in a ring around its tip. Usually by the time the fruit is ripe, a circular groove is all that remains of the perianth. The fruit are colourful, progressing first from greenish blue to bright red, and then to glossy purple or black as they ripen; they mature at different rates, so the successive colours can be quite showy in combination.
The species is mainly South African, occurring from the coastal fynbos in the region of the Cape Peninsula in the west, along the south coast and north into tropical East Africa.


O. compressa is a tough and adaptable plant. It can withstand frost, heat and winds. It grows fast and survives in poor, sandy soils, even in coastal dunes, where it may play a significant role as a windbreak and in binding sand.  Being monoecious, and with bisexual flowers, and both cross-pollinating and self-fertile, the species produces fertile seeds prolifically. It begins to bear fruit when quite young, and it seeds plentifully practically throughout the year. The fruit attracts a range of birds and mammals that spread the seed effectively.
Like many members of the family Santalaceae, it exploits a facultative hemiparasitic ecological strategy to supplement its nutrient supplies, especially in dry conditions or poor soils. Its roots form haustoria that tap into the roots of nearby plants and extract their sap. Although these plants can grow without a host, this habit helps them to flourish in relatively poor coastal sands, and they need hosts if they are to grow at their best. In this respect, O. compressa resembles some other hemiparasites in related families such as Nuytsia floribunda in the Loranthaceae.
Being parasitic does not protect O. compressa from other parasites; several species of mistletoe in the genus  Viscum (currently recognised as members of the same family as Osyris) often parasitise its branches. Also, given it is a root parasite, it in turn may be host to another root parasite in the same family, Thesidium fragile, and possibly related species. It is not clear which, if either, of these rival root parasites benefits from the other when their roots meet.
Being a densely leaved shrub with plentiful, if inconspicuous, flowers and edible fruit, O. compressa is of importance as a shelter and food plant for many animals. Of these probably the best-known is the butterfly Mylothris agathina, a member of the family Pieridae.


Asplenium oblongifolium is a native species of fern from New Zealand. The plant's common name is shining spleenwort and its Māori name is huruhuruwhenua. A. oblongifolium is found on the North, South, Chatham and Kermadec Islands, and is found from the coast to the mountains.


Astragalus danicus flowers provide nectar and are visited by many insects. This species is considered to be mainly pollinated by bees.
In the UK the grasslands where A. danicus is found are predominantly Festuca, Bromopsis and Brachypodium grasslands.
The species is non-toxic and its common name in English comes from the popular belief in history that cows fed with purple milk-vetch yielded more milk.


Astragalus danicus has been indicated to have a number of beneficial medicinal effects, particularly in combatting high blood pressure, however health supplements labelled as 'milk-vetch' may contain extracts from a different species in the genus Astragalus. Some other species in the genus Astragalus are known to be toxic to animals and referred to in the US as 'locoweed'.


Astragalus danicus, known as purple milk-vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae (legumes), which is native to Europe.


Astragalus danicus is a perennial herb. It grows to about 30 cm (12 in) tall with pinnate 3–7 cm compound leaves having 13–27 5-12mm long hairy leaflets. Its flowers are usually in shades of blue and purple, rarely white, 15–18 mm (0.6–0.7 in) long and clustered in short, compact racemes, looking like a single composite flower. They are followed by dark brown, fruit pods 7–9 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long, with white hairs. There is some evidence that seeds persist in the soil seed bank, but seed dispersal is poor (generally only 50 cm).


Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and "with large doses, death is almost instantaneous". Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning (20 to 40 mL of tincture may prove fatal). The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and cutaneous sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. Cardiovascular features include hypotension, sinus bradycardia, and ventricular arrhythmias. Other features may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, headache, and confusion. The main causes of death are ventricular arrhythmias and asystole, paralysis of the heart or of the respiratory center. The only post-mortem signs are those of asphyxia.
Treatment of poisoning is mainly supportive. All patients require close monitoring of blood pressure and cardiac rhythm. Gastrointestinal decontamination with activated charcoal can be used if given within one hour of ingestion. The major physiological antidote is atropine, which is used to treat bradycardia. Other drugs used for ventricular arrhythmia include lidocaine, amiodarone, bretylium, flecainide, procainamide, and mexiletine. Cardiopulmonary bypass is used if symptoms are refractory to treatment with these drugs. Successful use of charcoal hemoperfusion has been claimed in patients with severe aconite poisoning.
Poisoning may also occur following picking the leaves without wearing gloves; the aconitine toxin is absorbed easily through the skin. In this event, there will be no gastrointestinal effects. Tingling will start at the point of absorption and extend up the arm to the shoulder, after which the heart will start to be affected. The tingling will be followed by unpleasant numbness. Treatment is similar to poisoning caused by oral ingestion and even handling the plant without gloves has been reported to result in multi-organ failure and death.
The plant's chief toxic component, aconitine, is a potent neurotoxin that opens tetrodotoxin sensitive sodium channels. It increases the influx of sodium through these channels and delays repolarization, thus increasing excitability and promoting ventricular dysrhythmias.


Aconitum napellus is grown in gardens in temperate zones for its spiky inflorescences that are showy in early-mid summer, and its attractive foliage. There are white and rose colored forms in cultivation too.
The cultivar 'Spark's Variety' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


Aconitum napellus, monkshood, aconite, Venus' chariot or wolfsbane, is a species of highly toxic flowering plant in the genus Aconitum of the family Ranunculaceae, native and endemic to western and central Europe.
It is an herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) tall, with hairless stems and leaves. The leaves are rounded, 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) diameter, palmately divided into five to seven deeply lobed segments. The flowers are dark purple to bluish-purple, narrow oblong helmet-shaped, 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) tall.
Plants native to Asia and North America formerly listed as A. napellus are now regarded as separate species. The plant is extremely poisonous in both ingestion and body contact.


Colias croceus has a wingspan of 46–54 millimetres (1.8–2.1 in). The upperside of the wings is golden to orange yellow with a broad black margin on all four wings and a black spot near the centre forewing. Usually these butterflies settles with its wings closed, consequently the black margin of the uppersides of the wings is difficultly visible.
The underside lacks the black borders and is lighter, with a more greenish tint, particularly on the forewings. In the forewing underside is the same dark spot as on the upperside, but often with a light centre; the hindwing underside has a white centre spot, often with a smaller white or dark dot immediately above it. Sometimes, a row of black dots occurs on the underwings' outer margins, corresponding to where the black border ends on the upperside. Females differ from the males in having yellow spots along the black borders on the upperside.
In flight, Colias croceus is easily identifiable by the intense yellow colouring, much brighter than that of the lemon-yellow male common brimstone which also lacks black markings. Like all Colias species they never open their wings at rest.
In a small proportion of females (about 5%) the golden upperside colouration is replaced by a pale cream colour. These females have been distinguished as form helice. The pale form helice does not seem to be that distinct as intermediates exist and the variation is to some extent related to humidity during development, with dryer conditions producing paler colouration. These pale forms helice can be confused with Berger's clouded yellow (Colias alfacariensis) and the rarer Pale clouded yellow (Colias hyale). Even the palest C. croceus tends to have more black on the upperside however, in particular on the hindwings.
Young caterpillars are yellow-green, with a black head. Later they become completely dark green, with a white red spotted lateral line after the third moult. The pupae are green and have a yellow side stripe.
This species is rather similar to Colias myrmidone, Colias chrysotheme, Colias erate, Colias hyale, Colias alfacariensis, Colias caucasica, Colias aurorina.


Adults fly from March to October. In southern Europe and North Africa they breed continuously throughout the year. Eggs are laid singly on food plant leaves. Usually an extraordinary number of eggs – up to 600 – are laid from a single female.
The caterpillars grow fast in warm weather, sometimes pupating within a month. Caterpillars have 4 moults in total. The pupa remains attached to a foodplant stem by a silk girdle. Pupation lasts for two or three weeks and in good years there can be as many as three generations per year, with adults still on the wing at the beginning of November.
Larvae feed on a variety of leguminous plants, namely Faboideae (Trifolium pratense, Medicago sativa, Medicago lappacea, Medicago hispida, Medicago polymorpha, Medicago sulcata, Vicia, Lotus, Onobrychis, Astragalus, Colutea arborescens, Hippocrepis, and Anthyllis species). In the UK wild and cultivated clovers (Trifolium) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) are favourites; less frequently, common bird's-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus is eaten.
Adults feed primarily on nectar of thistles (Cirsium spp. and Carduus spp.), knapweeds (Centaurea spp.), dandelion (Taraxacum), fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica), marjoram (Origanum vulgare), ragwort (Senecio jacobaea), and vetches (Vicia spp.).


Colias croceus is one of the most-widespread species in Europe. The common clouded yellow's breeding range is North Africa and southern Europe and eastwards through Turkey into the Middle East but it occurs throughout much of Europe as a summer migrant, in good years individuals reaching Scandinavia.  In Asia, its range extends into central Siberia in the north and barely into India in the south; it is not found in Central Asia.
This species is primarily an immigrant to the UK, originating from southern Europe and northern Africa. In the UK they can be seen on the south coast almost every year in varying numbers, and regularly breed there. Occurrence in the rest of the UK varies considerably from year to year, but they are increasingly observed as far north as Dumfries and Galloway. It has also been recorded in Ireland from the Raven, Co. Wexford, to Belfast, Co. Down.
A truly migratory European butterfly, this species is famous for occasional mass migrations and subsequent breeding, which are often referred to in the United Kingdom as "clouded yellow years". Notable clouded yellow years include 1877, 1947, 1983, 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2000.


The plant's oils are toxic to the liver and digestive system of humans if taken internally, so care must be taken during any form of internal use. Generally, toxic symptoms will subside 24–48 hours after ingesting the plant.


Big sagebrush is a coarse, many-branched, pale-grey shrub with yellow flowers and silvery-grey foliage, which is generally 0.5–3 metres (1+1⁄2–10 feet) tall. A deep taproot 1–4 m (3+1⁄2–13 ft) in length, coupled with laterally spreading roots near the surface, allows sagebrush to gather water from both surface precipitation and the water table several meters beneath. Big sagebrush that is over a meter tall is an indicator of arable land, because it prefers deep, basic soils. Sagebrush is generally long-lived once it makes it past the seedling stage, and can reach ages of over 100 years.
The species has a strong pungent fragrance (especially when wet) due to the presence of camphor, terpenoids and other volatile oils. The taste is bitter and, together with the odor, serves to discourage browsing by many herbivores. It is an evergreen shrub, keeping some of its leaves year-round (although it loses many of them in the late summer). The leaves—attached to the branches at the axillary nodes—are wedge-shaped, 1–3 centimetres (1⁄2–1+1⁄4 inches) long and 0.3–1 cm broad, with the wider outer tips divided into three lobes (hence the scientific name tridentata). The leaves are covered with fine silvery hairs.
The plant flowers in the late summer or early fall. The small yellow flowers are in long, loosely arranged tubular clusters. The fruits are seed-like and have a small amount of hairs on the surface.
Big sagebrush can also reproduce through sprouts, which shoot up from the underground rhizome. The sprouts are an extension of the parental plant while seedlings are completely individualistic to any other plant. Among these two strategies, the seedlings need more moisture for germination and early survival. This is due to the sprouts being connected to already healthy and associated plants while the new seedlings will start anew.


The plant's active medicinal constituents include camphor, terpenoids, and tannins.
It is used as an herbal medicine by Native Americans throughout the Intermountain West of North America, most notably as a smudging herb. It is also used for preventing infection in wounds, stopping internal bleeding, and treating headaches and colds.
The Navajo use the vapors of sagebrush as a treatment for headache. The Okanagan and Colville people used sagebrush to smoke hides.
Among the Zuni people, an infusion of the leaves is used externally for body aches. The infusion is also taken as a cold medicine. It is also placed in shoes to treat athlete's foot, fissures between toes, and as a foot deodorant.


Artemisia tridentata grows in arid and semi-arid conditions, throughout the Intermountain West of North America. Sagebrush is not a desert plant, but rather a resident of the steppe, in areas that receive 18–40 centimeters (7–15+1⁄2 in) of annual precipitation. Big sagebrush and other Artemisia species are the dominant plants across large portions of the Great Basin, covering some 422,000 square miles (1,090,000 square kilometres) in 11 western U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Sagebrush provides food and habitat for a variety of animal species, such as sage grouse, pronghorn, gray vireo, pygmy rabbit, and mule deer. Sagebrush also creates habitat for many species of grasses and herbs. Besides providing shade and shelter from the wind, the long taproot of sagebrush draws water up from deep in the soil, some of which becomes available to these surrounding shallow-rooted plants.
The terpenoid compounds in big sagebrush are thought to ward off herbivores. These oils, at high concentrations, are toxic to the symbiotic bacteria in the rumen of some ruminants like deer and cattle. Pronghorn are the only large herbivore to browse sagebrush extensively. Damage to sagebrush plants caused by grazing herbivores results in the release of volatile chemicals, which are used to signal a warning to nearby plants, so that they can increase the production of repellent chemical compounds. This plant-to-plant communication can take place at distances of up to 60 cm.
Several major threats exist to sage brush ecosystems, including human settlements, conversion to agricultural land, livestock grazing, invasive plant species, wildfires, and climate change. The cattle industry burns large areas of sagebrush habitat to make way for grazing animals. Due to large periods of time where sagebrush was the primary shrub, many species have become adapted to this habitat. The burning of the shrubs leads to habitat loss of many species and can be very detrimental to the ecosystem as a whole. Furthermore, the destruction of native grasses and forbs by grazing and fire creates conditions where invasive plants colonize the area. The invasive species which has destroyed the largest amount of sagebrush habitat is cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Since its accidental introduction in the 1890s, cheatgrass has radically altered the native shrub ecosystem by replacing indigenous vegetation, and by creating a fire cycle that is too frequent to allow sagebrush to re-establish itself. Sagebrush is not fire-tolerant and relies on wind-blown seeds from outside the burned area for re-establishment. Some tree species have also been encroaching on big sagebrush habitat. For example, in the Warner Mountains in California white fir (Abies concolor) has been out-competing big sagebrush.


Lespedeza capitata is a species of flowering plant in the Fabaceae, or legume family, and is known by the common name roundhead bushclover, or roundhead lespedeza. It is native to eastern North America, including eastern Canada and the eastern half of the United States.
This plant is a perennial herb with erect stems growing up to 1.5 meters tall. The taproot may grow over two meters deep into the soil, with lateral roots reaching out one meter horizontally. The alternately arranged leaves are each made up of several leaflets. The plant is coated in silvery hairs. Flowers are borne in somewhat rounded clusters atop each stem. The flower is white with a purple spot.
This plant is used as a component of seed mixes for vegetating rangeland. It is a good addition to livestock forage, as it is palatable and nutritious.  USDA NRCS Plant Guide. The plant can also be used in flower arrangements.
This plant had a number of medicinal uses for Native American groups. It was used as a moxa to treat rheumatism. The Comanche used the leaves for tea. The Meskwaki used the roots to make an antidote for poison. The Pawnee people referred to the plant as rabbit foot (parus-asu) on account of the shape of its fruits and made a tea from the dry stems and leaves when coffee was not available. Among the Omaha and Ponca peoples, it was known as the male buffalo bellow plant.
The cultivar 'Kanoka' was released by the USDA in 1998.
This plant may suffer from the rust pathogen Uromyces lespedezae-procaumbentis and the tar spot fungus Phyllachora lespedezae, as well as herbivory by the insect Pachyschelus laevigatus.


In the wild this plant grows in wooded areas, on prairies, and in disturbed habitat such as roadsides. It is tolerant of drought. It fixes nitrogen.
It hosts numerous lepidoptera species, such as the eastern tailed blue, gray hairstreak, hoary edge, northern cloudywing, orange sulphur, silver-spotted skipper, southern cloudywing, and spring azure.
Its seeds are popular with several bird species, in particular the bobwhite quail.


Chlosyne ehrenbergii, the white-rayed checkerspot, white-rayed patch or Ehrenberg's patch, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Mexico.
Adult females are highly gregarious, clustering together in groups on Buddleia bushes. Adults feed on flower nectar of various flowers, including daisies and other Asteraceae species.
The larvae feed on Buddleia species.


Polemonium caeruleum, known as Jacob's-ladder or Greek valerian, is a hardy perennial flowering plant. The plant produces cup-shaped, blue or white flowers. It is native to temperate regions of Europe.


The plant usually reaches 45–60 cm (18–24 in) tall and broad, but some occasionally grow taller than 90 cm (35 in). It can grow in North American hardiness zone 2.


The pearl-bordered fritillary is widespread throughout Europe, ranging from Scandinavia to northern Spain and from Ireland eastwards across the Palearctic to Russia and to the north of Kazakhstan. In England and Wales (plus another 10 countries) it has declined rapidly in number and is a highly threatened species.


The adult butterfly is orange with black spots on the upperside of its wing and has a wingspan of 38–46 mm. The underside of the wings have a row of silver-pearly markings along the edge, which give the species its name. The pearl-bordered fritillary is often confused with the small pearl-bordered fritillary, but can be distinguished by the triangle along its pearl border (the small pearl-bordered has black chevrons) as well as the presence of a single silver spot in the middle of a row of yellow spots. The female has darker markings and rounder wings than the male. The caterpillars are black with white or yellow spines along their backs.
Like other species of fritillary, the males have special scent glands on their wings so that they can be recognised by females of their own species and therefore find a suitable partner.


The emerging caterpillars begin feeding immediately and will moult three times within the first 5–6 weeks. Each caterpillar will then hibernate in a shriveled leaf at the base of the plant, usually moving to the hibernation site at the end of July. The caterpillars lose half of their body mass by the time the emerge in the following March. After a period of feeding and growth, during which it moults one last time, the caterpillar is full size and ready to pupate. The chrysalis stage is formed among the leaf litter, and lasts just 10–14 days.
The adult butterfly flies between late April and June, and is one of the earliest fritillaries to emerge. Adults feed on the nectar from early spring flowers such as bugle, dandelion, and lesser celandine.
There is a second brood during August.


The adult small blue has a lifespan of about three months. In the southern United Kingdom, there are two broods a summer. One is in June, and the other in August with the second brood being smaller. However, in the northern part of the United Kingdom, only the June brood is present. The small blue is diurnal, and often lives in colonies. While most colonies consist of a few dozen individuals, colonies of several hundred have been recorded.


Small blue males are dark brown with a scattering of bright blue scales that speckle their wings. Females lack this blue speckling. Both males and females exhibit the characteristic silver underside with black spots. The male has a bluish tint at the base of its wings similar to the upper side.  Their wingspan can fall anywhere from 16-27mm, but males tend to be the smaller sex. Small blues are often confused with the female Osiris Blue, whose coloring is similar to that of the male small blue.


Recorded larval food plants are Oxytropis campestris, Astragalus alpinus, Lotus corniculatus, Anthyllis vulneraria, Melilotus, Coronilla, Medicago, Anthyllis vulneraria, Astragalus glycyphyllos and Astragalus cicer.
In the UK, small blues lay their eggs, live, and feed exclusively on the kidney vetch. While females obtain all of their nutrients from plants, males will extract salts and minerals from carrion, dung, and mud puddles.


C. minimus is found in Europe, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Tian-Shan, western Siberia, central Siberia, southern Siberia, the Russian Far East, Amur, Mongolia, Magadan and Kamchatka.


The yellow-winged darter (Sympetrum flaveolum) is a dragonfly found in Europe and mid and northern China. Breeding is confined to stagnant water, usually in peat bogs. Although not resident in the United Kingdom it occasionally migrates there in some numbers. Such 'Invasion Years' occurred in 1906, 1926, 1945, 1953, and 1995. On each occasion a small breeding colony appeared, but they have invariably died out after a few years.
An almost unmistakable darter, red-bodied in the male, with both sexes having large amounts of saffron-yellow colouration to the basal area of each wing, which is particularly noticeable on the hind-wings. Other Sympetrum species may have limited yellow-orange colouration near the extreme wing-bases, especially in females, but never so extensively as in this species.
Sites which are likely to attract this species have thick rushy margins. The yellow-winged darter tends to make quite short flights when settled at a site, and frequently perches quite low down on vegetation.
The yellow-winged darter has bred but is not established in the UK. It has occurred in Cumbria as single individuals on very few occasions. The most recent record was at Killington Reservoir in August 1995.
In Southern Europe, the nymphs of this dragonfly live in oligotrophic lakes with submerged vegetation, at high altitudes. Temperature and vegetation of these habitats are likely to be altered by Climate Change. As an abundant predator the species has an important role in food webs of high altitude lakes. Its disappearance will lead to changes in food webs.


Buprestis aurulenta, commonly known as the golden jewel beetle or golden buprestid, is a species of beetle in the genus Buprestis.
The larvae of Buprestis aurulenta live inside a variety of coniferous trees and can survive for long periods in dry wood. The adult beetle is an iridescent green, with shining orange trim all around the wing covers.
The beetles are found in the Pacific Northwest as far north as southern British Columbia and southward through the Rocky Mountains to Mexico. They are rare in Alberta, and specimens have been collected in Manitoba.
On May 27, 1983, a splendor beetle emerged from a staircase in Essex, UK, after at least 47 years as a larva.


Northern and eastern form. Differs as follows: Wings on the whole longer and narrower; hyaline markings, especially in interspace 1 of forewing and in cells of both forewing and hindwing, very much broader. In many specimens the black ground colour in these spaces is reduced to a mere slender black line enclosed in the subhyaline marking. On the underside the streaks are often much blurred and diffuse.
Wingspan 70–100 mm.


Western Ghats, north-east India , Sri Lanka and Malay peninsula.


Parantica aglea, the glassy tiger, is a butterfly found in Indomalayan realm that belongs to the crows and tigers, that is, the danaid group of the brush-footed butterflies family.


Acraea issoria, the yellow coster, is a small, leathery-winged butterfly. This species of the subgenus (Actinote) and the tawny coster (Acraea (acraea) terpsicore) with its sister species (A. (a.) moluccana) and (A. (a.) meyeri) of the nominotypical subgenus, are the only Asiatic representatives of the predominantly African subfamily Acraeinae.
According to George Talbot (Fauna of British India) the race anomala is found in the western Himalayas while the nominate form is from the eastern Himalayas.


Neurothemis tullia, the pied paddy skimmer, is a species of dragonfly found in south and south-east Asia. It appears in Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia), Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam.


Xylocopa tabaniformis, the horsefly-like carpenter bee or mountain carpenter bee is a species of carpenter bee in the family Apidae. It is found in Central America, North America, and South America. It is 12–18 millimetres (15⁄32–23⁄32 in) long and black. Males have yellow hair on the thorax.


Lestes barbarus is a southern European species with a rapidly expanding range. It is found across southern Europe in a band across Spain, France, Italy and Greece to India and Mongolia. It is less common in northern Europe. It breeds in the Netherlands in coastal dunes and is increasing in number. It is at the edge of its range in the Channel Islands, where it has been breeding since 1995. It is also found in North Africa; it gets its Latin name as the first specimen was found in Barbary, North Africa. It is a damselfly of still water and can be found in stagnant and slightly brackish water.
This species was first recorded in Britain at Winterton Dunes, Norfolk, on 30 July 2002. In 2003 and 2004 it was noted  at Sandwich Bay, Kent. In 2018 it was proven to have bred in Britain for the first time.


The flight period is from March to October in the south of its range but in north it flies mainly from June to August. Its behaviour is similar to that of L. sponsa, but it is more likely to be found away from water. After mating the pair usually remain in tandem while the female lays eggs on waterside plants. The eggs overwinter in diapause and the larvae hatch in spring. The larvae develop within two months, the adults emerging in late spring.


Ceriagrion coromandelianum is a species of damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. it is commonly known as coromandel marsh dart and yellow waxtail. This species can be found in South Asian countries such as: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal.


The orange swift or orange moth (Triodia sylvina) is a moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761. It was previously placed in the genus Hepialus. It is distributed throughout Europe.
This species has a wingspan of 32–48 mm. The male has rich orange forewings with two white bars forming a "V" shape. The hindwings are dark brown. The female is similar but generally larger and less brightly coloured. It flies at night from June to September and is attracted to light.
The larva feeds on the roots of various plants including bracken, dandelion, dock, hop and viper's bugloss. This species overwinters twice as a larva.
The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.


Scaphinotus angusticollis is a species of ground beetle in the family Carabidae. It is found in North America.


Dolomedes scriptus is a fishing spider found in the United States and Canada, known as the striped fishing spider. Female spiders can grow to be over 6 cm in legspan. The spider is a pale brown colour with lighter stripes around its legs and a stripe down each side of the body. It is similar to D. tenebrosus.


Velella is a monospecific genus of hydrozoa in the Porpitidae family. Its only known species is Velella velella, a cosmopolitan free-floating hydrozoan that lives on the surface of the open ocean. It is commonly known by the names sea raft, by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella.
This small cnidarian is part of a specialised ocean surface community that includes the better-known cnidarian siphonophore, the Portuguese man o' war. Specialized predatory gastropod molluscs prey on these cnidarians. Such predators include nudibranchs (sea slugs) in the genus Glaucus and purple snails in the genus Janthina.
Each apparent individual is a hydroid colony, and most are less than about 7 cm long. They are usually deep blue in colour, but their most obvious feature is a small stiff sail that catches the wind and propels them over the surface of the sea. Under certain wind conditions, they may be stranded by the thousand on beaches.
Like other Cnidaria, Velella velella are carnivorous. They catch their prey, generally plankton, by means of tentacles that hang down in the water and bear cnidocysts (also called nematocysts). The toxins in their nematocysts are effective against their prey. While cnidarians all possess nematocysts, in some species the nematocysts and toxins therein are more powerful than other species.  V. velella's nematocysts are relatively benign to humans, although each person may respond differently to contact with the nematocyst toxin. It is wise to avoid touching one's face or eyes after handling V. velella, and itching may develop on parts of the skin that have been exposed to V. velella nematocysts.


Velella velella lives in warm and temperate waters in all the world's oceans. They live at the water/air interface, with the float above the water, and polyps hanging down about a centimetre below. Organisms that live partly in and partly out of the water like this are known as neuston. Offshore boaters sometimes encounter thousands of V. velella on the water surface.
The small rigid sail projects into the air and catches the wind . However Velella sails always align along the direction of the wind where the sail may act as an aerofoil so that the animals tend to sail downwind at a small angle to the wind. Having no means of locomotion other than its sail, V. velella is at the mercy of prevailing winds for moving around the seas, and are thereby also subject to mass-strandings on beaches throughout the world. For example, most years in the spring, there is a mass stranding that occurs along the West Coast of North America, from British Columbia to California, beginning in the north and moving south over several weeks' time. In some years, so many animals are left at the tide line by receding waves, that the line of dying (and subsequently rotting) animals may be many centimetres deep, along hundreds of kilometres of beaches.  Mass strandings have been reported also on the west coast of Ireland, and in Hayle, on the west coast of Cornwall in England.


Like many Hydrozoa, Velella velella has a bipartite life cycle, with a form of alternation of generations. The deep blue, by-the-wind sailors that are recognized by many beach-goers are the polyp phase of the life cycle. Each "individual" with its sail is really a hydroid colony, with many polyps that feed on ocean plankton.  These are connected by a canal system that enables the colony to share whatever food is ingested by individual polyps.  Each by-the-wind sailor is a colony of all-male or all-female polyps.  The colony has several different kinds of polyps, some of which are both feeding and reproductive, called gonozooids, and others protective, called dactylozooids.
The gonozooids each produce numerous tiny jellyfish by an asexual budding process, so that each Velella colony produces thousands of tiny jellyfish (medusae), each about 1 mm high and wide, over several weeks. The tiny medusae are each provided with many zooxanthellae, single-celled endosymbiotic organisms typically also found in corals and some sea anemones, that can utilize sunlight to provide energy to the jellyfish. Curiously, although a healthy captive Velella will release many medusae under the microscope, and are expected to do the same in the sea, the medusae of Velella are rarely captured in the plankton and very little is known about their natural history. The medusae develop to sexual maturity within about three weeks in the laboratory and their free-spawned eggs and sperm develop into a planktonic larva called a conaria, which develops into a new floating Velella hydroid colony.


Jewel spiders are cathemeral, remaining active both day and night. Females build vertically-oriented orb webs about 1 to 2 m (3.3 to 6.6 ft) from the ground and 0.45 to 1 m (1.5 to 3.3 ft) in diameter. They are circular with a very dense spiral pattern woven around twenty to thirty rays attached to support threads. The rays do not meet at the centre, but are connected to a small central ring.

Jewel spiders are unusual in that they deliberately make their support threads visible to larger animals. They do this by adding white silk tufts along the support threads at intervals of about 20 mm (0.8 in). It is believed that this is to prevent larger animals from inadvertently walking into the webs and damaging them. Nonetheless, the webs may sometimes be encountered damaged and reduced to only a few threads. The webs are more or less permanent, unlike many other orb weaver spiders which regularly destroy and rebuild their webs every day. Females do not make retreats near their webs. Instead they rest in the centre of the web with their head downwards. Males are usually found on nearby vegetation.
Jewel spiders are facultatively gregarious. They can often be found living near each other in large overlapping aggregations of orb webs of usually thirty individuals. These can entirely blanket shrubs, tree branches, or man-made structures. A 1997 study observed that aggregations do not seem to increase the amount of prey caught, but it is believed that they still benefit the individual members in other ways. One such advantage is foraging efficiency. By attaching their webs to neighbouring webs, jewel spiders do not need to produce as much silk as they would have when building solitary orb webs. The use of neighbouring webs for support may also allow them to build webs in prey-rich areas they normally can not reach alone (such as the wide gaps between trees). Prey capture may further be enhanced by the creation of a "ricochet effect", wherein prey that escapes one web, may be caught by a neighbouring web.
Aggregations were also observed to attract more males as well as protect the females from predators. However, the egg sacs in communal webs were attacked more often by parasitoids than the egg sacs laid by solitary females.


Jewel spiders are endemic to Australia. They can be found all throughout the mainland, as well surrounding islands, including Tasmania, Barrow Island (Western Australia), and the Montebello Islands. They are more common on the southern regions of the continent, from southern Queensland and New South Wales, through Victoria and Southern Australia, to Western Australia. Though they can be found in the Northern Territory, they are less common and their place is usually taken by species from the genus Gasteracantha instead.


Austracantha is a genus of spider with a single species, Austracantha minax, commonly known as the jewel spider or the Christmas spider. It is a member of the family Araneidae (the orb-weavers) and is endemic to Australia. They are relatively small spiders, reaching a maximum total body length of only around 12 mm (0.47 in) for females, and 5 mm (0.20 in) for males. Their abdomen has six distinctive projections ("spines") that makes them easy to identify. They are predominantly a shiny black, with variable white, yellow, and orange patterns. Melanistic forms also occur during autumn. They are facultatively gregarious, and can be found in large aggregations of overlapping orb webs. They feed on small flying insects that get entangled in their webs.  They are harmless to humans, though the webs can be a nuisance for bushwalkers. They are most abundant during the summer months.


Jewel spiders are opportunistic predators. They prey on small flying insects like flies and mosquitoes that get entangled on their webs.


Species in the family Nidulariaceae, including Crucibulum, are considered inedible, as they are "not sufficiently large, fleshy, or odorous to be of interest to humans as food". However, there have not been reports of poisonous alkaloids or other substances considered toxic to humans.


The life cycle of Crucibulum, which contains both haploid and diploid stages, is typical of the species of Basidiomycota that can reproduce both asexually (via vegetative spores), or sexually (with meiosis). Like other wood-decay fungi, this life cycle may be considered as two functionally different phases: the vegetative stage for the spread of mycelia, and the reproductive stage for the establishment of spore-producing structures, the fruiting bodies.
The vegetative stage encompasses those phases of the life cycle involved with the germination, spread, and survival of the mycelium. Spores germinate under suitable conditions of moisture and temperature, and grow into branching filaments called hyphae, pushing out like roots into the rotting wood. These hyphae are homokaryotic, containing a single nucleus in each compartment; they increase in length by adding cell-wall material to a growing tip. As these tips expand and spread to produce new growing points, a network called the mycelium develops. Mycelial growth occurs by mitosis and the synthesis of hyphal biomass. When two homokaryotic hyphae of different mating compatibility groups fuse with one another, they form a dikaryotic mycelia in a process called plasmogamy. Prerequisites for mycelial survival and colonization a substrate (like rotting wood) include suitable humidity and nutrient availability. Crucibulum laeve is saprobic, so mycelial growth in rotting wood is made possible by the secretion of enzymes that break down complex polysaccharides (such as cellulose and lignin) into simple sugars that can be used as nutrients.
After a period of time and under the appropriate environmental conditions, the dikaryotic mycelia may enter the reproductive stage of the life cycle. Fruiting body formation is influenced by external factors such as season (which affects temperature and air humidity), nutrients and light. As fruiting bodies develop they produce peridioles containing the basidia upon which new basidiospores are made. Young basidia contain a pair of haploid sexually compatible nuclei which fuse, and the resulting diploid fusion nucleus undergoes meiosis to produce basidiospores, each containing a single haploid nucleus. The dikaryotic mycelia from which the fruiting bodies are produced is long lasting, and will continue to produce successive generations of fruiting bodies as long as the environmental conditions are favorable.


Grown in liquid culture, Crucibulum laeve produces bioactive chemicals called salfredins that are structurally related to benzofuran and chromene, molecules that contain cyclic amide or lactone five-membered ring structures; these compounds are unique to this species. Salfredin B₁₁ was first identified in 1995, while later research confirmed the presence of additional salfredin-type metabolites. These compounds are inhibitors of aldose reductase, an enzyme that has been implicated in the formation of cataracts in advanced stages of diabetes mellitus. The salfredin compounds may have therapeutic use in the treatment of this disorder.


Crucibulum is a genus in the Nidulariaceae, a family of fungi whose fruiting bodies resemble tiny egg-filled bird's nests. Often called "splash cups", the fruiting bodies are adapted for spore dispersal by using the kinetic energy of falling drops of rain. The "eggs" inside the bird's nests (technically known as peridioles) are hard waxy shells containing spores, and tend to stick to whatever nearby herbage they land on, thus increasing the odds of being consumed and dispersed by herbivorous animals. Members of this genus are saprobic, obtaining nutrients from dead organic matter, and are typically found growing on decayed wood and wood debris. The three known Crucibulum species (C. laeve, C. parvulum, and C. cyathiforme) are distinguished from other genera of the Nidulariaceae by their relatively simple funiculus – a cord of hyphae that connects the peridiole (the "eggs") to the exterior of the bird's nest.


Crucibulum species have light tan to cinnamon-colored fruiting bodies, known as a peridium, that are cup- or crucible-shaped. Depending on the species, the size of the peridium may range from 2–4 tall by 1.5–3 mm wide at the mouth (for C. parvulum) to 5–10 mm tall by 5–8 mm wide (for C. laeve). Viewed microscopically, the wall of the peridium is made of a single layer of tissue, in contrast to the three-layered peridium wall in Cyathus species. The outer surface of the peridium has hyphae that agglutinate so as to form a texture with visible filaments, a condition known as fibrillose; this outer layers of hairs typically wears off with age to leave a relatively smooth surface.
Young specimens have a thin layer of tissue called an epiphragm that covers the top of the peridium; it wears off at maturity to expose the peridioles within. There are usually 4–6 peridioles (up to 15 have been noted for C. laeve) that are disc-shaped, whitish in color, and attached to the endoperidium by a strand called a funicular cord. Made of mycelia, The funicular cord tends to wither away and disappear as the fruiting body ages. Spores from Crucibulum species typically have an elliptical or roughly spherical shape, and are thick-walled, translucent (hyaline) or light yellow-brown in color, with dimensions of 5–15 by 5–8 µm. the spores of C. cyathiforme are notably slightly or strongly curved.
Because the basic fruiting body structure in all genera of the family Nidulariaceae is essentially similar, Crucibulum may be readily confused with species of Nidula or Cyathus, especially older, weathered specimens of Cyathus that may have the hairy ectoperidium worn off.  It distinguished from Nidula by the presence of a funiculus, a cord of hyphae attaching the peridiole to the endoperidium. Cyathus differs from genus Crucibulum by having a distinct three-layered wall and a more intricate funiculus.


Brown anoles feed on small arthropods such as crickets, moths, ants, grasshoppers, cockroaches, mealworms, beetles, flies, butterflies, spiders, waxworms, amphipods, and isopods. Brown anoles also feed on other types of invertebrates such as earthworms and snails. They may also eat other lizards, such as skinks and the Carolina anole, lizard eggs, and their own molted skin and detached tails. If near water, they eat aquatic arthropods or small fish – nearly any prey that will fit in their mouths.


The native range of the brown anole extends over much of the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and other countries. Currently, they are considered an invasive species in parts of Florida in the United States, including the Florida Keys, Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County as of 1985. Today, their range has extended as far as Georgia and to parts of Mexico. It is believed that these lizards were unintentionally brought to the area in cargo shipments for the Caribbean, as well as an intentional release of approximately 100 individuals in 1941.
The brown anole tends to live on the ground, avoiding trees and preferring to live in smaller plants and shrubs and is found in both urban and suburban areas. When the weather is warm, the brown anole can be found basking. When it is cold, they prefer sheltered areas.  Brown anoles are less arboreal than the green anoles which are frequently found living in trees, on the ground, or in low vegetation.
Although the brown anole was initially found in the Caribbean and then introduced to southern Florida, the species is now moving north. Specifically, the species has been found in southern Georgia as well as coastal Georgia. Researchers expect that this trend will continue in the coming years and that the brown anole will continue to migrate to other locations in the north. Due to their invasiveness, they are often the dominant reptile species in a given environment.


The brown anole is normally a light brown color with darker brown to black markings on its back, and several tan to light color lines on its sides. Like other anoles, it can change color, in this case a darker brown to black. Its dewlap ranges from yellow to orange-red.
Brown anoles are typically 5.0 to 8.5 inches long.
The males can grow as large as their male Carolina anole counterparts, around 17.8–20.3 cm (7.0–8.0 in) long, with some individuals topping 22.9 cm (9.0 in). The females are also around the size of female Carolina anoles, which ranges from 7.6–15 cm (3.0–5.9 in). The male brown anole's head is smaller than that of the male Carolina                                                                                anole.
The brown anole's tail has a ridge that travels all the way up to behind the head, a feature that the Carolina anole lacks.
Female anolis lizards exhibit heritable polymorphism in their dorsal patterning. A study in Gainesville, Florida reported that one-third of A. sagrei females displayed a male-like chevron dorsal pattern, while other females had a striped dorsal pattern with continuous variation.


Toxicity is suspected to be due to the presence of muscimol and ibotenic acid.
Generally, symptoms of poisoning appear within three hours of ingestion of the mushroom as visual hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhea, irregular and slow heart beat and agitation. Severe cases involving coma, convulsions, or death are extremely rare.


Amanita gemmata, commonly known as the gemmed amanita or the jonquil amanita, is an agaric mushroom of the family Amanitaceae and genus Amanita.  The fruit body has a cap that is a dull to golden shade of yellow, and typically 2.5–12 cm (1–4+3⁄4 in) in diameter. The cap surface is sticky when moist, and characterized by white warts, which are easily detached. It is initially convex, and flattens out when mature. The flesh is white and does not change colour when cut. The gills are white and closely spaced. The stem is pale yellow, and measures 4–12 cm (1+5⁄8–4+3⁄4 in) long by 0.5–1.9 cm (1⁄4–3⁄4 in) thick. The partial veil that covers the young fruit body turns into the ring on the stem at maturity. The spore print is white, while the spores are roughly elliptical, and measure 8–10 by 6.5–7.5 μm.
This species is a mycorrhizal fungus, widespread in Europe. It can grow either singly, scattered, or in groups. It prefers habitats like coniferous and mixed forests and alongside paths, where it fruits in summer and fall. It is a toxic mushroom, containing muscarine, also found in many species in the Clitocybe and Inocybe genera, as well as in Amanita muscaria and A. pantherina, albeit in insignificant quantities in the latter two. It is often confused with various other European species. A. gemmata resembles the false death cap, tawny grisette and panther cap mushrooms. Its cap is brighter in color than the former, and more yellow than the latter two.


The fruit bodies are colored yellow overall. The fresh cap, ranging in color from dull creamy yellow to golden yellow to buff, is sticky when moist. White warts adorn the cap surface, but they are usually flimsy and easily washed away by rain. They are placed randomly, but tend to be more concentrated in the center. The cap is typically 2.5–12 cm (1–4+3⁄4 in) in diameter, and initially convex before flattening out in maturity. The flesh is white, and shows no change when sliced.
The gills are adnate to adnexed, and white; they are close together, with little intervening space. The pale yellowish stem is 4–12 cm (1+5⁄8–4+3⁄4 in) long by 0.5–1.9 cm (1⁄4–3⁄4 in) thick, and either roughly equal in width throughout, or slightly thicker at the base. Young mushrooms have a membranous partial veil extending from the upper stem to the cap margin; as the mushroom grows, the partial veil tears to leave a flimsy, skirt-like, easily lost ring on the stem. At the base of the stem is a white volva (a remnant of the universal veil that covered the immature mushroom) that usually forms a small, free rim. Spore prints are white. There is no distinctive odour.


There are numerous species in North America that resemble A. pantherina. In 2005, mycologist Rod Tulloss described Amanita aprica, a species that has been confused with A. gemmata several times in the past. According to mycologists Pierre Neville and Serge Poumarat, the Mediterranean species A. amici (synonymous with A. gemmata f. amici) is similar in appearance to A. gemmata but is larger. According to Tulloss however, their measurements of the cap and stem dimensions of A. amici fell within the range expected for A. gemmata, and for this reason, the two taxa should be considered conspecific. Neville and Poumarat suggest that the name A. gemmata still persists for Mediterranean collections because of its frequent historical misapplication to the native Italian species A. gioiosa, which had not been described as a distinct species until 2004. A. orientigemmata, a mushroom ranging from Japan to China, is a lookalike, but has clamps, unlike A. gemmata. Other differences between the two species include the slightly smaller spores of A. orientigemmata, and differences in the microstructure of the cap warts.


Mauremys leprosa is native to the western mainland Mediterranean Basin, stretching from the tip of southern France to the northwestern Maghreb (in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya). It is most frequent in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain).


The red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae, indigenous to Australia. Originally described by George Shaw in 1794 as a species new to science, it is one of eastern Australia's most commonly encountered snakes. Averaging around 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) in length, it has glossy black upperparts, bright red or orange flanks, and a pink or dull red belly. It is not aggressive and generally retreats from human encounters, but can attack if provoked.  Although its venom can cause significant illness, no deaths have been recorded from its bite, which is less venomous than other Australian elapid snakes. The venom contains neurotoxins, myotoxins, and coagulants and has haemolytic properties. Victims can also lose their sense of smell.
Common in woodlands, forests and swamplands, the red-bellied black snake often ventures into nearby urban areas. It forages in bodies of shallow water, commonly with tangles of water plants and logs, where it hunts its main prey item, frogs, as well as fish, reptiles, and small mammals. The snake is a least-concern species according to the IUCN, but its numbers are thought to be declining due to habitat fragmentation and decline of frog populations.


The diet of red-bellied black snakes primarily consists of frogs, but they also prey on reptiles and small mammals. They also eat other snakes, commonly eastern brown snakes and even their own species. Fish are hunted in water. Red-bellied black snakes may hunt on or under the water surface, and prey can be eaten underwater or brought to the surface. They have been recorded stirring up substrate, possibly to disturb prey. As red-bellied black snakes grow and mature, they continue to eat the same size prey, but add larger animals, as well. Although they prefer live food, red-bellied black snakes have been reported eating frogs squashed by cars.
They are susceptible to cane toad (Rhinella marina) toxins. The introduction of cane toads in Australia dates to 1935, when they were introduced in an attempt at biological control of native beetles, which were damaging sugarcane fields (a non-native plant). The intervention failed, mostly because the toads are on the ground, while the beetles feed on leaves at the top of the plant. One research study concluded that in less than 75 years, the red-bellied black snake had evolved in toad-inhabited regions of Australia to have increased resistance to toad toxin and decreased preference for toads as prey.


The red-bellied black snake is native to the east coast of Australia, where it is one of the most commonly encountered snakes. It can be found in the urban forest, woodland, plains, and bushland areas of the Blue Mountains, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Cairns, and Adelaide. The Macquarie Marshes mark a western border to its distribution in New South Wales, and Gladstone in central Queensland marks the northern limit to the main population. To the south, it occurs across eastern and central Victoria, and extends along the Murray River into South Australia. Disjunct populations occur in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia and in North Queensland.
The red-bellied black snake is most commonly seen close to dams, streams, billabongs, and other bodies of water, although they can venture up to 100 m (350 ft) away,
including into nearby backyards. In particular, the red-bellied black snake prefers areas of shallow water with tangles of water plants, logs, or debris.


The red-bellied black snake has a glossy black top body with a light-grey snout and brown mouth, and a completely black tail. It lacks a well-defined neck; its head merges seamlessly into the body. Its flanks are bright red or orange, fading to pink or dull red on the belly. All these scales have black margins. Snakes from northern populations tend to have lighter, more cream or pink bellies. The red-bellied black snake is on average around 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) long, the largest individual recorded at 2.55 m (8 ft 4 in). Males are generally slightly larger than females. A large 2 m (6 ft 7 in) specimen caught in Newcastle has been estimated to weigh around 10 kg (22 lb). The red-bellied black snake can have a strong smell, which some field experts have used to find the snakes in the wild.
Like all elapid snakes, it is proteroglyphous (front-fanged). Juveniles are similar to the eastern small-eyed snake (Cryptophis nigrescens), with which they can be easily confused, although the latter species lacks the red flanks. Other similar species include the blue-bellied black snake (Pseudechis guttatus) and copperheads of the genus Austrelaps. An early misconception was that the red-bellied black snake was sexually dimorphic, and that the eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis) was the female form. This error was recognised as such by Australian zoologist Gerard Krefft in his 1869 work Snakes of Australia.


In spring, male red-bellied black snakes often engage in ritualised combat for 2 to 30 minutes, even attacking other males already mating with females. They wrestle vigorously, but rarely bite, and engage in head-pushing contests, where each snake tries to push his opponent's head downward with his chin.
The male seeks out a female and rubs his chin on her body, and may twitch, hiss, and rarely bite as he becomes aroused. The female indicates readiness to mate by straightening out and allowing their bodies to align. Pregnancy takes place any time from early spring to late summer. Females become much less active and band together in small groups in late pregnancy. They share the same retreat and bask in the sun together. The red-bellied black snake is ovoviviparous; that is, it gives birth to live young in individual membranous sacs, after 14 weeks' gestation, usually in February or March. The young, numbering between eight and 40, emerge from their sacs very shortly after birth, and have an average length around 12.2 cm (4.8 in). Young snakes almost triple their length and increase their weight 18-fold in their first year of life, and are sexually mature when they reach SVL (snout–vent length) of 78 cm (31 in) for males or 88 cm (35 in) for females. Females can breed at around 31 months of age, while males can slightly earlier. Red-bellied black snakes can live up to 25 years.


They have been found in Pacific Ocean (South China Sea to Sea of Japan, and California to Ecuador) and the mid-west Atlantic Ocean (New England to Brazil). They are common on the southeastern coast of the United States, including the Gulf Coast. On the southeast coast they are extremely abundant in the fall and summer months. During these months, cannonballs make up over 16% of the biomass in the shallow inshore areas.


Cannonballs eat mainly zooplankton such as veligers, and also all forms of red drum larvae. They have a symbiotic relationship with the portly spider crab, which also eats the small zooplankton. The crab feeds on the prey captured by the cannonball and also on the medusae of the jellyfish.


When disrupted, the cannonball secretes a mucus out of its nematocyst that contains a toxin. The toxin harms small fish in the immediate area, and drives away most predators, except for certain types of crabs. Although cannonballs do not commonly sting humans, they do have toxins which can, but not usually, cause cardiac problems in animals and humans. The toxin can cause irregular heart rhythms and problems in the myocardial conduction pathways. Such complications are associated also with toxins of other cnidaria. The toxin is also harmful to the eyes; contact with a nematocyst can be very painful, followed by redness and swelling. However, cannonball jellyfish are mostly harmless to humans. Contact with them may cause the skin to itch slightly, or minor eye irritation. As such they are among the most common causes of minor stings to humans in US and Caribbean waters.


The cannonball jellyfish (Stomolophus meleagris), also known as the cabbagehead jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish in the family Stomolophidae. Its common name derives from its similarity to a cannonball in shape and size. Its dome-shaped bell can reach 25 cm (10 in) in diameter and, in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, the rim is sometimes colored with brown pigment. In the Pacific, this jellyfish can also have a blue pigment. Underneath the body is a cluster of oral arms that extend out around the mouth. These arms function in propulsion and as an aid in catching prey. Cannonballs are prominent from North America's eastern seaboard all the way to Brazil, but are also found in parts of the Pacific.


Although some sources report P. squarrosa as edible, the mushroom has caused several cases of poisoning. The afflicted individuals had consumed alcohol with the mushroom, then experienced vomiting and diarrhoea about ten hours later. The toxic effect may be due to the combination of eating the mushrooms and taking alcohol, although the extended time delay between consumption and symptoms suggests the mechanism of toxicity is different than the antabuse-effect experienced from Coprinopsis atramentaria with alcohol.


Pholiota squarrosa is thought to be a white rot fungus, which use cellulose as a carbon source, and have the ability to degrade the lignin (present in wood) to carbon dioxide to access the cellulose molecule. The fungus can attack a wide variety of deciduous host trees, including sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch, paper birch, American beech, and white ash. It can also attack conifers, like spruce. The fungus is a secondary parasite, in that it attacks trees that have already been weakened from prior injury or infection by bacteria or other fungi. It also functions as a saprobe, and can obtain nutrients by breaking down organic matter in dead wood.
P. squarrosa is found in North America and Europe. The North American distribution extends north to Canada, and south to Mexico, where its appearance is restricted to coniferous forests. In the Netherlands, P. squarrosa is one of many mushrooms that can regularly be found fruiting on ancient timber wharves.
The fruit bodies are used as a primary food source by the red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris, and have a higher protein content than the other mushrooms typically consumed by this species. Decaying fruit bodies are also used as a food source by fruit flies of the genus Drosophila.


Pholiota squarrosa, commonly known as the shaggy scalycap, the shaggy Pholiota, or the scaly Pholiota, is a species of mushroom in the family Strophariaceae. Common in North America and Europe, it is often an opportunistic parasite, and has a wide range of hosts among deciduous trees, although it can also infect conifers. It can also live as a saprobe, deriving nutrients from decomposing wood. The mushroom is typically found growing in clusters at the base of trees and stumps. Both the cap and the stem are covered in small, pointed scales that are pointed downward and backward. The crowded gills are yellowish, then later rust-brown. The mushroom has an odor that, depending on the author, has been described as resembling garlic, lemon, radish, onion, or skunk. It has a strong taste, resembling radishes. Though edible to some, it may be toxic, especially if consumed in combination with alcohol. The mushroom contains unique chemicals thought to help it infect plants by neutralizing defensive responses employed by them. The very similar P. squarrosoides differs in having a paler cap that is sticky between the scales, and smaller spores.


Like other Pholiota mushrooms, P. squarrosa has a scaly cap and stem. The cap ranges from 3 to 12 cm (1.2 to 4.7 in) in diameter, and depending on its age, can range in shape from bell-shaped to rounded to somewhat flattened. The cap color is yellowish-brown to tawny in older specimens. The scales on the cap are yellowish to tawny, and recurved.
The stem is 4 to 12 cm (1.6 to 4.7 in) long by 0.5 to 1.5 cm (0.20 to 0.59 in) thick, and roughly equal in width throughout. The partial veil that covers the young gills forms a thick, woolly ring on the upper part of the stem. Above the level of the ring, the stem is bare, while below it is scaly like the cap. The gills are covered by a partial veil when young and have a greenish-brown color; mature gills are rusty brown. They are crowded closely together, attached to the stem (adnate), and usually notched (sinuate).
The spore print is cinnamon or rusty brown. The spores are elliptic, smooth-walled, nonamyloid (not absorbing iodine when stained with Melzer's reagent), and measure 6.6–8 by 3.7–4.4 μm. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, and four-spored, with dimensions of 16–25 by 5–7 μm.
Fruit bodies have an odour described variously as resembling garlic, radish, lemon, onion, or skunk, and taste like radish.


The queen snake (Regina septemvittata) is a species of nonvenomous semiaquatic snake, a member of the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to North America.


Queen snakes are described as dietary specialists, feeding primarily on crayfish. They have been documented favoring crayfish that are freshly molted. R. septemvittata are especially sensitive to a chemical compound called ecdysone that is produced by crayfish during their molting cycle which help them find that prey easier. One study done offered crayfish during their molting cycle and crayfish not on their molting cycle to queen snakes to see which they preferred.  The results showed that the queen snakes would not eat the prey if it was not releasing ecdysone. If none of these prey can be found, queen snakes will resort to eating small fish.


R. septemvittata ranges through the temperate region of North America east of the Mississippi River from western New York state to Wisconsin and south to Alabama and northern Florida. It is also found in the southwestern parts of Ontario.
New Jersey was at the edge of its range and it is now believed to be extirpated from the state. Decreases in Queen snake populations can be most attributed to a loss of food sources through stream channelization, bank erosion, and water pollution.


The queen snake is similar in appearance to a garter snake, genus Thamnophis, so is often confused with that group. The queen snake is olive to gray or dark brown in overall coloration, with peach or yellow stripes that run down its length at the first scale row. There are also four prominent ventral stripes of a darker colour, and as no other similar species has stripes running down the length of its belly, this is an important feature in identifying this snake. In the young and juvenile snakes there are three extra stripes: one stripe that runs along the vertebral dorsal scales, and two stripes (one on each side) that run down the length of the body at scale rows five and six. These extra stripes tend to fade as the snake matures, but when young the snake will have a total of seven stripes, three on the back and four on the belly, which gives cause for its taxonomical reference name, Regina (queen) septemvittata (seven-striped). The belly of the snake is a cream to yellow colour.
The head of the queen snake is narrow and has nine large plate-like scales on the top, and the chin has several rows of thicker scales. This is a protective adaptation, for the snake's feeding habit of chasing its prey under rocks. The pupil of the eye is round, a feature shared with most other colubrids. There are 19 rows of keeled dorsal scales at midbody, and the anal plate is divided. The sexes are often difficult to distinguish based on external characteristics. Male queen snakes have relatively longer tails than females. Males have from 65 to 89 subcaudal scutes (average 76), with the tail from 23% to 34% of the snake's total length. Females have 54 to 87 subcaudals (average 69), with tails equal to 19% to 27% of total length.
Queen snakes are not large, and they seldom grow to more than 24 inches (61 cm) in total length (including tail). The females are generally slightly larger than the males.


Female queen snakes will be fully sexually mature at three years of age, males at two years. Breeding takes place in the spring and autumn months. If mating was in the autumn, the female can delay giving birth until spring, storing the energy she will need through the months that she will be in a period of brumation. This snake is ovoviviparous, the female giving birth to live young after carrying the eggs within her body. This differs from oviparous and viviparous snakes. Litter size can vary from 5 to 20, and the time for an individual birth is from 1.5 to 2.5 minutes. Time between individual births is 4 minutes to 1 hour, with the average time being 11 minutes.
The newly born snakes will be approximately 6 in (15 cm) long and weigh 0.1 ounces (2.8 g). Newborn snakes begin to grow very rapidly and may shed their skin twice in their first week while living on the nutrient rich yolk stores they preserve through this time in their lives. The baby snakes are able to swim and move about and they must fend for themselves independently directly after birth. Juvenile queen snakes range from 17.5 to 23 cm (6.9 to 9.1 in) in length.


The gray ratsnake or gray rat snake (Pantherophis spiloides), also commonly known as the central ratsnake, chicken snake, midland ratsnake, or pilot black snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the genus Pantherophis in the subfamily Colubrinae. The gray ratsnake is one of about ten species within the American ratsnake genus Pantherophis.


A scent-hunter and a powerful constrictor, P. spiloides feeds primarily on small mammals, birds, and bird eggs. Neonates and juveniles prefer a diet of frogs and lizards.


Native to North America, Pantherophis spiloides is commonly found in the forests of the eastern and central United States. It occurs relatively continuously throughout the major part of the eastern half of the United States, along the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains, from southwestern New England to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to the Mississippi River, and northward from northern Louisiana to southwestern Wisconsin.
In Canada, this species is known to occur in two disjunct regions of southern Ontario: the Carolinian forest region along the north shore of Lake Erie in the southwest, and the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence region in the southeast.


A medium to large serpent, the gray ratsnake typically reaches an adult size of 99–183 cm (3.25–6.00 ft) total length (including tail); however, the record is 247 cm (8.10 ft) for a captive specimen at the Ridley 4-H Center in Tennessee. Unlike other Pantherophis, whose conspicuous juvenile pattern fades into adulthood, the gray ratsnake in the southern part of its range does not undergo drastic ontogenetic changes in color or markings. Instead, it retains the juvenile pattern of dark elongate dorsal blotches separated by four, or more, pale gray body scales, a light gray crown with dark striping that forms an anteriorly facing spearpoint, and a solid band which covers the eyes and extends rearward to the posterior upper labial scales. However, in the northern part of its range it is black in adulthood, like P. alleghaniensis and P. obsoletus. The venter is usually off-white or pale gray with darker irregular blotches, and a double row of black spots behind the divided anal plate of the vent. The dorsal scale rows around midbody are usually weakly keeled. Because the gray ratsnake shares its range with other members of its genus, hybrids of midlands x eastern ratsnakes are not uncommon.


An agile climber, the gray ratsnake is at home from the ground to the tree tops in many types of hardwood forest and cypress stands, along tree-lined streams and fields, and even around barns and sheds in close proximity to people. Within its range, almost any environment rich in rodents, and vertical escape options, proves a suitable habitat for the gray ratsnake.


Breeding in P. spiloides takes place from April to July. Females reach sexual maturity at 7–9 years of age. They deposit 5 to 27 eggs around mid-summer, and the 25–30 cm (9.8–11.8 in) hatchlings usually emerge in September.


Trichonephila clavipes (formerly known as Nephila clavipes), commonly known as the golden silk orb-weaver, golden silk spider, or banana spider (a name shared with several others), is an orb-weaving spider species which inhabits forests and wooded areas ranging from the southern US to Argentina. In fact, it is the only species of the genus Trichonephila indigenous to both continental North and South America. Known for the golden color of their silk, the large size of their females, and their distinctive red-brown and yellow coloring, T. clavipes construct large, asymmetrical circular webs attached to trees and low shrubs in woods to catch small- and medium-size flying prey, mostly insects. They are excellent web-builders, producing and utilizing seven different types of silk, and they subdue their prey by injecting them with venom, as opposed to related species which immobilize their prey by wrapping them in silk first. They are not known to be aggressive towards humans, only biting out of self-defense if touched, and their relatively harmless venom has a low toxicity, posing little health concern to healthy human adults. Due to their prevalence in forests, T. clavipes may be encountered by hikers.
Like many orb-weaver species, T. clavipes shows sexual dimorphism, with females possessing both a larger size and more complex and noticeable coloration. Males of the species do not suffer sexual cannibalism or genital mutilation to the same rate that males of other related species in the subfamily Nephilinae do, making T. clavipes a focus of study into the mating behaviors of spiders. The species shows both monogynous and polygynous mating, with a preference for polygyny in most mating environments.
T. clavipes is a well-studied species with a high recognized value to humans because of their usefulness in spider silk research. Analysis of the species' genome, the first of the orb-weaving spiders to be completely annotated, has revealed 28 unique genes for the proteins comprising spider silk, known as spidroins. Furthermore, the silk of T. clavipes has the potential to aid in surgeries involving the nervous system, a capability which has been demonstrated in past experimental studies.


T. clavipes feed on small flying insects. Webs constructed by this species are used to catch this prey. They can feed on grasshoppers, flies, and other small insects. As the prey is entangled in the strong web, T. clavipes wrap it in silk like a casing.


T. clavipes occurs most commonly in the Antilles and in Central America from Mexico in the north through Panama in the south. Less abundantly it occurs as far south as Argentina and in the north it occurs in parts of the southern states of the continental USA. Seasonally, it may range more widely; in the summer, it may be found as far north as lower Eastern Canada. Beyond 40° N latitude, these spiders seldom survive the winter.
T. clavipes may also be found within or near colonies of Metepeira incrassata, a Mexican colonial orb-weaver spider that typically forms large groups, ranging from a few hundreds to thousands of individual spiders.
Because humans inadvertently transport spiders as passengers in cargo containers, plant nursery stock, and the like, T. clavipes generally occurs very unevenly over wide areas; often, patches of high local densities are found far from any other populations. Accidental human transport of the species increases markedly in late August to early September, when the spiders' reproduction is at its height.


Like most orb-weavers, the species displays marked sexual dimorphism in both size and color pattern. T. clavipes females are some of the largest non-tarantula spiders in North America, ranging from 24 mm to 40 mm in length when fully developed. It is possible that they are even the largest orb-weaver species indigenous to the United States. Females also have very distinct coloring, making the species relatively easy to recognize. They have a silvery white cephalothorax and a longer orange-brown abdomen with two rows of small white-yellow spots. The abdomen changes color as the spider matures. Their legs consist of dark yellow and brown banding, and the first, second, and fourth leg pairs also contain black brush-like tufts of hair near the joints.

Males, meanwhile, are much smaller, about one-third to one-quarter the size of females at roughly 6 mm in length, and also have a more slender build. Their mass is roughly between 1/30th and 1/70th that of a large female. Male coloration, meanwhile, is much less complex, consisting of a dark brown body and legs. Males' legs contain a black band near the end of the tibial segment, in the same area as where the black hair tufts would be on a female.
T. clavipes resemble its congener Trichonephila plumipes in that the females both possess a collection of stiff hair on their legs. However, the hairs of T. plumipes are more closely set together than those of T. clavipes.


The western whiptail mostly eats insects, spiders, scorpions, lepidopterans, crickets, grasshoppers, and beetles. They use their jaws instead of their tongue to capture their prey.


The western whiptail is widespread throughout northern Mexico and the western United States. In the US it can be found in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah. It is found in hot dry regions, typically with sparse foliage. It can live in woodland, chaparral, riparian areas, or desert. Desert subspecies prefer habitat with vegetation such as sagebrush or shadscale, and rely on burrows to escape the desert heat.
In the northern parts of its range, the western whiptail usually emerges from hibernation in May, and most adults aestivate during the midsummer months, but in the south it is active from April through late August. The seasonal period of activity is therefore considerably shorter in the north. Daily periods of activity are of similar duration from north to south, although the time of emergence tends to be later in northern areas.