Lichens are invertebrates too

Squamulea subsoluta

Introduction

Lichens are well known for their bright colors, fungus-autotroph symbiosis, and ecosystemic value.

Despite their importance, information on "natural" lichen cultivation appears quite sparse. In laboratory dishes, lichen fungi often behave abnormally by failing to capture algae and forming fluffy networks resembling bread mold instead; resynthesis of behaviorally normal specimens has proven difficult. On the other hand, many websites intended for a general audience give poor advice ("lichens cannot last long in harsh sunlight" is easily refuted by the xerophytic yellow Squamulea on my old diving board!), and I have never seen anyone blog about their lichen gardens.

Candelaria pacifica(?)

The "heat islands" hypothesis

Although many species are well known as microhabitat specialists which quickly vanish from even slightly polluted areas, synanthropic lichens do exist. These are naturally more well suited to being captive specimens, since synanthropes are usually adaptable and highly generalistic. I was quite pleased to accidentally encounter the following research paper while half-heartedly foraging in a bibliography:

A simple outdoor culturing system for the foliose macrolichens Xanthoria parietina (L.) Th. Fr. and Parmelia sulcata Taylor

This strongly suggested that most synanthropic lichens could be easily grown as long as they did not succumb to brick poisoning or overwatering-induced rot. Unfortunately, I soon realized that synanthropic lichens seemed not very abundant here in southern California despite many non-poisonous surfaces being available. I became even more confused after a recent trip to the European rainforest, since their cities were covered in thick yellow and minty green coats of assorted species sitting happily next to small cigarette heaps.

My suspicions about CA semidesert aridity  being responsible were somewhat confirmed by an old lichenological bulletin I found after further fruitless searches; most notably, it stated that several microhabitat specialists here grow like weeds in soggy New Zealand!

CALS Bulletin, Summer 2003 (see first article, "urban lichens" section)

Naturally, this suggests a hypothesis: can improving hydration to local synanthropic lichens increase their abundance and biodiversity? I have started watering the pathetic dot and flake colonies in my yard [Update: I am no longer watering them], being careful to:

water only when shade appears, because they lower their defenses during photosynthesis

keep watered specimens wet for extended periods of time, because rapidly going in and out of dormancy harms photosynthetic efficiency

not keep them permanently wet, because dry periods are still important for many species (it facilitates normal morphological development and presumably discourages rot)

So far things have not been going well for them, because I get too excited whenever a cloud covers the sun; often it passes by quickly and I end up inducing fungal sunburn. The captive and wild local vertebrates are also occasionally contaminating most of the clusters with fecal dusts, which may prove useful as fertilizer but are very hazardous (they should dissipate quickly enough for me to not stop visiting the clusters, but I do not dare to bring any specimens indoors).

On a more pleasant note, today I have found more support for my hypothesis.

Collema experiences a massive growth boost when under unnaturally frequent hydration, although it is still slow:

Rapid ex situ culture of N-fixing soil lichens and biocrusts is enhanced by complementarity

in Mediterranean climates (like southern CA), lack of hydration caused by city-induced temperature increase can indeed be a population growth limiter more important than pollution: 

Lichens as ecological indicators in urban areas: beyond the effects of pollutants

Minor entowalk update

I have been quite busy lately, but I finally went on another entowalk in the public garden; the foliage is weedy and quite lush now, but the milkweed had only several(?) dozen unclustered Oncopeltus adults and an adult monarch.

Syrphids (mostly ubiquitous taxa like Allograpta obliqua and Toxomerus marginatus) and coccinellids are still not uncommon though; however, it seems a few Hippodamia have now been accompanying Cycloneda sanguinea.

Slime update

Unfortunately, the spring rains have stopped; I suppose I will have to wait until next year for wild plasmodia and fresh precipitation to appear.

How to catch really large protists

Introduction

The "plasmodial slime molds" (Myxomycetes or Myxogastria) are a diverse group of protists; many species are macroscopic(!) during considerable portions of their life cycles. The large yellow slime Physarum polycephalum is used as a laboratory model organism and is consequently well-studied and widely cultured (it is even commercially available), but many other species appear to be quite understudied in certain areas.

I have recently taken an interest in cultivation of large non-polycephalum myxomycetes. Oddly, this seems to be rarely attempted by anyone (especially non-researchers), despite the fact that many large species are aesthetically attractive and apparently photographed quite regularly by macrophotography hobbyists.



Analysis and current progress

According to this:

Order Physarales has phaneroplasmodia, which are typically large, colorful and conspicuous

Order Stemonitales has aphanoplasmodia, which are macroscopic but also typically transparent and cryptic until shortly before fruiting

Order Trichiales has trichiaceous plasmodia, which share morphological features with both of the above-listed

Order Echinosteliales has protoplasmodia, which are microscopic

Order Liceales was not mentioned; however, in another research article it was stated that the order contained both protoplasmodial and phaneroplasmodial species.


iNaturalist (unlike Bugguide) suffers from severe misidentification plagues; however, it is nevertheless useful for rough estimates. Within California, the most commonly observed species on its website include:

Fuligo septica (Physarales), a massive, ubiquitous yellow synanthrope, often mulch-associated

Lycogala epidendrum (Liceales), which forms puffy reddish fruiting bodies that darken to brown. It is probably large enough to have phanero- and not protoplasmodia; however, it seems largely restricted to rotted forest wood (I am currently unable to access forests due to various reasons, including severe dung contamination)

Enteridium/Reticularia lycoperdon (Liceales): round, white, large; according to this British paper, it is also found on rotting wood but is at least somewhat synanthropic.


Current slime-collection efforts have focused largely on F. septica due to its highly synanthropic behavior and conspicuous plasmodia. Despite the presence of intermittent rains for several weeks (Fuligo requires copious moisture for its large plasmodia, and I live in a semidesert), I have failed to detect any plasmodia in various small mulched flowerbeds. Perhaps the local public garden may be a more suitable area for exploring, as several iNaturalist Fuligo observations were located there.

2019 desperate spring tipulid-chase

resting male

and female

Over the past few weeks, the annual swarm of giant brown tipulids has been (and still is) active in my yard; on the other hand, the Vanessa public garden swarms have nearly disappeared. Having finally armed myself with a red flashlight (most insects are unable or nearly unable to see it) and a somewhat decent slow-motion camera, I was quite impatient to collect some footage for the entomology outreach campaign.

I was rather startled to see the following thing one afternoon:

it was quite a surreal scene; swarm specimens would also occasionally cease their careful vegetation-colliding and literally bounce across the ground in a ridiculous, majestic fashion.



I wasted quite some time trying to film them.



After finally managing to align the phone camera with the fast-flying dipterans, I realized that the videos were still too blurred to be of much use for public campaigns; still, under slow motion the animals' seemingly senseless bumbling revealed a fascinating phenomenon.

From the beginning I had suspected that they were using their vast array of legs as pseudo-antennae; though they flied quite erratically when in the fenceside weed patch, they moved with a sense of purpose, as if carefully palpating the plants for suitability. Furthermore, they often also bounced against fences in an even more chaotic fashion, but did so even in the absence of lamps (contrary to popular belief, nocturnal insects' lamp bouncing is a highly abnormal stress-behavior). Upon video slowing, the tipulid flight patterns certainly appeared to support my antennation hypothesis:

(for some reason, ground bouncing usually occurred in straight lines or arcs, unlike wall bouncing)







Further attempts at flight video capture were wholly unsuccessful, although I did manage to capture several other things.

male and tenerally pale (I think) female

(unfortunately a planned timelapse on mating dynamics failed hilariously; during most of the filming period no additional males came, and after taking a long break I arrived just in time to see the female fly over the fence while still copulating)


Several other tipulomorph species were present, but these were not very abundant and I was barely able to observe any behaviors from them. EDIT: A while after the Large Brown swarming ceased, the first morphospecies became abundant for a few weeks. I have also seen wulpiana bouncing briefly on grass.

mottled sp. sitting on web

Nephrotoma wulpiana, a bright orange tipulid

3/4 minor news

Vanessa adult activity has resumed due to sunny weather, but only non-large aggregations (a handful per nectaring area) were visible. I was surprised to find that annabella were mixed in with the cardui:

cardui

annabella

Milkweed hemipterans were still sparsely distributed but I saw a single large cluster on a pod (perhaps the pod was unhealthy and the resulting loss of defense chems made it more palatable than the others?)

Also finally managed to photograph + identify one of the massive non-katydid hoppers:

Schistocerca nitens

Ento-walk large post!

2/25: Bland pics

The small Sphaeralcea hemipterans have not done anything too interesting, though I did see an adult and nymph excitedly running up and down the stems for some reason I couldn't determine. I was able to find few other interesting arthropods in the public garden despite seeing many freshly and heavily chewed leaves as well as large diurnal predators; any advice?

large diurnal predator

Interestingly, several nearby honeybees were displaying an intriguing behavior; they would happily pollinate Sphaeralcea flowers that were open, but would attempt to nectar-rob closed flowers and shove themselves inside of partially closed flowers. Even more interestingly, I later saw an entire foraging party apparently nectar-robbing a bushful of dead dried Salvia flowers. Befitting for a highly adaptable synanthrope, I guess.

hard-working but certainly not honest

Here are a few other random pics I took, by the way

Halictus tripartitus

Mecaphesa trying to ambush hover flies

2/26: Not all locusts have jaws

I was rather surprised to see hilariously large Vanessa cardui swarms in the European flowers section; it seems the recent few weeks of rain here have triggered a migration. The butterflies were evidently rather famished, too; they frantically stuffed their tongues into anything that had petals, including fancy-looking cultivars which even the honeybees refused to touch. I think I once read somewhere in a technical book that Vanessa spend 90-something percent of their time nectaring, because many flowers give meals sparingly to encourage pollination. Unfortunately, my phone refused to photograph the whole swarm, so here are a few individuals:

2/26 (cont.) and 2/27: Fun with the milkweed crew (and more)

I found a small party of milkweed hemipterans on a bunch of sickly-looking plants in the herbs section! Unfortunately, all hemipteran species had sparse populations despite plentiful seeds; perhaps only two or three adult Oncopeltus and a single adult Lygaeus were around, with a few large nymphs present. A few Aphis nerii clusters were also around but they were busy getting themselves killed.

Cycloneda sanguinea

(can you find the aphid?)

The Tagetes lemmonii bush nearby was also quite biodiverse (its passionfruity scent was excellent too);

yellowish inchworms were abundant

Erynnis tristis, far handsomer than the overdressed Vanessa

these wingwiggling flies were common too; learning their sign language might be interesting

3/7: A few more bland but interesting pics

I found my first iridoviral blue pillbug today! It wasn't very blue, though. My phone camera made it look more vibrant that it actually was; here is a heavily edited pic showing realistic colors.

Also, I have finally managed to get a non-blurry pic of this large bumblebee; although it visits several unrelated species of flower, it appears to be quite selective about its dining options (I have never seen it outside the public garden) and is extremely wary + restless.

Bombus melanopygus

More pleasant observations

another view of the CA-native garden

Today was also an excellent day in the botanical garden; I was able to observe the small true bugs (mentioned in the previous post) again. Interestingly, some of the reddish nymphs appeared to "attack" conspecifics by chasing/pushing (I couldn't see the behaviors clearly) them away from seedpods, which seem to be a highly desirable food source.

The rest of my walk was rather uneventful, although I did see a single Strymon melinus adult performing nectar robbery on Sphaeralcea ambigua:

it is feeding from the side instead of the center

By the way, here is a bonus pic of Lithops pseudotruncatella groendrayensis in the desert greenhouse section; it has been on my wish list for quite some time due to its obligate non-clustering behavior (unfortunately I suspect that captive specimens are relentlessly boring though).

its lack of brown maculations is also pleasant

Finally, a decent bug hunt

Adult basks with large nymph (click pics for full size)

I have located a colony of Crophius (max size approx 5 millimeters, though it's larger than it sounds) in the local botanical garden's California natives section! Due to CA rainseason winters the sky has been wet for roughly three weeks with intermittent sun, and I was only able to photograph them today (a few days after discovery).

Here is a quick visual tour of the planted area:

and here is their hostplant

Sphaeralcea ambigua

flowers

Here are a few more pics of different adults and nymphs; the adult was surprisingly cooperative (though still restless) after I startled it into dropping off the leaf. After the initial drop it did not fly away in my hand and was reluctant to perform escape-dropping when photographed.

unlike the other one this adult has unicolored front wings

most nymphs had brownish red abdomens

but this one was redder and maybe a bit teneral

Bonus pics!

Here are a bunch of old pics previously in the deleted Gallery; I have also added a carabid pic from this winter and a long-lost pic of the ironclad

Pholcid

Hoplia

Very likely Calathus

Pillbug and small ironclad (from “winter beetle hunting” post)

The world is a strange place

I have performed several more experiments with brown widows and pholcids; none of them were particularly successful because sooner or later I would send the poor animals running for their lives.

Also, I have decided to quit bugworld for a while! Invertebrate ethics can be extremely weird (see here for several morbidly interesting phenomena, including senility-induced starvation in Carabus) and it is giving me a severe headache. I expect to continue regurgitating advice in entomological discussion circles though; entomology is a dying art and I refuse to completely abandon it.

In the meantime I suppose that I will start posting more non-entomological strange things here (feel free to leave entocomments on my old posts though)