Some Photos From the Leaf Litter

Out, about, and lifting logs I see interesting things. Occasionally I have the wherewithal to snap a photo. Here are a few interesting photos I managed with my point-and-shoot.

Strange Bedfellows

Lifting a piece of bark at Ricketts Glen State Park I found these guys nuzzled up together. I collected the slug but have yet to figure out its definite identity (It's philomycid and has milky white mucus but I'm still trying to find a definitive answer to the mucus colors of these slugs-- I think it barely has the markings of a P. carolinianus but it's hard to tell with it being so heavily mottled). The salamander is likely an Eastern Redback without the red stripe. I just thought it was interesting that these two were found so close.  A month or so previous, when I was just starting out and didn't realize how interested I am in the native slugs, I had found a philomycid with a Spotted Salamander nearby-- but nothing as close as the cuddle these two exhibited! Thinking now I wish I had collected the philomycid I found with the Spotted Salamander to see if, over the years of collection, I can find a connection between which species of philomycids and salamanders are found together.

Bee Hibernating

Last week I was lifting logs and found this sight, a bee apparently hibernating. The interesting thing about this, though, is that after I came home and downloaded the photo I grabbed I noted some larvae on the bee's eye. I wonder if it's feeding on the bee while it remains helpless in its torpid state. Make sure to click on the photo to enlarge and see the larvae.

Snake

Here I lifted a piece of plywood in the area where I had found all the Cepaea nemoralis and found this fellow. A quick email to local naturalist Rick Koval proved it to be a Northern Brown Snake.

A Bonus Studio Shot

 This is actually a studio shot. I set up my office to be my macro studio. This Cepaea nemoralis is on a gourd and the background is just my wall color. I thought it made for a cool monochromatic shot.