Photo of the Week – July 13, 2018

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You know how you can look at something for years and still not see every aspect of it?  I was walking through Lincoln Creek Prairie this week, stretching my legs after photographing for my square meter project, when I came upon a couple big patches of Illinois tick clover (Desmodium illinoense).  There weren’t any active flowers on the plants, and I was about ready to move on after just a quick glance when I spotted something white along one of the stems.  Upon a closer look, I could see it was a moth, and it seemed to be plastered up against the plant.

This white moth seemed to be stuck on the stem of this Illinois tick clover plant.

As I inspected the moth more closely, it was clearly dead, and appeared to be essentially glued to the stem.

Here is the same moth, photographed from a different angle. Here you can see the abdomen stuck to the stem, and the mess it apparently made as it struggled to escape.

Now, I’ve known that tick clover plants (and especially their seeds) can be sticky, but I always ascribed that to the tiny stiff (and sometimes hooked) hairs covering them.  I sure wouldn’t have thought those hairs could catch and hold an insect.  However, as I looked more closely at the hairs on this plant, there were little tiny droplets of clear sticky fluid at the tip of each hair.  How can I have spent 25 years or more looking at prairie plants and not noticed that?  I looked online and in my copy of the Flora of Nebraska book and didn’t find any reference to those droplets in either place, but surely other people know of this.  I’ll have to look harder.  In the meantime…

…as I looked at nearby plants, I saw lots more dead or dying insects glued to them.  The most common of those were lightning bugs, followed by Japanese beetles.

Lightning bugs were the most abundant of the insects I found stuck to tick clover stems. I must have seen at least 20 within a few minutes.

Japanese beetles (invasive species) were also a common victim of the sticky tick clover plants. This one appeared to have become stuck on a leaf, so I guess it’s not just the stems that have adhesive qualities.

I’ve written before about insects getting stuck to the bracts beneath thistle flowers and discussed the possibility that the sticky bracts helped keep ants and other non-flying nectar thieves from stealing floral resources.  Do tick clovers do the same thing?  If so, why haven’t I noticed?

This little gnat (midge? something else? I can’t see the antennae) was the smallest insect victim I found.  If you click on this photo you can zoom in and see the droplets on the tips of the hairs.

This mosquito lost its life when it apparently tried to take a rest break on this tick clover plant.

This picture-winged fly was still struggling when I found it.

I’m really curious to know if others have noticed insects losing their lives to tick clover plants, and whether or not it happens with other Desmodium species.  Does the plant produce the sticky droplets of liquid throughout its growth period, or just when it is flowering?  WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

Thanks for any help.

Field Day in the Platte River Prairies – July 21, 2018

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If you’re in the area, please consider joining us at the Platte River Prairies on Saturday July 21 for a special event.  We’re combining our bi-weekly volunteer work day with our annual Field Day, during which participants can join a number of hikes and educational sessions.  You can help us harvest seed for our prairie restoration work or just enjoy the various session topics during the day – or both!  If you’d like to help harvest seed, it would be helpful to bring work gloves and heavy scissors/garden shears, but we will have supplies as well.

This event is free of charge and open to the public.  Please bring your own lunch, and RSVP by July 19th so that we have enough supplies.  RSVP and get directions from Mardell at mjasnowski@tnc.org or by phone at (402) 694-4191.

Here is a schedule for the day (subject to change):

Session Descriptions:

Seed Harvest – Help us with our prairie restoration efforts by hand-picking seeds.  These seeds will be used to enhance the plant diversity of prairies that have been degraded by a history of overgrazing and/or broadcast herbicide use.

Bird walk/dickcissel research talk – Join Chelsea Forehead, a UNO graduate student, on a walk through the prairies.  Learn about grassland bird ecology and identification, including Chelsea’s current research project on the interaction between brown-headed cowbirds, dickcissels, and perch site availability.

Prairie ecology tour – Chris Helzer will lead a hike through the prairie, discussing ecology, fire/grazing management, prairie restoration, and whatever the group stumbles upon during the walk.  The morning and afternoon hikes will pass through different habitats, so feel free to join both!

Insect sweep netting – Sweep netting in prairies is a lot like snorkeling in the ocean.  From the surface, you’d never know how much life is actually there.  Grab a net and discover (and learn about) the incredible diversity of invertebrates found in prairies.

Plant identification hike – Join Olivia Schouten (Hubbard Fellow) on a walk and learn how to identify common prairie plants.

Botanical/Landscape Sketching – Alex Brechbill (Hubbard Fellow) will lead a session in which participants will sketch, paint, or otherwise depict the landscape or portions of it.  Bring your own art supplies if you like, or we will provide some basic sketching supplies.

Abundant rainfall this year has brought on abundant wildflowers in the Platte River Prairies. Please come hike through the prairies with us on July 21.