New Jersey Leopards

Yesterday you heard about the "tigers" of New Jersey; today I'll talk about its "leopards".

Here's a Leopard Slug, a clearly spotted and relatively large slug. Apparently they can get up to 8" in length. Slugs and snails are both types of mollusk, and so are distantly related to animals like clams or octopuses. They eat lots of stuff, plants/fungi/invertebrates both alive and dead, and is sometimes considered an agricultural pest.

August 26, 2017 at Duke Farms

Here's a Wood Leopard Moth, a primarily European moth considered invasive here in the US. I'm sure those spots inspired them acquiring "leopard" as part of their name. Like many successful invaders, they (as caterpillars) aren't picky eaters, willing to eat a variety of tree and bush vegetation.

June 18, 2018 at Murray Hill

Although I don't have a picture of one, we also have Giant Leopard Moths in New Jersey. That moth isn't very closely related to the Wood Leopard Moth, and is actually classified in with the tiger moths.

Here's an Atlantic Coast Leopard Frog, which certainly acquired its name from its spots. (If you're a small arthropod, you might also be impressed with the frog's predatory side.) The leopard frogs in my area used to all be considered the very closely related Southern Leopard Frog, but subtle differences in mating calls (and probably genetics) eventually led herpetologists to recognize the ACLF as a separate species.

August 10, 2019 at Great Swamp


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tussock Moth Herd

Image
Some caterpillars are usually seen in large numbers (like Armyworm Moth caterpillars and Eastern Tent Caterpillars ), while most are more solitary. The Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars (more about them are here ) seem to be slightly social. I'll sometimes see them alone, but more often I'll see them in groups of 2-9 members. In the 1st picture below, you can see there is a clear size difference in some of these individuals. I'm almost certain the little one in the middle is in an earlier instar than the others (though they lack the colorful tufts of fuzz in their earliest instars). August 31, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 167477945, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) In the picture below, it's clear that these caterpillars don't require a lot of personal space. August 31, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 167477979, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Copper Underwing Caterpillar

Image
I believe this caterpillar to be a Copper Underwing [1]. At least the coloring and the dorsal hump (near the left end of the caterpillar) seem consistent with the Copper Underwing. These caterpillars are not what you'd consider picky eaters; my Caterpillars of Eastern North America describes their diet thusly: Many wooded plants including apple, basswood, blueberry, cherry chestnut, current, grape, greenbrier, hawthorn, hickory, lilac, maple, oak, poplar, raspberry, rhododendron, viburnum, Virginia creeper, and walnut. Wikipedia adds: Ash, privet, honeysuckle, rose, and service trees. That's a pretty wide range of trees and shrubs. One of the challenges of finding them is that they could be almost anywhere; the other challenges are: Their green coloring blends in pretty darned well with the average leaf. They have a habit of feeding underneath leaves, so they're probably not visible when looking down at their location. They have a tendency to move from leaf-to-leaf; if you
Read more

Eastern Pondhawks

Image
I'm going to try something different today with my Eastern Pondhawk pictures. I'm going to let ChatGPT do my blog today. (ChatGPT is an AI program that you can converse with in a pretty human way; an explanation of it is here .) Me:  Can you tell me something interesting about the Eastern Pondhawk? ChatGPT:  The Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) is a dragonfly species that is native to North America. It is a medium-sized dragonfly, with a wingspan of about 3 inches, and can be found in a variety of habitats, including wetlands, marshes, and ponds. One interesting characteristic of the Eastern Pondhawk is its mating behavior. Male Eastern Pondhawks are known for their territorial behavior and will defend their territory from other males. They will patrol their territory and will try to mate with any females that fly into their territory. Another interesting fact about the Eastern Pondhawk is that it is a fast flyer and is able to hover in midair. It is also an import
Read more