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Rattlesnake Plantain. Oh, look an orchid. An orchid that is not too uncommon in acidy woodlands. What a lovely leaf too. Picture and specimen by Helen Low Metzman.

Rattlesnake Plantain. Oh, look an orchid. An orchid that is not too uncommon in acidy woodlands. What a lovely leaf too. Picture and specimen by Helen Low Metzman.

Found a Common Grackle lying on the ground yesterday and took it to photograph. While taking pictures of the lovely subtle sheened feathers on the back of the head, an ant must have walked through one of the shots and its ghostly imprint remained.

Quiscalus quiscula - The Common Grackle. A hefty gracklesk foot befitting the beast. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200.

Graphocephala versuta - A beautiful multiculored, but minute leafhopper, here captured and photographed in Upper Marlboro, Maryland

Graphocephala versuta - A beautiful multiculored, but minute leafhopper, here captured and photographed in Upper Marlboro, Maryland

Pisaurina mira? Need confirmation please.Have another shot coming of the upper surface. Front legs removed to better expose the face

A nymph of a short-horned grasshopper, not sure what species. Another experiment with a 10X microscope lens. Specimen from my yard in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

I feel like I should know what this beetle is...but I do not. It has a tortoise beetle feel. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Anne Arundel County, MD, Identified as Gratiana pallidula, Eggplant Tortoise Beetle by Treegoat. Living specimens are a nice hospital green.

I feel like I should know what this beetle is...but I do not. It has a tortoise beetle feel. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Anne Arundel County, MD Identified as Gratiana pallidula, Eggplant Tortoise Beetle by Treegoat. Living specimens are a nice hospital green.

I feel like I should know what this beetle is...but I do not. It has a tortoise beetle feel. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Anne Arundel County, MD - Very Queen like from this underside shot. Identified as Gratiana pallidula, Eggplant Tortoise Beetle by Treegoat. Living specimens are a nice hospital green.

Hmmmm, this is indeed and obviously a beetle, but what we have here is a failure to communicate. Our master list does not include this species and "crackalure" is not anything I am aware of ... nor is there the usual information on time and date of the stacking. But it is pretty. So up it goes and maybe it will be discovered later what species it is.

Usure of which Green Lacewing species this is, it is also a bit discolored (the yellow areas should be green) in death, the eye alone adds appeal to this delicate species.Captured at my moth light in Upper Marlboro, MDCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Sp

Greensand, dug from my backyard, which at one point was on the ocean floor...and at a point in the future will return to that state. Our local greensand is composed of rounded marine sand, glauconite (the greensstuff), and geothite (small brown/black particles).

Another picture of greensand, this is the same sample as the last one, but one that was wetted down ... what follows is the rest of the post from the previous picture of greensand....greensand dug from my backyard, which at one point was on the ocean floor...and at a point in the future will return to that state.

You know, as a society, we have thought a great deal about plants, but mostly on the food and prettiness spectrums not so much on the ecological slider. So, here you have a Physalis seed husk, on the food end of the spectrum the genus gets about a 3.5 because tomatillos are in here, and a couple of other edibles, but its not one of the food powerhouses.

Early stages of the Cedar-Apple Rust, Kamren Jefferson, Maryland

Gynandromorph, bilaterally half male/ half female, very rare, the left hand side of this he-she is male (13 antennal segments / lacking pollen carrying hairs on the legs) and the right it female with 12 antennal segments and pollen carrying scopa on the hind legs. The differences are most obvious on the face shot and the underside shot.

Gynandromorph, bilaterally half male/ half female, very rare, the left hand side of this he-she is male (13 antennal segments / lacking pollen carrying hairs on the legs) and the right it female with 12 antennal segments and pollen carrying scopa on the hind legs. The differences are most obvious on the face shot and the underside shot.

Gynandromorph, bilaterally half male/ half female, very rare, the left hand side of this he-she is male (13 antennal segments / lacking pollen carrying hairs on the legs) and the right it female with 12 antennal segments and pollen carrying scopa on the hind legs. The differences are most obvious on the face shot and the underside shot.

Habronattus coecatus (Thanks Ben Coulter for the determination) Jumping Spider, set in hand sanitizer after storage in alcohol and photographed through a cuvette