Growths Gone Groovy: Prickly Pear Edition

The prickly pear reported by Jean Hengesbaugh provided the impetus for this growth series. 

Photos by Fred Heath 10/13/2015

Close up of growth

This prickly pear is along the main road in Sabino. Looks like the plant is growing stems, flowers, and fruits at the same time and in the same place. Somethings gone on genetically, but the reason may be a simple as a copying error during cell division.

Growths Gone Groovy: Cholla edition

Thanks to Jean Hengesbaugh for getting this series started.

Fred writes:

I first became aware of this phenomenon of weird growths on cactus, when one of the docents at the ASDM sent me a picture of a cholla with such a growth. My first thought was some kind of a gall and in digging around on the internet I couldn't find any mention of a gall that fit this growth. I did find something called Glomerate Saguaros. These resembled to my uneducated eye something similar to the growth on the cholla below. 

Photos by Carole DeAngeli 9/21/2016

An expert on saguaros (Bill Thornton) got involved in the e-mail thread on this subject and thought this resembled something he called morphologically-aberrant (MA) saguaros and sent me an article he published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal describing them and the possible causes. [The article is a 7Meg pdf file titled "More Weird Saguaros" if anyone is interested in reading further, I'll be glad to forward it.] It really doesn't have an answer to what causes these M-A's, but suggests there might be a link to manganese in the soil. Bill Peachy, another saguaro expert, suggests these growths may start with damage to the plant maybe caused by a mite.

Close up of growth above

Meanwhile, Peter Warren, Urban Horticulture Agent with a degree in entomology, took the original growth on the cholla back to his lab for study. He found various insect larvae and some mites. Did any of these creatures cause the growth or did they take advantage of the food and shelter that the growth provided? No one seems to have an answer.

While leading the public lizard walk at Sabino a couple of weeks ago, one of the participants pointed to an odd growth on a Staghorn Cholla along the Bear Canyon Trail and asked what it was? I took a quick picture...

Photo by Fred Heath 10/10/2015

... and a closeup more recently. 

Photo by Fred Heath 11/4/2015

Anne says: Tumors/growths/morphological aberrations in all living things are the result of genetics and/or environment. Regardless of cause, plant growths still look like plants, of course. Even when the code (DNA) gets messed up, it can only get messed up so much. Plants can't grow an eyeball, for example, or hair or scales. As aberrant as it may be, the growth still has to be something the code (DNA) can do.

Stay tuned for more groovy growths in tomorrow's post.

Three for Three

And now for some flowers and butterflies...

Photo by Ned Harris 10/14/2015

Orange Skipperling on Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata). The entire flower is about the size of a quarter; that's a really small butterfly!

Photo by Marty Horowitz 10/26/2015

Southern Dogface on Bur Marigold (Bidens aurea). The dogface in the upper wing is said to be a poodle in profile.

Photo by Bill Kaufman 10/31/2015

Tiny Checkerspot on Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata).

Grasshopper Nymphs

Photos by Ned Harris

10/3/2015

Both grasshoppers pictured here are nymphs (i.e., not adults). Grasshoppers undergo 'incomplete' metamorphosis. Nymphs look like mini-adults when they hatch from the egg. Nymphs eat, grow, shed, and repeat until the final shed, after which they have fully developed wings and are fully developed adults.

Fred ropes a longhorn (or two)

Photos and true stories by Fred Health.

Photo (and fingers) by Fred Heath  9/26/2015

Fred writes:

I noticed a large black beetle scurrying along the side of the Bear Canyon Road, At first glance, I thought it was just another Eleodes beetle, also known as a "Stink Bug," even though it is not a bug at all. When disturbed, they will stop, point their butts in the air, and put out an offensive odor. Something looked odd about it and I tried to get a photo, but it kept weaving in and out of the vegetation and I couldn’t get a clear shot. Finally, I thought that maybe I could catch it and take my photo, but I wanted to make darned sure it wasn’t just a species of Eleodes I wasn’t familiar with. First, I noticed that its wing covers seemed to be fused, meaning it is flightless, and it had very long antenna. Neither of which fits the Eleodes. Finally, I noticed that one segment on the antenna was white; and in the back of my head, there was a voice saying it was something other than a Eleodes beetle. So I picked it up and luckily my memory didn’t fail me for once and it turned out to be a fine looking Cactus Longhorn Beetle (Moneilema gigas). The adults and larvae feed on cholla and prickly pear cactus, and the large foot pads enable to it walk carefully around the cactus spines.

Didn't pick up this pair! 10/6/2015

A few days later, my wife, Mary, called my attention to a mated pair crossing the road. 

Postscript While helping to lead a lizard walk in early October, it was cloudy at first with few lizards and so my attention strayed to other things. I found another Cactus Longhorn Beetle and picked it up to show some of the folks with me. I tried to convince a little boy that he could hold it without getting bit, but he decided to forgo the experience. Later on we saw another black beetle and he decided that he was now brave enough to pick this one up. Fortunately I was able to stop him in time as this was in fact an Eleodes beetle.

Finally, a Longhorn Cactus Beetle on a cactus! 10/18/2015

Postscript to my postscript. As I had handled these beetles with no ill effects as mentioned above, I had told the boy on my lizard walk that they didn’t bite. Image my surprise the other day when I picked up one that immediately delivered a painful bite. It didn’t break the skin on my finger, but it convinced me not to pick them up anymore or talk little kids into it either.

Thanks to Fred "I'll pick up anything once" Heath for this great tale.

Even Keeled

Photo by Ned Harris 10/23/2015

The orange critters on this Sacred Datura (Datura wrightii) are Keeled Treehoppers. Click on the photo and you may be able to just make out the wings (underneath the orange part) on the topmost Keeled Treehopper. These insects undergo 'incomplete' metamorphosis; i.e., they hatch from the egg, looking similar to their adult form (but generally smaller and always wingless), eat and shed, eat and shed, and so forth - at the final shed, they have their wings. And, as I am fond of repeating: In the insect world, adult have wings. (Not all insects use their wings to fly, however.) A great photo of treehopper nymphs on Margarethe's blog (scroll to Treehoppers).

Grapes of Wrap

Fred took this photo in September, but there's still plenty of evidence of the tremendous growth of Canyon Grape (Vitis arizonica), especially in the area above the dam. Wrapped around trees, bushes, and whatever else is around, don't forget to look up for it!

Photo by Fred Heath 9/21/2015

Fortunately, it's not Kudzu (Pueraria lobata)!
Canyon Grape (Vitis arizonica) is a fine native plant.