Floridaposting - Blog Posts

Florida Artworks by Enigmatriz

this leucistic turkey vulture was spotted perched on a telephone pole in florida. animals with leucism produce a reduced amount of pigments, resulting in either an entirely ‘faded’ body or a ‘pied’ appearance. like albino animals, leucistic animals are particularly vulnerable to predators and harassment from their own species.

source: (x)

Daily Dose Of Lepidoptera

[Day 108] (Butterfly Friday)

-Atala Butterfly-

Eumaeus atala

-Little Wood Satyr Butterfly-

Megisto cymela

-Violet Copper Butterfly-

Lycaena helle

Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina bauri), family Emydidae, found in Florida and far SE Georgia, USA

A subspecies of the Eastern Box Turtle.

photos: Jonathan Zander, Andrea Westmoreland, Jud McCranie

Honestly really embarrassing for you guys. You need to sort this stuff out with each other

Gene-edited 'Peter Pan' cane toad that never grows up created to eat its siblings, control invasive species

The removed gene controls the production of the hormone thyroxine, which fuels the metamorphosis that occurs when a tadpole transforms into a toad. Rick Shine, an evolutionary biologist and ecologist at Macquarie University, is one of the scientists behind the "Peter Pan toads". He said cane toad tadpoles were known to be voracious cannibals with a preference for snacking on their kin, both in egg and hatchling form. This is especially true in Australia where rates of cannibalism of hatchlings by tadpoles have been recorded as 2.4 times that of South America — where the cane toad originated...

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-04-08/cane-toad-created-that-never-grows-up-and-eats-its-siblings/105100286

Red-shouldered Bug (Jadera haematoloma), taken April 4, 2025, in Georgia, US

Just a little guy posing for a picture! He seemed to be following the camera as I tried to get different angles. This insect has two adult morphs: long-winged (macropterous) and short-winged (brachypterous). The short-winged morph has, as you could infer, shorter wings that leave part of the abdomen exposed. I've seen both forms in a solitary setting, though this species apparently tends to have higher rates of short-winged adults when they live in groups. Less need for wings when you don't have to go anywhere to find a mate!

Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus), family Colubridae, found in the Eastern and central U.S.

photograph by Mike Martin

The long-headed toothpick grasshopper (Achurum carinatum) lives and feeds among tall grass in the southeast US.

They’re flightless and not very fast or agile by grasshopper standards, but like a stick insect their camouflage seems to make up for it!

In Florida, they breed year-round and are abundant in this prairie habitat in January when few other insects are active.

Florida Banded Water Snake (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris), family Colubridae, northern FL, USA

photograph by Dick Bartlett