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Nature tales enliven hot dry weather

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Dr. Jim Woolley, A&M entomologist, says these "very cool little wasps" are parasitic ensign wasps. They're solitary and they stalk cockroach egg cases to lay their eggs in them. Their young consume the eggs, killing the next generation of roaches. They're good guys - don't kill them.
  • Originally published September 8, 2009 at midnight, updated September 9, 2009 at 4:30 p.m.

We Coastal Bend residents have more tales related to 2009's heat and drought than we want. Our particular outdoor tales involve the phytoplankton monitoring network, Matagorda Island Turtle Patrol, hummers (hummingbirds) and unknown insects.

Phytoplankton monitoring network

Our water samples for phytoplankton monitoring for NOAA's PMN are drawn at Port O'Connor.

They've shown high saline levels this summer, sometimes saltier than the Gulf waters.

One thing we sample for is blooms, which are large numbers, of any single species of phytoplankton. Blooms of some species can hurt sea-life, people, birds, etc.

In fall 2007, we found an abundance, less than a bloom, of a poisonous Pseudo-nitzschia species in our sample. Pungens contains domoic acid, which can cause amnesic shellfish poisoning.

This summer, a pseudo-nitzschia bloom occurred near Port Aransas. PMN's staff identified two pseudo-nitzschia species present. The species making up the larger percentage of the bloom was non-poisonous, a species called delicatissima. Pungens was also present, but in smaller numbers. So the bloom was not considered dangerous.

To identify the two species, the Port Aransas sample was overnighted to Charleston, S.C., PMN's headquarters.

PMN's project leader used their electron microscope to magnify the sample 20,000 times to reveal enough detail to tell the difference between pungens, delicatissima and anything else.

Matagorda Island Turtle Patrol

Matagorda Island Turtle Patrol's latest 2009 report contained great news. On Aug. 4, volunteer patrollers found a broken turtle egg shell near the estimated location of a nest. That nest's location could never be pin-pointed when tracks were found nearby on June 8. Digging there revealed three dead hatchlings in the nest, along with evidence about 76 hatchlings survived and headed to the Gulf.

Hummers

The weather hasn't stopped hummingbirds' return to our yard. We grow both plants with red blooms that help hummers spot possible nectar sources, and plants with tubular-shaped blooms they like to drink nectar from. We've resumed offering them sugar water in our feeders.

Two eager hummers even hovered just above the red handles of the lopping shears Paul set down after using them. He picked up the shears slowly, raising them about chest-high. The hummers also rose, staying just above the handles. After several seconds of this, they finally flew away.

Unusual insects

We returned home recently, after a week away, to discover two insects unknown to us. One kind appeared to be parasitic wasps, which won't harm animals or people. Jim Woolley, professor of entomology at Texas A&M University in College Station, identified our little wasps as ensign wasps, an Evania species that lays its eggs in cockroach eggs. Really good little cockroach-control guys.

We haven't determined what the second kind is. We just got a specimen that's not squashed.

Paul and Mary Meredith are master naturalists. Contact them at paulmary0211@sbcglobal.net.


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