Balaustium mite adult Greetings fellow Foxies,
Alan Kerrigan sent me an intriguing image (above) of a native grasshopper that had a tiny red spot
near its head that he thought may be a tick. It reminded me of a poem fragment from my youth.
“Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ‘em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.“
A young friend of the Facebook-twit-tweet generation was flabbergasted to see poetry in Foxypress. I'm grateful that she recognised a poem given the orful speling and gramma I see on some Facebook posts. E.g. ‘for sale portable gym to build up your mussels’. Oops old fart moment.
Anyway, back to the beastie on the grasshopper; it's an immature balaustium mite, an African immigrant, a vegetarian, and a pest of crops and pastures. Initially they have 6 legs, then 8 later.
There are many wonderful things that we don’t look closely enough at to appreciate.
Consider the blue speck I photographed last week in Foxes Lair (see below). A closer view reveals the exquisite Tall lobelia Lobelia gibbosa that has adapted to flowering in summer by using its fleshy stem to sustain the flowering process.
Alan Kerrigan sent me an intriguing image (above) of a native grasshopper that had a tiny red spot
near its head that he thought may be a tick. It reminded me of a poem fragment from my youth.
“Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ‘em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.“
A young friend of the Facebook-twit-tweet generation was flabbergasted to see poetry in Foxypress. I'm grateful that she recognised a poem given the orful speling and gramma I see on some Facebook posts. E.g. ‘for sale portable gym to build up your mussels’. Oops old fart moment.
Anyway, back to the beastie on the grasshopper; it's an immature balaustium mite, an African immigrant, a vegetarian, and a pest of crops and pastures. Initially they have 6 legs, then 8 later.
There are many wonderful things that we don’t look closely enough at to appreciate.
Consider the blue speck I photographed last week in Foxes Lair (see below). A closer view reveals the exquisite Tall lobelia Lobelia gibbosa that has adapted to flowering in summer by using its fleshy stem to sustain the flowering process.
