Fauna
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Flame Skimmer
Male flame skimmers are known for their entirely red or dark orange body, this includes eyes, legs, and even wing veins. Females are usually a medium or darker brown with some thin, yellow markings. This particular type of skimmer varies in size but is generally measured somewhere between two and three inches long.[1] These naiads are known for being rather large and chubby-looking due to their rounded abdomen. They are covered with hair but, unlike most young dragonflies, they lack hooks or spines. Due to its choice habitat of warm ponds, streams, or hot springs, flame skimmers are found mainly in the southwestern part of the United States. They also make their homes in public gardens or backyards.
Flame Skimmer
Male flame skimmers are known for their entirely red or dark orange body, this includes eyes, legs, and even wing veins. Females are usually a medium or darker brown with some thin, yellow markings. This particular type of skimmer varies in size but is generally measured somewhere between two and three inches long.[1] These naiads are known for being rather large and chubby-looking due to their rounded abdomen. They are covered with hair but, unlike most young dragonflies, they lack hooks or spines. Due to its choice habitat of warm ponds, streams, or hot springs, flame skimmers are found mainly in the southwestern part of the United States. They also make their homes in public gardens or backyards.
graphium agamemnon
Dryas iulia (Julia butterfly)
Dryas iulia (often incorrectly spelled julia), commonly called the Julia Butterfly, Julia Heliconian, The Flame, or Flambeau, is a species of brush-footed butterfly. The sole representative of its genus Dryas, it is native from Brazil to southern Texas and Florida, and in summer can sometimes be found as far north as eastern Nebraska. Its wingspan ranges from 82 to 92 mm, and it is colored orange (brighter in male specimens) with black markings; this species is somewhat unpalatable to birds and belongs to the "orange" Batesian Mimicry mimic complex. This butterfly is a fast flier and frequents clearings, paths, and margins of forests and woodlands.
ButterflyDrya juliaJulia butterflySony A6000Texas Discovery Gardens
Pachydiplax longipennis Female
The blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) is a dragonfly of the skimmer family. It is common and widely distributed in the United States
Mature males develop a bluish-white pruinescence on the back of the abdomen and, in western individuals, on the thorax. They display this pruinescence to other males as a threat while defending territories at the edge of the water.
Females are paired with yellow stripes on the dorsal side of the first 8 abdominal segments, the part of the body that lies between the thorax and the pelvis and encloses the stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, and pancreas; more commonly known as the belly. Females are also reported to turn blue, but at a slower rate then the males.
Pachydiplax longipennis Female
The blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) is a dragonfly of the skimmer family. It is common and widely distributed in the United States
Mature males develop a bluish-white pruinescence on the back of the abdomen and, in western individuals, on the thorax. They display this pruinescence to other males as a threat while defending territories at the edge of the water.
Females are paired with yellow stripes on the dorsal side of the first 8 abdominal segments, the part of the body that lies between the thorax and the pelvis and encloses the stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, and pancreas; more commonly known as the belly. Females are also reported to turn blue, but at a slower rate then the males.
Papilio memnon
The Great Mormon (Papilio memnon) is a large butterfly that belongs to the swallowtail family and is found in southern Asia. It is widely distributed and has thirteen subspecies.
Male - Tailless, above deep blue to black. It may or may not have red streak on the forewing at the base of the cell.
Female - Tailless. Upperside forewing ground colour sepia, streaked with greyish white. The basal third part of the cell is red and is touched outwardly with white. Upper hindwing is blue-black. It has 5 to 7 yellow or white discal patches.
This is a female (top) and male (bottom) mating.
Papilio demodocus
Papilio demodocus, the citrus swallowtail or Christmas butterfly, is a large swallowtail butterfly common to sub-Saharan Africa. After hatching from their egg, the caterpillar feeds on a few leaves on citrus trees before pupation.
Adult butterflies have black and yellow markings with red and blue eyespots. Female butterflies tend to be larger than males.
Tithorea harmonia
The Harmonia Tiger-wing or Harmonia Tiger (Tithorea harmonia) is a species of butterflies belonging to the Nymphalidae family.
ButterflyLycorea halia cleobaeaSony A6000Texas Discovery Gardens
Caligo memnon
The Giant Owl (Caligo memnon) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is also known as the Pale Owl butterfly. The species can be found in the rainforests and secondary forests of Mexico down to the Amazon rainforest.[1]
The wingspan is usually from 115 to 130 mm, but can reach 150 mm.
The larvae feed on Musa and Heliconia species and can be a pest for banana cultivation. Adults feed on juices of rotting fruit.
Papilio Glaucus (Easter tiger swallowtail) Yellow Morph
The Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) is a species of swallowtail butterfly native to eastern North America. Females may be either yellow or black, making them dimorphic. The yellow morph is similar to the male, but with a conspicuous band of blue spots along the hindwing, while the dark morph is almost completely black.
BlueButterflyGlaucusMacroPapilioSummerSwallowtailTiger Swallowtailyellow
Papilio Glaucus (Easter tiger swallowtail) Dark Morph
The Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) is a species of swallowtail butterfly native to eastern North America. Females may be either yellow or black, making them dimorphic. The yellow morph is similar to the male, but with a conspicuous band of blue spots along the hindwing, while the dark morph is almost completely black.
Heliconius hecale
The Tiger Longwing is a Heliconiid butterfly that occurs from Mexico to the Peruvian Amazon. All Heliconius species have long black wings bearing simple but striking patterns, typically featuring streaks or patches of red and cream, or blue and cream. Several including hecale have subspecies which mimic 'tiger complex' orange and black Ithomiines.
Morpho peleides
The Peleides Blue Morpho, Common Morpho, or The Emperor (Morpho peleides) is an iridescent tropical butterfly found in Mexico, Central America, northern South America, Paraguay, and Trinidad. Some authorities believe that peleides is a subspecies of Morpho helenor.
The brilliant blue color in the butterfly's wings is caused by the diffraction of the light from millions of tiny scales on its wings. It uses this to frighten away predators, by flashing its wings rapidly. The wingspan of the Blue Morpho butterfly ranges from 7.5–20 cm (3.0–7.9 in). The entire Blue Morpho butterfly lifecycle, from egg to adult is only 115 days.
Its favourites in captivity are mango, kiwi, and lychee. Morpho peleides butterflies live in the rainforests of South America, and can be found in Mexico and Central America.
Zebra Heliconius charithonia
Heliconius charithonia, the zebra longwing or zebra heliconian, is a species of butterfly belonging to the subfamily Heliconiinae of the Nymphalidae. The boldly striped black and white wing pattern is aposematic, warning off predators.
The species is distributed across South and Central America and as far north as southern Texas and peninsular Florida; there are migrations north into other American states in the warmer months.
Zebra longwing adults roost communally at night in groups of up to 60 adults for safety from predators. The adult butterflies are unusual in feeding on pollen as well as on nectar; the pollen enables them to synthesize cyanogenic glycosides that make their bodies toxic to potential predators. Note the pollen captured on the proboscis of this Zebra Heliconius.
Adults roost in groups of up to 60 individuals on a nightly basis, returning to the same roost every night. These roosts provide protection to adults, the large groups deterring predators and retaining warmth.[6] Solitary individuals, or very small roosts, avoid exhibiting proper warning signals so as not to attract predators
H. charithonia is found in South America, Central America, the West Indies, Mexico, south Texas and peninsular Florida. Adults sometimes migrate north to New Mexico, South Carolina, and Nebraska during the warmer months. It was declared the official butterfly for the state of Florida in the United States in 1996. The species frequents tropical hammocks, moist forests, edges, or fields.
The Great Mormon (Papilio memnon) is a large butterfly native to southern Asia that belongs to the swallowtail family. It is widely distributed and has thirteen subspecies. The female is polymorphic and with mimetic forms.
Parthenos sylvia
The Clipper (Parthenos sylvia) is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South and South-East Asia, mostly in forested areas. The Clipper is a fast flying butterfly and has a habit of flying with its wings flapping stiffly between the horizontal position and a few degrees below the horizontal. It may glide between spurts of flapping.
Brown ClipperButterflyParthensos sylviaSony A7RIITexas Discovery Gardens
Parthenos sylvia
The Clipper (Parthenos sylvia) is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South and South-East Asia, mostly in forested areas. The Clipper is a fast flying butterfly and has a habit of flying with its wings flapping stiffly between the horizontal position and a few degrees below the horizontal. It may glide between spurts of flapping.
Brown ClipperButterflyParthensos sylviaSony A7RIITexas Discovery Gardens
Cornu aspersum
Cornu aspersum, known by the common name garden snail, is a species of land snail. As such it is a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Helicidae, which include the most commonly familiar land snails. Of all terrestrial molluscs, this species may well be the most widely known. In English texts it was classified under the name Helix aspersa for over two centuries, but the prevailing classification now places it in the genus Cornu.
The adult bears a hard, thin calcareous shell 25–40 mm in diameter and 25–35 mm high, with four or five whorls. The shell is variable in color and shade but generally is dark brown, brownish golden, or chestnut with yellow stripes, flecks, or streaks (characteristically interrupted brown colour bands). The aperture is large and characteristically oblique, its margin in adults is white and reflected.
The body is soft and slimy, brownish-grey, and the animal retracts itself entirely into the shell when inactive or threatened. When injured or badly irritated the animal produces a defensive froth of mucus that might repel some enemies or overwhelm aggressive small ants or the like. It has no operculum; during dry or cold weather it seals the aperture of the shell with a thin membrane of dried mucus; the term for such a membrane is epiphragm. The epiphragm helps the snail retain moisture and protects it from small predators such as some ants.
Like other Pulmonata, Cornu aspersum is a hermaphrodite, producing both male and female gametes. Reproduction is usually sexual, although self-fertilisation sometimes occurs. During a mating session of several hours, two snails exchange sperm. Cornu aspersum is one of the species that uses love darts during mating.
About two weeks after fertilisation, the snail lays a batch of about 80 spherical pearly-white eggs into crevices in the topsoil or sheltered under stones or the like. In a year it may lay six batches or so. The size of the egg is 4 mm.
The young snails take one to two years to reach maturity. In some regions snail farms produce them commercially.
Anolis carolinensis (Carolina anole)
Colour varies from brown to green and can be changed like many other kinds of lizards, but anoles are closely related to iguanas[7] and are not true chameleons. Although A. carolinensis is sometimes called an 'American chameleon', true chameleons do not occur in the Americas, and A. carolinensis is the only lizard in its area of distribution capable of changing colour. In contrast, many species of true chameleons display a greater range of colour adaptation, though some can hardly change colour at all.
Opheodrys vernalis (Smooth greensnake)
The smooth greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis) is a nonvenomous North American colubrid. It is also referred to as the grass snake. It is a slender, "small medium" snake that measures 36–51 cm (14–20 in) as an adult. It gets its common name from its smooth dorsal scales, as opposed to the rough green snake, which has keeled dorsal scales. It is found in marshes, meadows, open woods, and along stream edges and is native to regions of Canada, Maine, Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia, Wyoming, New Mexico, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Texas, Michigan and northern Mexico. A non-aggressive snake, it seldom bites and usually flees when threatened. It mates in late spring to summer and females lay their eggs from June to September.
Opheodrys vernalis (Smooth greensnake)
The smooth greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis) is a nonvenomous North American colubrid. It is also referred to as the grass snake. It is a slender, "small medium" snake that measures 36–51 cm (14–20 in) as an adult. It gets its common name from its smooth dorsal scales, as opposed to the rough green snake, which has keeled dorsal scales. It is found in marshes, meadows, open woods, and along stream edges and is native to regions of Canada, Maine, Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia, Wyoming, New Mexico, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Texas, Michigan and northern Mexico. A non-aggressive snake, it seldom bites and usually flees when threatened. It mates in late spring to summer and females lay their eggs from June to September.
Sceloporus olivaceus
The Texas spiny lizard is a species of phrynosomatid lizard native to the south central United States, in the states of Texas and Oklahoma, and northeastern Mexico in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and San Luis Potosí. They are quite common throughout their range, where they can be found in trees or on fences.
They are 7.5-11 inches (19–28 cm) in total length, and are typically grey in color with black, white, or red-brown blotching down the back. Patterns vary greatly by locality, but the colors and pattern typically serve to be adequate camouflage against the bark of trees in its chosen habitat
The Texas spiny lizard is diurnal and arboreal. Their preferred habitat is mesquite trees, over areas with a significant amount of ground leaf litter, but they are often found in suburban areas basking on fences or climbing telephone poles.
Typically shy and nervous, when approached they will usually retreat up a tree or flee noisily through leaf litter on the ground. They are insectivorous, and eat a variety of beetles and other insects. Breeding occurs throughout the spring and summer months, and clutches of eggs can be laid as often as four times a year.
The male Texas spiny lizard also has a peculiar habit when challenged by another male for its territory. The two males will have a push up contest, or so it seems. Both males will begin doing push ups until one of them gives up and runs away.
Shih Tzu
A shih tzu also known as the Chrysanthemum Dog, is a toy dog breed weighing 5–7.25 kilograms (11.0–16.0 lb) with long silky hair. The exact origins of the breed are unknown, but it is thought to have originated in Tibet and then been developed in China although various hypotheses exist.
DNA analysis placed the ancestors of today's Shih Tzu breed in the group of "ancient" breeds indicating "close genetic relationship to wolves". Another branch coming down from the "Kitchen Midden Dog" gave rise to the Papillon and Long-haired Chihuahua and yet another "Kitchen Midden Dog" branch to the Pug and Shih Tzu. It is also said that the breed originated in China, hence the name "Lion Dog", in 800 B.C. There are various theories of the origins of today's breed. Theories relate that it stemmed from a cross between Pekingese and a Tibetan dog called the Lhasa Apso. Dogs during ancient times were selectively bred and seen in Chinese paintings. The dogs were favorites of the Chinese royals and so prized that, for years, the Chinese refused to sell, trade, or give any away. The first dogs of the breed were imported into Europe (England and Norway) in 1930 and were classified by the Kennel Club as "Apsos". The first European standard for the breed was written in England in 1935 by the Shih Tzu Club, and the dogs were recategorised as Shih Tzu. The breed spread throughout Europe, and was brought to the United States after World War II, when returning members of the U.S. military brought back dogs from Europe, in the mid 1950s. The Shih Tzu was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1969 in the Toy Group.
This is my Shih Tzu named Snoopy and he...
...Is lazy and sleeps all day
...Is fat like a sausage
...Is loving and friendly
...Is the happiest animal on earth
