There is also a new episode of the Stuifmail podcast every weekend. Listen to the podcast here:
Waiting for privacy settings…
These creatures live in the tomato plant, what are they?
Jan van Riet saw creatures staying in the tomato plant on September 17. He wonders which creatures are involved? I believe these are young southern green shield bugs also called nymphs of the southern green shield bugs. Bugs do not undergo complete metamorphosis. What makes it difficult with the southern green shield bug is that the nymphs look like a bug, but not at all like the adult southern green shield bug.
Southern green shield bugs are invasive species and originally only occurred in Africa. Due to climate change, these bugs have also ended up in the Netherlands and many other parts of Europe. The first report of the southern green shield bug here was made in 2006. The menu of these animals includes plants, they feed on plant juices. They have a preference for young plant parts, fruits and growing points. They have a snout and with that snout they pierce the plants and at the same time introduce poisonous saliva into the plant. The damage that then occurs causes the plant to discolour. They then get deformed fruits and wilted shoots. In short: not good if you have plants that you want to harvest.
A slug with something on the end, what is that?
On September 13 in Germany, Jos Roeken saw a snail along the Moselle with a gel-like structure at the back. His question is what is that? Snails and slugs produce a kind of mucus to move on. On such a so-called slime trail they can not only crawl over the ground, but also over other materials. They can even move across vertical surfaces.
In addition, the slime trail serves another purpose. You often see a slimy trail left behind, see the photo above, and that is a good indication of other slugs or snails. They can use this slime trail to find each other to mate, for example. At the end of the red road snail that Jos photographed, there is still a remnant of this slime. This residue accumulates on the tip of the tail as the red road slug glides forward. The slug usually discovers this and simply eats the leftovers.
A kind of fungus that was quite hard
Yvonne was working in her mother’s garden on September 7 when she suddenly saw something that she thought was a fungus. When she arrived, she felt that it was quite hard. Her question is whether it is a fungus after all. The photo indeed shows a fruiting body of a fungus, the name is resin fungus. The fruiting bodies of this fungus are mainly found at the base of living trees or on old stumps. The resin fungus is probably in the garden on an old stump in the ground. Tree species on which you can find this fungus are pedunculate oaks, American oaks, sweet chestnuts, elms and especially trees on sandy soils. You will also encounter the fruiting bodies of the resin fungus on plane trees, but always much higher on the trunk. They mainly occur in the open landscape, usually on trees along roads. When the fruit body is still young, it turns white or yellow with a sometimes striking yellow edge. As it ages, you will see that the fruiting body/cap becomes a beautiful, shiny, wavy brown-red.
The spores are brown and can sometimes be seen as a kind of cocoa layer on top of the cap. The fruiting bodies of the fungus were used in Chinese medicine to strengthen the human immune system. These fruiting bodies contain plant substances with antibacterial, antiviral and antitumor properties. In Burkina Faso, an extract of the fungus is used as a traditional medicine for heart problems. By the way, the fruiting bodies of resin snail fungi are not edible due to their toughness.
Southern Green Shield Bug – Oliver’s Nature
Waiting for privacy settings…
The southern green shield bug is a uniformly green or brown-colored bug in the winter half-year with a light-colored wing membrane, pronotum and a head with sometimes a striking yellow border at the front. Characteristic for this species is the row of three small white dots, flanked by two black dots on the leading edge of the shield. They are regularly imported with all kinds of products from Southern Europe. Since 2013, nymphs have been observed in some places in the open air and in greenhouses.