Wayne's Word Index Noteworthy Plants Trivia Lemnaceae Biology 101 Botany Scenic Wildflowers Trains Spiders & Insects Search  INDICES:   Trivia Notes   Alien Species   Humorous   Remember When   All Facebook Notes   Wayne's Trivia Notes #41   © W.P. Armstrong    All Facebook Notes & Images    Published Occasionally On Facebook Go To Latest Trivia Note On This Page Wayne's Trivia Note #878 Two handsome wasps with painful stings. Actually, the large bullet ant of Central America is more painful. It is described by pain sting authority Dr. Justin Schmidt as absolutely excruciating & debilitating! It will be the subject of a future Trivia Note. Wayne's Trivia Note #879 (14 September 2023) Last night's rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. View from Twin Oaks Valley & large Australian rustyleaf fig near my home. BTW, the symbiotic fig wasps have found their way to this tree, possibly carried by air currents. Wayne's Trivia Note #880 (15 September 2023) Male "fig" (syconium) from male caprifig I rescued from roadside in Vista. These are typically not eaten unless you want a mouthful of pollen & tiny wasps (see following image)! The winged female wasps carry pollen to my female trees ('Calimyrna' & 'Verte' varieties). Pollinated figs with mature seeds are more flavorful. This is how they are grown in fig orchards of San Joaquin Valley (where they haven't been replaced by houses). Historically, these have been dried & used in best fig newtons!   Calimyrna Fig Orchards In California's San Joaquin Valley   Calimyrna Fig Orchards (Palomar Arboretum Newsletter) Wayne's Trivia Note #881 (18 September 2023) My latest tiny wasp visitor. This is where I find a lot of my interesting insects at my home. I have pitfall traps set throughout this area. Wayne's Trivia Note #882 (20 September 2023) It took the rains of Hurricane Hilary to bring seeds of my eastern North American wildflower called "devil's claw" out of dormancy. There is also a beautiful yellow species in Anza-Borrego desert. Both species have prominent nectar guidelines. Native American basket weavers of Arizona used another species with long-horned seed capsules.   Devil's Claws: Hitchhikers On Big Animals   Wayne's Trivia Note #883 (25 September 2023) I placed this praying mantis on a Lantana shrub where she is very camouflaged. She moved under a leaf and is very inconspicuous. Each time she repositions herself I have great difficulty spotting her. Another Image of Her With Rising Moon in Distance I chose this Lantana shrub because I knew where the rising moon would be in relation to mantid position! She was so successful catching insects, plus my supplementary feeding, that she strayed very little from the original place where I introduced her. Wayne's Trivia Note #884 (1 October 2023) Wasp-pollinated 'Calimyrna' figs grown in orchards of California's hot San Joaquin Valley are considered the ne plus ultra of figs; however, in Twin Oaks Valley of San Diego County, I think my red-fleshed, wasp-pollinated 'Verte' figs are superior. Pollination produces the delicious, nutritious, nutty, crunchy seeds.   'Calimyrna' Fig Orchards In California's San Joaquin Valley   Wayne's Trivia Note #885 (3 October 2023) I have never seen so many orb-weaver spiders at my home in Twin Oaks Valley. Every time I walk on or off a pathway I run into a web! Wayne's Trivia Note #886 (6 October 2023) A large, 8-eyed huntsman spider attempting to enter the partially opened back door at Wayne's Word in Twin Oaks Valley! I carefully closed door so she wouldn't be injured. Wayne's Trivia Note #887 (10 October 2023) As I walked barefooted in my dimly-lit hallway at 10:00 PM, the large black spot on carpet turned out to be this creature that I relocated to safe place in my yard! Wayne's Trivia Note #888 (12 October 2023) Sexual Identity in Common Figs: Dioecious species like us have male & female individuals in our population. Female plants typically have ovary-bearing seeds and offspring, while males produce pollen. Male figs (called caprifigs) are more complicated. As I discovered last summer, they produce pollen, ovary-bearing seeds & offspring (see my image). Botanists have devised a special term for this condition called gynodioecious. The term "bisexual" could be used for the seed & pollen bearing syconium that is really an inflorescence within a hollow, flask-shaped structure. Some authors refer to male trees as hermaphroditic. Although they have female flowers, they function as pollen-bearing males in the fig life cycle. Wayne's Trivia Note #889 (14 October 2023) Solar eclipse of 24 October 2023. My camera was hand-held and pointed directly at bright sun. I used ISO 200 & manual setting of f-5.6, 1/100th sec. A slower shutter speed on tripod would have reduced the redness of sun, or it could be adjusted in photoshop. Wayne's Trivia Note #890 (24 October 2023) Sexual suicide in my backyard! I just took this image at 3:15 P.M. (15 minutes ago) Tues 24 Oct 2023. I doubt if the slender male realizes the larger green female will eat him (head first) when the sex act is over! I WAS WRONG: SEE FOLLOWING IMAGE! Wayne's Word Correction: Update on my mantid sexual suicide image. She didn't eat him!   Horrifying Male-Eating By Female Mantid!   Wayne's Trivia Note #891 (5 November 2023) Wayne's Word Clock: No need for ridiculous time resets every fall & spring! So much for Sunshine Protection Act passed by Senate in 2021 but (as of 5 Nov 2023) not passed by Congress. Wayne's Trivia Note #892 (7 November 2023) Having lunch with gravid praying mantis in my backyard. At the time of this posting (7 Nov. 2023) she has moved to eaves of my house, hopefully to lay eggs. I will miss her. Wayne's Trivia Note #893 (10 November 2023) The potted plants at Wayne's Word are infested with minute fungus gnats. Our solution: We bought a bug zapper! Wayne's Trivia Note #894 (23 November 2023) Views of 2023 Thanksgiving day sunrise from deck 11 of our cruise ship heading north from Ensenada. Wayne's Trivia Note #895 (23 November 2023) I always try to find at least one interesting ant species on travel trips to satisfy my ant obsession. Here is one from the dock on recent cruise to Ensenada. Wayne's Trivia Note #896 (6 December 2023) Today's discovery in a pitfall trap at Wayne's Word. I never know who will drop in! All text material & images on these pages copyright © W.P. Armstrong