Who's Who at Wolf Park - Other Inhabitants

Who's Who at Wolf Park - Other Inhabitants

	Bee on Wild Bergamot
	Monarda fistulosa
	Wild bergamot is a native perennial from slender creeping rhizomes and thus commonly occurs in large clumps. Plants are up to 3 feet tall with a few erect branches. Leaves are 2-3 inches long, lance-shaped, and toothed. Flower clusters are solitary at the ends of branches. Each cluster is about 1 1/2 inches long and contains about 20-50 flowers. Look for wild bergamot in rich soils in dry fields, thickets, and clearings, usually on limy soil. It ranges from northeastern North America: from Quebec to Minnesota and south to Texas. The plant is noted for its fragrance, and is a source of oil of thyme. One authority states that Native Americans recognized four varieties that had different odors. Leaves were eaten boiled with meat and a decoction of the plant was made into hair pomade. The herb is considered an active diaphoretic (sweat inducer). Wild bergamot flowers from June - August.
	Cabbage Butterfly (Small Cabbage White)
	Pieris rapae
	The upper side of this beautiful insect is creamy white with black tips to the forewings. Females also have two black spots in the center of the forewings. Its underwings are yellowish with black speckles. It is sometimes mistaken for a moth due to its plain-looking appearance. An adult's wingspan is roughly 32-47 mm.
	Common Blue Damselfly
	Enallagma cyathigerum
	The Common Blue Damselfly can be easily mistaken for the Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella), but on the back and the thorax, the Common Blue Damselfly has more blue than black; on the Azure Damselfly it is the other way around. Another difference can be observed when inspecting the side of the thorax. The Common Blue Damselfly has only one small black stripe there, while all other blue damselflies have two. During mating, the male clasps the female by her neck while she bends her body around to his reproductive organs &emdash; this is called a mating wheel. The pair flies together over the water and eggs are laid within a suitable plant, just below the surface. The eggs hatch and the larvae, called nymphs, live in the water and feed on small aquatic animals. Nymphs climb out of the water up a suitable stem to moult into damselflies.
	Cuckoo Wasp
	Family Chrysididae
	There are nearly 3000 described species of cuckoo wasp. Many of them are quite beautiful, with brilliant jewel toned bodies. Like the cuckoo bird, the cuckoo wasp is a kleptoparasite, laying its eggs in host nests. When the cuckoo wasp larvae hatch, they consume the host's larvae, and any provisions the host may have left for its young.
	Eastern cottontails
	Sylvilagus floridanus
	The Eastern Cottontail is red-brown or gray-brown in color with large hind feet, long ears and a short fluffy white tail. Its underside fur is white. There is a rusty patch on the tail. It has large brown eyes and large ears to see and listen for danger. In winter the cottontail's pelage is more gray than brown. Baby rabbits have a white blaze that goes down their forehead; this marking eventually disappears. The average adult weighs about 2-4 pounds; however the female tends to be heavier.
	Leopard Frog (aka meadow frogs or cow frogs)
	Family Ranidae
	There are about fourteen species of leopard, or grass, frogs. They are generally very similar, green with prominent and irregularly shaped black spotting. Their range extends throughout temperate and subtropical North America to northern Mexico with some species found even further south. Once abundant in North America, their population has declined in recent years because of pollution and deforestation. Leopard frogs are often used as environmental indicator species because of their heightened sensitivity to chemical pollutants found in the air and water, and they are commonly used as dissection specimens in biology classrooms.