Favoritos de dianastuder

Monkey-face gets the Carpenter's honey

The drop of honey I put out on the kitchen-yard wall for the ailing Carpenter Bee - rejected - attracted not ants, but this enterprising nocturnal fellow.

See Carpenter (no interaction): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33740038

First iNat observation of the species in VA, neat! (and none even in DC, MD, or WV)

On some sort of damp, very soft, crumbly sedimentary rock in disturbed sandy streamside area

Not noted for Arlington county here- https://vaplantatlas.org/index.php?do=plant&plant=4156 I'll see if I can contribute this record to their site.

Interestingly, I feel like if it were as weedy/common as that account^ makes it seem, it would be observed more on here. Comparing it to something like Physcomitrium pyriforme for example, which is common and widespread in disturbed areas, and I would say about as conspicuous/noticeable as this species, P. pyriforme has many times more observations on iNat.

My thinking is that maybe it's similar to some relatively rarer carnivorous plants, orchids, other fire-adapted forbs of the Southeastern US in that it can do well in disturbed areas (e.g. power line right-of-ways in this comparison) because the habitat is right otherwise, but isn't necessarily extremely tolerant of intense human disturbance, nor generally common and widespread. Just spitballing here though!