Observaciones de moretti_b_009

This winged insect was found on a tree in a shaded wet area. Its body was about 1.5 inches long, with a short head and abdomen and a 2 millimeter wide thorax about an inch long with 7 patterned segments. The pattern on the segments resembled a cross made of three equal sized brown dots forming the top and a long oval forming the bottom. The 6 jointed legs were each about 1.5 inches long and half a millimeter wide. The wingspan was about 1 inch, and the wings each displayed a pattern of dark and light bands with every other band being dark. Antennae were about 3 millimeters long and curved.

References:
Crane Fly - Epiphragma fasciapenne. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cirrusimage.com/fly_crane_epiphragma/

Gelhaus, J. K., & Ruggeri, A. (2012). A review of the crane fly genus Epiphragma (Diptera: Tipulidae s.l.) in North America (including Mexico). The Canadian Entomologist, 144(2), 353–375. doi: 10.4039/tce.2012.32

This is a brown spider found inside a house. The spider’s body was about half an inch long, with large front legs about .75 inches long. The thorax had 8 eyes and 2 pedipalps about 2 millimeters long, with 8 jointed legs of varying lengths. The abdomen was about 3 millimeters long and oblong. The view of the body of the spider was partially obstructed by the placement of the spiders legs. This is likely a Kukulcania, which is a widely dispersed genus, found all over America and other regions, but it is most common in subtropical regions.

References:
Edwards, G. B. & McCanless, K. (2000). Southern House Spider, Kukulcania hibernalis (Hentz)
(Arachnida: Araneae: Filistatidae). IFAS Extension University of Florida. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN30100.pdf
Magalhaes, I. L. F., & Ramírez, M. J. (2019). The Crevice Weaver Spider Genus Kukulcania (Araneae: Filistatidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2019(426), 3–6. doi: 10.1206/00030090-426.1.1

This animal was found sitting in the sun on a dry day. From head to tail it was about 5 inches long, with the tail being about 2.5 inches long. Each of its 4 limbs ended in feet with 5 toes. It's back had brown patterned scales, with a white stripe running from the base of the head across the back and completely covering the tail. This pattern is typical of a female Brown Anole, a species that was introduced to the Tampa area. The species is currently found all over Florida, excluding the panhandle, and into south Georgia, although the species is originally native to Cuba and the Bahamas. It is also invasive across other places in the southern US, Mexico, and many tropical islands.
References:
Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) - Introduced. Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. https://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/anosag.htm

Anolis sagrei (brown anole). Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International. https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/107830#tosummaryOfInvasiveness

This plant was found growing near a sidewalk in a public area. the plant was about 4 centimeters tall and had a stem no more than 1 millimeter wide. It had leaves that grew in sets of three, each leaf having white markings at a 45 degree angle to the midrib, making V shapes on the leaves. The leaves ranged from 6 to 10 millimeters in width. The flowers of the plant were yellow with 3 petals, with the flowers growing in clusters. The plant is originally from the Mediterranean but is now found across many climates.

References:
https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_mepo3.pdf
https://www.feedipedia.org/node/276

This fern was found growing on the side of a palm tree in a sunny area. The blades of the plant were about 15 centimeters from the base of the plant, and the pinas ranged from about 3 centimeters to half a centimeter in length. The rhizomes were about 3 centimeters long and 5 millimeters wide. The underside of the pina revealed many reddish-brown colored sori, in double rows. The fiddlehead could not be located. The plant has been recorded to exist in the wild throughout Florida.

References:
https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Genus.aspx?id=964
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=125947

This organism grew on a very thin stem, about one millimeter wide and the top of the plant was about 5 centimeters from the ground, although it appeared as if the stem was creeping under other foliage instead of sticking straight into the ground, a defining feature of the Dichondra genus. The organism had one circular leaf about 1.5 centimeters in diameter and formed a slight funnel shape with an opening in the circle on one side. It was a bright green color and was surrounded by many other plants that looked very similar. The organism was found growing as a weed in a lawn in central Florida. The known distribution of this plant ranges throughout the south eastern United States from Florida to Texas and Oklahoma to Pensilvania.
References: wildflower.org/plants/results.php?id_plant=dica3
regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/plantdetail.asp?tx=Dichcaro