Scutellinia scutellata (Eyelash Cup Fungus)

This pretty orange fungus with the fringe of fine black hairs is Scutellinia scutellata (Eyelash Cup Fungus). It is an Ascomycota, like the resinicolous Sarea difformis and the old wood-dwelling whisker lichens (Calicium species).

Scutellinia scutellata is a saprophytic fungus that decomposes decorticated damp wood in forests. I often find it on spongy wet logs and fallen branches. Sometimes it grows by itself, but other times it may grow with small, leafy liverworts and mosses.

*Scutellinia scutellata* with mosses and *Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa*, a slime mold on a decomposed aspen log. July 03, 2015, Carlton County, Minnesota.

I’ve noticed that many Ascomycota species exhibit seasonal fruiting. For example, hairy ebony cups (Pseudoplectania sp.) fruit in April, morel mushrooms (Morchella angusticeps) fruit in May, and the false morel (Gyromitra infula) fruits in October. Scutellinia scutellata fruits from late June into October, especially if rainfall is abundant.

The fruiting body of Scutellinia scutellata is a disk-shaped scarlet-red to bright orange cup up to 1.5 mm across and fringed by black hairs. The lower surface is brownish and covered with small hairs.

*Scutellinia scutellata* with mosses on a damp decomposing aspen log. October 28, 2019, Carlton County, Minnesota.

Diversity of species

There are at least 100 species in the genus, and identification hinges on microscopic features of the spores and hairs. I’m fairly confident that this one is Scutellinia scutellata. However, reliable identification can be hampered if there is extreme variability and overlapping of morphological characters.

Symbiosis with bacteria

Scutellinia scutellata grows in association with extracellular bacteria. This association is crucial to its survival and growth. “All attempts to culture hyphae in the absence of bacteria failed. To our knowledge, this represents the first report of these versatile Acidovorax-like bacteria having established symbiotic relationships with members of both Fungal and Animal Kingdoms.” (Giordano et al, 2013)

Sources

Venerable Trees

This white pine is the largest and possibly the oldest tree on my property. It has a DBH (diameter at breast height or 1.3 meters) of 92 cm, and I estimate its age at about 180 years old.

The white pine probably began growing sometime around 1845. This was at the beginning of the white pine logging era in Minnesota. By 1900, it would have been large enough to cut for timber, but it was missed. The 1918 fires that swept through the area also missed it by just two short miles.

All through the 20th century, it continued to grow undisturbed. Over time, a forest of paper birch, aspen, balsam fir, and spruce grew under the pine. Beneath the trees, clubmosses, poverty oats, rough rice grass, purple melic grass, twinflower, and hairy goldenrod covered the ground. The forest had come back.

**The big white pine as seen from ground level.**

When other white pines on this 40-acre section were cut down for lumber in 1960, this huge white pine was not cut down. So were four other large white pines and five large red pines. I don’t know how or why this happened, but I am glad they were overlooked. What would this forest be without them?

One of the big white pine’s neighbors. This **white pine** **tree had a DBH of 82 cm in 2015. I estimate its age at 170 years.**

Logging of Minnesota’s white pine forests began in the 1830s, but it wasn’t until the 1870s, with the advent of railroads and new settlements, that it really took off. By 1900, Minnesota had produced almost 1.2 billion board feet of white pine timber. This was not to last, and by 1929, nearly all of Minnesota’s white pine forests were depleted, bringing white pine logging to an end. While not remnant trees from old-growth forests, these white and red pine trees are survivors from that time.

**One of the old red pines, DBH 56 cm, age estimate 121 years.**

White pines I planted in the early 2000s. These trees were grown from seeds produced by another old and enormous white pine on my land. They are part of my project to re-wild a former hayfield and pasture.

Moths and Their Nighttime Floral Visits

*Xestia normanianus*, a dart moth, nectaring on lance-leaved aster (*Symphyotrichum lanceolatum*) at night.

What do moths do at night anyway? Some of them visit flowers for nectar.

Back in August, I was wandering about in the woods at night looking for foxfire fungi. At the head of the trail on my way out, I saw a sunflower plant with something on the flowers. It was a green tree cricket (Oecanthus) eating the stamens in the sunflower florets.

The next night, I went back but this time with my camera, hoping to find more tree crickets. I had my LED headlamp on like the previous night and used it to illuminate the flowers and foliage where I wanted to photograph. I also set the flash of my camera to “on”.

Although I could hear tree crickets in the bushes, I didn’t see any this time. What I did see were lots of moths on sunflowers and asters. Aiming the lamp’s beam at the flowers, I then pointed my camera at the moths and began taking photos. I wasn’t using a tripod, so many were blurry. Some were also overexposed by the bright LED light. But a few turned out.

*Feltia jaculifera* nectaring on a sawtooth sunflower (*Helianthus grosseratus*)

The moth species (Xestia normanianus, Feltia jaculifera, and Nephelodes minians) I found on flowers at night came as no surprise. These and other dart moth species are common visitors to my moth lights. But it was exciting to see them going about their normal activities in a natural setting. I never did find any foxfire this year.

**Moths weren’t the only visitors to flowers at night. I wonder if this crab spider was sleeping or waiting for a moth.**

Greetings from two tiger moths

*Apantesis phalerata* (Harnessed Tiger Moth). The pectinate antennae indicate this is a male. Photographed on June 25, 2022.

In an earlier post, I wrote about Williams’ tiger moth (Apantesis williamsii). In this one, I present two more Apantesis species: Apantesis phalerata (Harnessed Tiger Moth) and Apantesis virgo (Virgin Tiger Moth).

Most Apantesis moths are characterized by dark forewings and numerous, often parallel, crisscrossing white or off-white lines. The patterns are usually distinctive enough to determine species, but not always.

What’s in a name?

The genus name Apantesis is from the Greek word “apantēsis”, translated as “meeting, an encounter/reply” and “to meet face to face“. It describes a custom of meeting visiting dignitaries where citizens would gather to welcome and escort the dignitary or hero in a procession. I’m not sure why this word was used to name the genus.

Harnessed Tiger Moth (Apantesis phalerata)

Harnessed Tiger Moth (Apantesis phalerata) is part of a group of similar species that includes Apantesis nais, Apantesis carlotta, and Apantesis vittata. Characteristics of the forewing pattern overlap in all four species, making accurate determination difficult, if not impossible, from a photograph. Had this moth spread its wings, exposing the underwings, then the choice might have been between Apantesis phalerata and Apantesis carlotta. Or maybe not.

Genital dissection is considered to be the only reliable way to determine these Apantesis species accurately, but I’m not willing to chop up a moth that rarely gets this far north. I’m just going to call my moth Apantesis phalerata because it looks more like identified specimens than it does the other three species. Additionally, the orange thorax appears to be another characteristic in photos of moths identified as Apantesis phalerata, distinct from the other three. Of course, I could be completely wrong.

*Apantesis virgo* (Virgin Tiger Moth) showing the underwings. The pectinate antennae indicate this is a male. Photographed on July 22, 2019.

Virgin Tiger Moth (Apantesis virgo)

Identifying Virgin Tiger Moth (Apantesis virgo) is not as fraught as it is with Apantesis phalerata. Apantesis virgo is a large white, black, and red moth, 20 to 27 mm long. Black in color, the forewing has distinct off-white veins and transverse lines in the postmedial and subterminal areas. The hindwing may be bright pink, red, orange, or occasionally yellow, with an antemedian and outer margin lined with a row of black spots. There is also a patchy marginal band.

Larvae and host plants

Larvae of Apantesis moths are similar in appearance. Black and bristly, Apantesis virgo larvae have orange-brown spiracles; the setae beneath the spiracles may be orange. Brown to black bristles cover the black larvae of the Apantesis phalerata, which frequently have a pale dorsal line. Larvae of both species feed on low-growing herbaceous plants.