Rust-gill?

 

One mouldy mushroom on the log. These are from my visit to Kyoto in 2016. Probably one of the rust-gills - Gymnopilus, but I never did get a solid id.

Blue Train Millipede

This is Parafontaria tonomineai - ミドリババヤスデ - a rather splendid blue millipede from Japan.

Plueteus leoninus

Pluteus leoninus

Pluteus leoninus

Pluteus leoninus

Bumblebee Mimic

This is Laphria mitsukurii - called ooishabu in Japan. It is one of the many species of robber fly that mimic bumblebees. 

Tago's Brown Frog

Rana tagoi - Tago's brown frog - juvenile.

This is the tagogaeru- Tago's brown frog. Frequently found hopping about in the leaf litter of the forests around Kyoto.

Rana tagoi- Tago's brown frog

 Even more frequently, this frog is heard, but not seen - it is the source of the mysterious, subterranean croaking chorus often heard emanating from dank terraces and banks in the area.

Rana tagoi- Tago's brown frog

White Lumpy Weevil Drawing

Episomus turritus - shirokobuzoumushi - white lumpy weevil

A drawing in pencil and charcoal of a shirokobuzoumushi - Japanese white lumpy weevil - from some of my original photos.

Candelabra Coral Fungus

Artomyces pyxidatus - candelabra coral fungus

Artomyces pyxidatus - candelabra coral fungus

Curly Feelers

Dismantling a spider all the while twirling its mustachios.

Kumoherikamemushi

Leptocorisa chinensis - kumoherikamemushi

Leptocorisa chinensis - kumoherikamemushi

Lentinus arcularius

Monday Mushroom #107

Lentinus arcularius - アミスギタケ

A small, elegant polypore of rotting deciduous wood. It has a fuzzy cap margin and can be found at any time from spring through to autumn.

Look Closer

Coprinellus micaceus - glistening ink-cap

I was admiring the black, squiddy heads on some expired ink-caps on a rotten tree stump yesterday. When I got closer to photograph them I discovered a whole world of tiny, little things growing beneath.

Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, 

The white pom-poms are a slime mould - Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, I haven't identified the tiny, orange cup fungi, yet.

Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa

Deceased Longhorn Dismantling

Pied longhorn beetle being dismantled and used to make more ants.

ゴマダラカミキリ - Anoplophora malasiaca - pied longhorn beetle (deceased)

ゴマダラカミキリ - Anoplophora malasiaca - pied longhorn beetle (deceased)

Stripes

A young nihon tokage - Japanese skink - Plestiodon japonicus showing off its stripes and vivid blue tail. 

nihon tokage - Japanese skink - Plestiodon japonicus

While it is not the best camouflage, the stripes and the bright colour at the end conspire to cause predators to strike behind a moving skink's current position - either missing the target entirely or hitting the tail which the skink can detach in a life or death situation.

Wrinkly Little Red Mushroom

Monday Mushroom #106

Here's a rather small, but well formed ヒイロベニヒダタケ- Pluteus aurantiorugosus. 

Pluteus aurantiorugosus - hiirobenhidatake

Pluteus aurantiorugosus - hiirobenhidatake

Both the Japanese and latin names refer to its stirking cap colour and wrinkly texture.

Pluteus aurantiorugosus - hiirobenhidatake

Tobacco Snail Graze-marks

Tsumaguroyokobai

Bothrogonia ferruginea - tsumaguroyokobai

A large, yellow leafhopper from Kyoto, Japan.

White Lumpy Weevil

A lovely, large weevil from Japan. I think it mimics bird droppings.

Shirokobuzoumushi - Episomus turritus

Shirokobuzoumushi - Episomus turritus

Shirokobuzoumushi - Episomus turritus

The Night Toad

I was out watching fireflies last night, and I met a toad, on a bridge.

Bufo japonicus - Japanese common toad

Bufo japonicus - Japanese common toad

Bufo japonicus - Japanese common toad

Bufo japonicus - Japanese common toad

Lynx Spider

Lynx spider - Oxyopes Spp.

Train Wrecker

Monday Mushroom #105

The rather dramatic common name for this mushroom - train wrecker - comes from its habit of growing unbidden (and quite profusely) out of timber structures, particularly railway sleepers.

Neolentinus lepideus - train wrecker

Neolentinus lepideus - train wrecker

Neolentinus lepideus - train wrecker

As they grow, the fruiting bodies often become wavy, misshapen and quite messy.

Neolentinus lepideus - train wrecker