📜 EwA Week Highlights: A Week of Pale Green Assassins and Giant Millipedes

[Mike McGlathery]

EwA Highlights June 2, 2025 Hello everyone,  Thanks for reading the June 2nd EwA highlights. 📸 iNat user achitt spotted this American giant millipede (complex Narceus americanus) in Quincy this week. In fact, this species was spotted by three different EwA naturalists this past week, and had only been observed nine times total in our biodiversity projects before then! This millipede makes its own burrow, in which it spends its non-eating time, molts, and tends to its eggs, which makes it an arthropod that you don’t spot very often. EwA iNaturalist Record (© achitt · Quincy, MA · May 26, 2025)  Kristian observed this wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) in Arlington last week. The small, five-petaled flowers of this plant are a common site around here this time of year, and you’ll notice patches of their five- and seven-lobed leaves often during times of year when they aren’t flowering. It seems like this patch was being visited by some sort of small hymenopteran when Kristian snapped this photo. EwA iNaturalist Record (© kdemary · Arlington, MA · May 30, 2025)  EwA’s most observed species this week was the pale green assassin bug (Zelus luridus). These are mostly ambush predators, and adults have special setae (bristles) on their front legs that secrete a sticky substance and help them to hold on to their prey. Erin observed this one in Epsom, NH. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Erin E. · Epsom, NH · May 26, 2025)  📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this week, totaling 1,179 observations of 658 distinct species. If you’re curious about the records from this week that have been validated by the iNat community so far, you can find them » here. 🏆 Running tally: To date, we have recorded 236,070 observations of 12,569 distinct species! Check out our EwA umbrella project, see the details per site/observer, and more » here. 📅 EwA Upcoming Public Events Ewa Field Events » Check the EwA Spring [ Event details and registration » ] Don’t miss some great opportunities to follow the rhythm of the season in our local habitats and in the local wildlife! Space is limited for all our field events. Wildlife ethics is important to us and we seek to avoid putting the pressure on natural habitats which large gatherings unavoidably do. We are asking our audience to register-and-commit (or cancel when you know you can’t come) to avoid no-shows. EwA Fieldwork (and Resources) It’s a great time to join our monitoring programs. Check EwA’s Volunteer Program Calendar 📅  to know when things happen. And if a session is of interest to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to get the rendezvous location. 📅 EwA Sites Map | 🌱 Site Protocols and Guides · Field Rosters · Field Notes » All here! | ℹ️ More about EwA’s Citizen Science Program » Here ❓ Do you have any questions? Don’t be shy. Just email me or reply to this thread.  That’s all for this week—hope you have a good one! -Mike