📜 EwA Week Highlights: Meshweavers, Ratsnakes, and Obscured Locations

[Mike McGlathery]

EwA Highlights May 26, 2025 Hello everyone,  Thanks for reading the May 26th EwA highlights. 📸 We'll start with a small PSA this week: sometimes it’s a good idea to obscure the location of your iNaturalist observation if you’re documenting a species that’s prone to poaching, such as the pink lady’s slipper (Cypripedium acaule). The rise in native plant poaching has been an unfortunate side effect of surging enthusiasm for native plants. While the pink lady’s slipper is relatively plentiful in places like the Middlesex Fells, the plant can take years to reach maturity and poaching can severely harm local populations if gone unchecked. If you’d like to learn more, check out our new guide to local wildflower species whose locations you might want to obscure. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Claire O’Neill · Massachusetts, US · May, 2025)  Kat spotted this beautiful eastern ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) out in Worcester county this week. As its name might suggest, this snake eats small mammals and birds. Massachusetts is at the far northeast corner of this snake's range, and they are observed in the Boston area only very rarely. This species was the subject of a somewhat recent taxonomic rearrangement and as such there seem to be some discrepancies between iNat and other sources regarding its common name. To save confusion for those clicking through to the observation, I have used the same common name as iNat. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Kathleen R Shea · Massachusetts, US · May, 2025)  EwA’s most observed species this week were the pale green assassin bug (Zelus luridus) and the wide ribbon meshweaver (Emblyna sublata). Meshweavers (family Dictynidae) tend to make complex, jumbled-looking mesh webs in vegetation. They can be quite small, as you can see in this photo from Kate E. of one preying on a much larger sunflower maggot fly (Strauzia longipennis), which itself is usually about 6 mm (0.2 in) long. EwA iNaturalist Record (© Kate Estrop · Cambridge, MA · May 19, 2025)  📊 Thanks to everyone for your great biodiversity records this week, totaling 1,115 observations of 540 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 235,047 observations of 12,532 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