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Project Noah Nature School
Gonatista grisea
I see these on this tree every year. I have never looked at an adult this closely before (I usually only get to see the immature ones), so I have never seen their impressive front legs; they look like they could really do some damage. I'm guessing they either know what tree they can best blend in with, or lineages have adapted to their host trees over time because many members of the species have different coloration that is matches the colors of different trees. For example, the ones I have found on this tree are more of a gray-green, but others I have seen on bugguide can have some more rusty tones if they live on pine, or more brown on trees with exposed brown bark.
Lichen-covered maple tree in a suburban yard next to mixed forest. The nearby forest is a mixture of pine and oak with varying successional habitats ranging from cypress swamp to Fire-suppressed longleaf pine sandhill savanna
Spotted on Dec 9, 2018
Submitted on Feb 14, 2019
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