Mike Benard
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benardmf.bsky.social
Mike Benard
@benardmf.bsky.social
290 followers 150 following 79 posts
Biologist, ecologist, herpetologist.

Views expressed here are my personal opinions.

Professor & Department Chair at CWRU

https://sites.google.com/a/case.edu/benard-lab/the-benard-lab-at-cwru
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benardmf.bsky.social
Visiting family in the mountains of South Carolina, encountered these large, invasive joro spiders for the first time. Some spots were thick with their webs spread between trees.
A large spider hangs head-down from its web. Its legs are slender and black with orange bands. Its thorax is a silvery-white. Its abdomen is very large, almost swollen- looking. The abdomen has a pale yellow background, with irregular, light blue stripes. A pinkish blotch is near the back of the abdomen.
November 10, 2025 at 12:01 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
The canopy walk at the Holden Arboretum was great too - and love the educational sculptures / info about the creatures of the canopy.
Suspended walkway in forest canopy high above ground. Realistic sculpture of a black rat snake on the canopy walk. Sculpture of grey treefrogs on the canopy walk.
October 26, 2025 at 9:44 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Wonderful visit to Holden Arboretum yesterday. My phone video can’t capture the amazing feeling from the emergent tower above tree canopy (120 feet / 37 meters above the ground. Well worth a visit for those in northeast Ohio! holdenfg.org/attractions/...
October 26, 2025 at 12:47 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
New from CWRU alumn Troy Neptune, with Diana Koester (CLE Metroparks Zoo) in @animalecology.bsky.social. Gray treefrogs use daylength as a seasonal cue to prepare for winter. Autumn daylength triggers frogs to accumulate 14-fold more liver glycogen than summer photoperiod.
doi.org/10.1111/1365...
Adult Gray Treefrog. A treefrog is sitting in brown, dead cattail fronds. The treefrog has a mottled pattern of light and dark green patterns on its back. Figure showing the amount of daylength in the three treatments from the start of the experiment (Day 0) to the end of the experiment (around day 90). The early treatment simulates breeding starting in april, and the daylength is about 12.5 hours per day, and goes up to about 15 hours per day. The average treatment simulates breeding in july, and simulates breeding starting in July and at 15 hours of light per day, and going down to around 12 hours of light per day. The late treatment simulates breeding in mid-august. Late treatment starts with about 14 hours of light per day, and goes down to about 10 hours of light per day. Plot of total glycogen in liver. The values are low (between 0 and 20) for frogs from the early and average photoperiod, but are much higher (40) for frogs from the late treatment. Figure showing size-corrected growth rate (grams per day) from the three photoperiod treatments. The late photoperiod treatment has the lowest growth rate, significantly lower than the average photoperiod, and lower (but not significantly different from) the early photoperiod.
October 19, 2025 at 2:14 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Two little creatures found cohabitating under a log today. A common shiny woodlouse and a redback salamander. Northeast Ohio.
Close up photo of two organisms on a brown/red dirty background. To the left is a shiny woodlouse. It is an oval, flat invertebrate, with its outer body composted of gray armor-like rings. To the right is the head and front of the body of a red-backed salamander. It has a red stripe down its back, and dark sides of its body.
October 19, 2025 at 2:33 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
One of my favorite amphibians, the narrow-mouthed toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis). This one was seen at night in South Carolina, not far from the beach. I've only seen them a handful of times in my life.
A side view of a small narrow-mouthed toad. It has smooth, slightly shiny skin in colors of gray, blueish-gray, and black. Its body is oval, without a distinct neck and its head comes to a point. Its small, bulgy eyes are black. It is sitting on the ground, which is a mix of white sand, and brown and tan twigs and bits of leaves.
September 20, 2025 at 6:19 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Coquina (Donax variabilis) are a species of little clams common on beaches along the Atlantic Ocean. They can be gathered in large numbers for cooking, but I have not tried that yet.
A small yellow clam in shallow water over sand. Its fleshy siphons are out of the shell on the right, and its foot is out of the shell on the left. Close-up of a person's palm holding 14 little clams that vary in size from about 1 cm to 1.5 cm. They vary in color and pattern including stripes, rings, solid color, with colors including blues, yellows, whites, reddish brown and orange. Close up of a small clam in shallow water on a sandy beach. The clam has white stripes breaking up a reddish-brown background color. A small clam in shallow water on sand. It is slightly open with part of the fleshy mantle coming out. The clor range sfrom pink on the outer edges of the shell, to more yellow and orange near the center.
September 13, 2025 at 6:37 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
A favorite frog from this summer: Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus). Lots of these little frogs were out along the sandy shore of a lake in Florida. Their pattern matched the sand and made it hard to see them, and when approached too close they leapt remarkably far for their small size.
Close-up photo of a small frog on sand. The sand grains are large relative to the frog, with sand grains about 25% to a little larger than the frog's eye. The sand and the frog are similar mix of colors of tan to off-white. The frog has some darker markings on its legs, and white markings under the eye, but otherwise is a good match for the sand.
September 6, 2025 at 5:07 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
A black morph of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Males of this species are yellow, but females can be either yellow or black. This one is also feeding on introduced Elecampane nectar.
Close-up of a butterfly standing on a large, round, yellow flower with thing yellow petals. The butterfly is nearly all black, except for some pale yellow, orange and blue spots near the edges of its wings. The green stem and leaves of the plant and more flowers are also present. Blue sky is in the background.
September 1, 2025 at 2:00 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly drinking nectar from an introduced Elecampane flower in northeast Ohio. August 2025.
The top of a tall, green plant with eight bright yellow flowers on it. There is an out of focus group of flowers in the background too. The flowers have thin, stringy yellow petals. A large butterfly with yellow-and-black wings sits on one flower. The edges of the wings have some orange or blue spots surrounded by black. Blue sky is in the background.
August 31, 2025 at 1:09 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Too slow pushing the shutter when photographing this green frog
Close up photo of a frog jumping away from the photographer. The frog's hindparts are in focus, but the rest are blurry. The feet are closest to the viewer, and the head is furthest away. It is on a white backgound. The frog jumped before the photographer was ready to get the photo.
August 30, 2025 at 5:34 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
This pretty little creature is the spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest that is rapidly expanding its range. They have become very common in parts of northeast Ohio the last couple years. At the nature center where I recorded the video, they have loaner flyswatters to squash the bugs.
August 10, 2025 at 6:56 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Pretty pest - this was one of many juvenile, invasive Cuban Treefrogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis) seen one evening in a small park near Orlando, FL in late July 2025.
Side view of a treefrog climbing along a horizontal green plant stem and leaves. The Frog has bulgy red eyes with black pupils. Its belly is creame colored, and its back is a dark olive with a faint yellow-green line on the body and along the upper lip.
August 3, 2025 at 9:42 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
A robust southern toad (Anaxyrus terrestris) from Horry County, South Carolina, a few days ago. Hopping around about a block from the ocean.
Photograph of a side view of a toad on a white background. The toad has brown, bumpy skin with some yellow, reddish, and black highlights. Its belly is off-yellow. It has a very round body, and the natural curve of its mouth makes it look like it is frowning.
August 3, 2025 at 2:08 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
South Carolina alligator swimming at sunset.
July 29, 2025 at 12:37 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
So many introduced brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) in Florida! I’ve seen it before, but the density of these lizards blows me away every time.
July 26, 2025 at 9:17 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Adding this anole to HerpMapper while on vacation, and my phone auto corrected “Anolis sagrei” to “ Abolish sagrei”
Dark brown lizard on a tree trunk with bright red dewlap ringed with yellow extended from under throat.
July 22, 2025 at 1:59 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Looking forward to #JMIH25! On Friday afternoon, I'll be talking about how spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) and juvenile wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) responded to the 2024 total solar eclipse. Did their behavior change during the sudden mid-afternoon darkness? You'll find out at my talk.
Two images superimposed on one another. Both are on a black background. Top right is a photo of totality during a total solar eclipse. This appears as a black circle surrounded by a ring of bright white light, with a small orange solar flare at the bottom of the circle. Bottom left is a spring peeper perched on a cattail. The spring peeper is a small, tan frog. This spring peeper is a male and it is calling with its vocal sac fully inflated like a large balloon coming out of its chin.
July 9, 2025 at 12:02 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
Close-up of the toepads of the diploid edition of North America's gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis). You can tell this one is a male from the loose, gray skin on his throat.
A close-up photo of the head and right hand and toes of a frog. The photo was taken through the side of a glass aquarium while the frog was climbing on the inside of the aquarium. The frog's hand is pressed against the glass, and shows three fingers and a thumb. At the tip of each digit is a large, oval disc that the frog uses to cling to the glass. The frog's belly is creamy white, and the troad is dark grey with small, white dots. The frog's head is turned slightly so that part of the mouth and bulgy eye are also visible.
July 5, 2025 at 1:48 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
Here’s momma rabbit with her babies on Wednesday evening.
Trail camera photo of an adult rabbit with a baby rabbit next to it. They are in a backyard with a brick wall behind them and two planter boxes next to them.
May 10, 2025 at 2:14 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Got a glimpse of baby rabbits in the trail camera. Mother rabbit usually nurses them around 6pm. In this case, she starts digging around the nest around 5:50 pm, then babies come out to nurse, and then by 6:20 the babies are underground and mom is covering up the nest.
Trail Camera Image taken at 5:49 pm. Mother rabbit nosing the ground near a planter. The nest is under the ground. Trail Camera Image taken at 5:59 pm. Mother rabbit has back to camera, but head turned in profile, and is leaning down over a baby that can be seen partially hidden behind mother. Trail Camera Image taken at 6:00 pm. The baby rabbit can be seen behind the mother, mostly hidden, but it seems to be looking at camera. Trail Camera Image taken at 6:20 pm - mother is covering up the nest.
May 8, 2025 at 12:16 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
But within a couple minutes, momma rabbit had chased the squirrel away. She has been so aggressive in defending the nest, that I think the squirrels are now avoiding my backyard. I haven't seen one here for a few days.
Trail camera photo showing a brown rabbit rushing through the area were the squirrel was recorded three minutes before. The rabbit is moving so quickly that its image is blurry in the photo.
May 7, 2025 at 1:45 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
Trail camera caught a gray squirrel trying to dig into the rabbit nest on Friday. The nest is in the ground between the two planters.
Trail camera photo showing the a dark-colored squirrel beginning to dig into the ground between two large planters. Squirrel's head is close to the ground, and its fluffy tail is in the air.
May 7, 2025 at 1:42 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
About a week ago, we discovered that a momma rabbit made a nest in our backyard. It has been a joy to watch how diligently she cares for her babies, including chasing away small intruders like squirrels and birds.
May 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Singing in the rain with some toads on a warm northeast Ohio night.
April 26, 2025 at 5:24 AM