Angelkeep has for many years found that some of the most interesting critters in nature came in the tiniest form. It was not an earth-shaking discovery.
For example look at a tall dried stalk of corn and compare it with the emerging first leaves of a germinating corn kernel. The new corn birth seems far more interesting than any ten-foot decaying stalk. Look at the bright red cardinals standing out colorfully against the neutral colors of the habitat in mid-November. Compare those against the newly hatching nestlings who break from an egg and immediately open their beaks wide begging for food even before the first hair turns into a feather. The small birds are adorable. Large, long icicles, which will only too soon begin to appear at Angelkeep, capture much attention through their shapes and glistening ice forms. They seem nothing compared to the astonishing beauty of a single tiny snowflake captured by macrophotography.
Autumn clematis, grown at Angelkeep for a quarter century, once grew a patch so large it appeared to be a snowdrift five feet tall by fifteen feet long. A single 4-petal bloom measures only about an inch. The plant’s aroma demands a person’s nose to be pressed into the blooms, much akin to the draw of a beautiful red rose. Autumn clematis fragrance equals an orange orchard in bloom.
During such a sniffing experience of late summer, a tiny movement caught the eye. Close investigation located a critter so small it measured less than the length of a single bloom’s petal. It required a close look through a camera lens zoom to get any details. As was typically the case, Angelkeep’s columnist hardly ever exited the house without that needed camera hanging around the neck.
The clematis vine held several inchworms. Close inspection heightened the intrigue. The head of this inchworm looked similar to the head of a cobra. A photo blown up to fill a two-foot computer screen revealed the amazing little critter’s beauty.
The body had a line of over 100 miniscule tan dots running in the center of the back from head to tail. Several V-patterns of similar dots appeared along the line like veins on a leaf. Between the V-patterns came the gradual gradation of color from deepest brown to a beautiful red-ochre. Both sides of the inchworm again contained a line of tiny tan dots. The inchworm contained the variegated brown colors that would make any mink proud. Of course a mink stole has long ago gone out of fashion regardless of their beauty of softness and color.
The inchworm moved as all do. It could grasp the plant with one end and raise its body to move to a new location using the opposite end. That end could likewise grasp a hold, allowing the original grip’s release. The critter inched its way from one petal to another. In the midst of the movement it often stopped and looked about, right and left, forward and aft, looking very much like a cobra lifting its head from the basket as it emerged to the tunes of the snake charmer’s flute.
This cobra inchworm certainly charmed Angelkeep.
Cobra inchworm was a common name given this animal. Cross-lined wave moth was the name commonly used for the animal that would eventually emerge from the cobra inchworm. This moth had not been spotted later at Angelkeep. Online photos indicated it would be mostly colored light tan covered with tiny darker brown specks. Wings were crossed by a pair of darker brown veins. Surprisingly the veins formed a V-pattern, its point at the top of the forewings.
Scientifically it had been named Timandra amaturaria in 1866. Angelkeep had no uniqueness to possessing this cobra inchworm. It grew commonly in all of the east half of the United States. Since Angelkeep’s autumn clematis had been planted in 2000, cobra inchworm possibly appeared as a regular for all those years. It simply took a long time of sniffing the aroma of the clematis blooms before spotting the tiny inchworm that loved the clematis as much as Angelkeep’s owners.
This moth can grow up to 7/8 inch. The cobra inchworm spotted measured less than a third of the moth. It pays to look closely at nature. This animal, with its big, mile-wide-beauty, actually measured only about a quarter of an inch.
Never underestimate the potential of the smallest of nature’s flora and fauna.
Mr. Daugherty is a Wells County resident who, along with his wife Gwen, enjoy their backyard and have named it “Angelkeep.”
