South Carolina, United States: places and wildlife — page 4

Browse the published Explore collection for South Carolina, United States. Open a discovery for its field guide, practical details, and background.

Carolina Pygmy Sunfish

This tiny olive fish is restricted to vegetated blackwater habitats in South Carolina’s Edisto and nearby coastal drainages.

A dark, heavy-shelled freshwater mussel persists in scattered cool Piedmont streams of the Carolinas, with critical South Carolina populations.

North America’s largest wolf spider patrols open ground after dark and is South Carolina’s official state spider.

This large striped butterfly, South Carolina’s state butterfly, moves between tree canopies, flowers, puddles, and host plants.

South Carolina’s state insect is a gray, green, or brown ambush predator of gardens, old fields, and woodland edges.

A low evergreen groundcover with fringed white flowers forms colonies in the Jocassee Gorges and a few nearby Blue Ridge watersheds.

A deciduous azalea endemic to the state bears white, clove-scented flowers after its leaves expand in late spring.

The cabbage palmetto’s flexible trunk and broad fans define coastal streets, maritime forest edges, and the state flag.

Snap traps armed with trigger hairs grow naturally only in wet, sunny, fire-maintained coastal plain habitat near the Carolinas’ shared border.

Pale spotted skin, a patterned shell, and a life between salt and fresh water distinguish Maryland’s official state reptile.

Black wings checked with cream and orange identify a wet-meadow butterfly whose official status contrasts with its rarity in Maryland.

Maryland’s orange-and-black state bird whistles from leafy edges and suspends a woven pouch nest near a branch tip.

Paddle-shaped rear legs, blue claws, and a life tied to brackish Chesapeake water distinguish Maryland’s state crustacean.

Seven or eight continuous dark stripes mark a silvery predator that uses tidal rivers as nurseries and the coast as a highway.

Rough-haired stems and golden rays around a raised brown center make Maryland’s state flower a familiar open-ground wildflower.

Maryland’s state tree supports insects and wildlife; rounded leaf lobes and pale bark reward a slower look in mature woodland.

Follow this jewel-colored char from shaded headwaters to Adirondack ponds, where water quality shapes its future.

A rugged freshwater turtle is easiest to notice when it leaves the water to nest, not while it lies hidden below.

New York's state insect once seemed ordinary; finding its precise pattern now demands care and a little luck.

Recognize New York's state tree by more than its color: bark, paired buds, and leaf shape tell the whole story.