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Animals and their habitat: Bighorn Sheep in the Catalina Mountains

March 5, 2017, 6:39 am
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Animals in their habitat: Bighorn Sheep in the Catalina Mountains. When I came to Tucson in the early nineties, there were still occasional sightings of Bighorn Sheep mainly on Pushridge. Massive developments like SaddleBrook soon encroached on their area and the growing influx of hikers everywhere caused more disturbance than the sheep could take. A huge forest fire took the brush cover of the mountainside, and eventually predation as well as livestock diseases killed of the last sheep. Now, a few years ago, the forest service and game and fish (?) began an ambitious reintroduction program, releasing several truck loads of sheep over a couple of years. At first, the animals did not seem to thrive. They dispersed into unexpected areas and mountain lions killed several of them. In reaction to that predation, a number of mountain lions were hunted down, which caused a public outcry. Many in Tucsonans believed that the whole release program had been done not to bring back an established resident of the mountains, but just an attraction for trophy hunters. But I think the Bighorn population is stabilizing by now, lambs are born, young bucks still stray all the way to the Tucson Mountains and the remaining many mountain lions are probably very happy. To depict the situation, I moved a Bighorn Ram from an old painting digitally into a landscape painting of Pima Canyon on the south side of the Catalinas. While the result is artistically somewhat lacking - the landscape is overwhelmingly busy - I think this digital collage fits the situation very well, showing the introduced, wandering ram just a little too low on the mountain in the upper part of the Saguaro zone.
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Animals in their Habitat: Arizona Cardinals

March 6, 2017, 7:20 am
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Animals in their habitat: For some birds, their habitat requirements seem very variable. The Northern Cardinal seems to be fine where he has access to big, oily seeds, brush for nesting and some water. Still, the species' distribution puzzles a lot of human 'snowbirds'. They come from the Northeast to Arizona and find their statebird already established in their winterdigs. Did he migrate, too? No. He is a breeding resident. Was he introduced by transplanted humans who felt l...onely for their pretty red bird? I often hear that idea, sometimes vigorously defended and supported by the remark that Arizona 'really' is the territory of the 'Desert Cardinal', the pyrrholoxia. Not so. If you look at the distribution map of the Northern Cardinal you see that the bird indeed mostly lives in eastern Canada and US areas: from Maine to Texas and in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The distribution maps of many birding books end at the souther US border. But in the south its distribution covers Mexico to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, northern Guatemala, and northern Belize. An allopatric population is found on the Pacific slope of Mexico from Jalisco to Oaxaca; the Arizona population seemlessly extends from the north Mexican distribution. Most likely, the long north south extension of the Rockies in North America and northern Ice Ages are the reason for the peculiar distribution pattern of the 'Northern' Cardinal.
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Animals in their Habitat: Foothills Kestrel

March 7, 2017, 9:09 am
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Animals and their habitat: Sometimes I take liberties when I paint: In the background of this watercolor from 1992 are the Catalina Mountains as seen from Tucson. But the Kestrel I had seen close to the Mule Mountains in Cochise County, and I liked his perch on the old Yucca stalk. Tucsonans will realize: those Spanish Bayonets do not grow in the southern foothills of the Catalinas (there are some on the north side, in the grassland towards Oracle though) Having lived here now for over 20 years, I would never again falsify a landscape like that. The Kestrel, however, would not care too much. The little falcons make their territories in grasslands, agricultural areas and in the saguaro desert, wherever there is open space around perches to hunt and nesting cavities to raise their offspring. We had a pair in our backyard for years, in an old woodpecker nesting cavity in a saguaro. They took a great toll on our lizard population which is the main menue the small male serves for the female and the chicks while he is the sole provider. Whne the larger female took to the wing again, she also served sparrows and finches.
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Animals in their Habitat: Regal Horned Lizard

March 8, 2017, 7:00 am
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When photos of this lizard are posted on social media sites, the predictable comments usually are that people used to 'always' see them in the past, but not anymore. Is this true, or is this anecdotal perception just that?  On our property west of the Tucson Mountains I do see them occasionally and I'm not sure that I see fewer than 15 years ago when we moved here.
Of course they are very secretive and tend to bury themselves under loose sand whenever it is either too cool or to hot - after all they are ectotherm reptiles and need to regulate their body temps by appropriate behavior. They also depend mostly on certain ants for their diet, and these, too, are limited in their activity by the ambient temperature - meaning that extremely hot summers drive these harvester ants deeper under ground to live on their stored food. Extended droughts like the current one probably eventually diminish their numbers. So even in areas like our property, where the ants are save from insecticides and their food source (weeds) is not destroyed by herbicides or artificial ground cover, desert harvester ant populations may have been shrinking over the lat 10 years and with them the number of  Regal Horned Lizards. My (also anecdotal) observations of the Greater Short-horned Lizard in the mountains seem to suggest the those are still faring better, as are grassland populations in Cochise County. It seems however that in areas where Harvester Ant colonies are under attack by introduced Fire Ants (Texas, but not Arizona) the effect on the local horned lizard species is quite negative and the numbers are in alarming decline.

The range of the Regal Horned Lizard in Arizona is within Arizona Upland Sonoran Desertscrub, Chihuahuan Desertscrub, and Semidesert Grassland communities. It inhabits valleys, rocky bajadas, and low foothills. It is usually encountered in relatively level areas with low shrubs, and open, sunny patches. 
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Animals and their habitat: Sphinx Moths and Sacred Datura

March 12, 2017, 11:42 am
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Watercolor and photo collage by M. Brummermann
The Moon Flower or Sacred Datura opens its flowers in the late evening. During the night, the main pollinators, Manduca spp. and other big Sphinx Moths, visit. In the morning there are still white-faced bees and other little insects crawling into the wilting flowers, but they are mostly too small to be effective pollinators.
The throat of Datura flowers is extraordinarily deep. When completely unrolled, the proboscis of Manduca rustica is long enough for the moth to hover over the flower and reach the nectar. Still, most moths land and crawl laboriously into the depth. They stay surprisingly long wiggling among anthers and stigma, and when they emerge, they head directly for another one of those white funnels. It is assumed that chemicals in the nectar may be slightly addictive and keep the moths faithful - thus assuring that precious pollen reaches its goal and does not get wasted. Datura (like many plants) is a known chemical powerhouse that produces potent Alkaloids. These may protect the plant tissue from many herbivores, but not from the caterpillars of several Manduca species who seem immune. So the pollinating moths can lay their eggs right on their favorite plant to produce a new generation for this symbiotic relationship.

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Animals in their habitat: Salt River Horses

March 14, 2017, 10:39 am
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Animals in their Habitat: Salt River Horses. This is a difficult topic. There is a community of horse lovers here who love this herd passionately and in a way defensively. Federal agencies have made weak attempts to remove them. When you observe the animals enjoying their free, rather secure live, splashing through the year-round running river, fighting for mates, forming bachelor groups and harems, raising foals, and all this trustingly in viewing distance of photographers and other admirers, you are apt to agree that they are a rare treasure.But any ecologist sees a growing herd of feral, not wild, horses that propagate unchecked by any meaningful predation in a very delicate desert environment. It seems difficult to find common ground. Even attempts to control birth-rates by chemical sterilization are vehemently decried by the human friends of the horses. The river so far is the saving grace - the members of the growing herd look well-fed and healthy and do not seem to stray too far into the real desert. I have not seen any impact studies concerning river banks or nitrate loads ...
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Animals in their Habitat: Mountain Lion

March 15, 2017, 7:14 am
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Animals in their habitat: Mountain Lions in the Tucson Mountains. With the exception of humans, the mountain lion has the largest range of any large terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. They are found from Canada to Argentina. They are also able to utilize the low desert as well as the higher elevations of the Catalina Mountains and the territories of individuals are huge. Although they may snack on prey a...s small as mice, their main target in the Tucson Mountains are Javelinas and mostly Mule Deer. A female lion with two grown kittens pretty regularly shows up at a water feature in the backyard of a friend who lives around Gates Pass (SE Tucson Mountains). Sadly, one was killed on Picture Rocks Road some years ago - that's only a couple of miles from our house, but I've never seen tracks on our property. While I often see mountain lion footage of trail cameras at places where I do field work in AZ and Sonora Mexico, I've only seen one during the day in the wild. So the model for my painting was the female at the Phoenix Zoo - and if she was out here, she'd probably prefer a more seclude resting spot, maybe above my head in an old Mesquite Tree .. but hey, it's my painting ...
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Animal Habitat: Cattleranch for Dung Beetles

March 16, 2017, 7:57 am
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Animals and their habitat: Harris Antelope Squirrel

March 16, 2017, 10:04 am
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 Cacti of the lower desert are important to the Harris Antelope Squirrels. They feed on the fruit of Barrel Cacti that are available all year round, ad generally stuff their big cheeks with anything from seeds to insects to even carrion. They are so dainty that they are able to jump into and hide in the most thorny Jumping Chollas. My dogs, and probably most hunting coyotes can only watch in deep frustration as the squirrel chitters only inches from their noses in relative safety. Besides coyotes, bobcats and hawks they have snakes to worry about. I have seen the little guys actively and aggressively take a stance against anything rattlesnake-related, even attacking and biting my snake stick that only smells of snakes. At this time (Feb. March) the squirrels raise their pups in underground (under cactus) burrows. All summer long, the day-active critters will brave the heat - one adaptation is their unusually high body temperature, also their little umbrella-tail and the habit of spread-eagling in shady places to dissipate heat to the cooler ground. During cold periods they seem to stay in their burrows, but during the last mild winter, a few were usually out and about.They are true denizens of the Sonoran Desert.
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As thick as thieves - a bee and a moth

April 11, 2017, 10:47 am
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The sky islands of Arizona are treasure islands for naturalists. When the desert wildflowers wilt in the per-summer heat of April and May, in these mountain ranges spring is only beginning. One of my favorite mountains is Mount Graham in eastern Arizona. On its highest elevations, it has beautiful mixed conifer areas and mountain meadows.

Mertensia macdougalii.
 in early summer, a herbaceousl plant in the family Borraginaceae covers acres of these meadows: Mertensia macdougalii. The flowers are set in swirls typical for this family. They are blue when fresh but change color to purple and pink when they age - probably due to ph changes in the aging flowers. They remind me very much of  Pulmonaria, an early spring herald of European forests.
Studying those flowers (looking for bugs on them) I soon noticed little injuries on the upper part most of the drooping flowers. The culprits were obvious too: bees were chewing through the side of the flower's throat to get to the nectar, instead of laboriously crawling into the flower. Easier on the bees, but of course this way, the flowers were probably left unpollinated. The bees that I observed were all of one species in the genus Colletes.


Colletes sp. bee chewing into the side of the flower to get to the nectar
Many Colletes are specialists, foraging for pollen on only one group of plants (Wilson and Messinger Carril). Even though my Mnt. Graham species is not identified and Mertensia is not mentioned in the bee-plant pairings of the book by Wilson and Merringer Carril, I may have stumbled on another such pair, or I just happened upon a group of bees (they are non-social but often nest in aggregations) that had found a good easy nectar source and stuck to it for the time being for reasons of efficiency (constancy principle).

middle: Colletes bee. right: damaged flower; left: moth
But I may have observed a clue that points to a long established relationship, which in this case is based on thievery: After trying to photograph the thieving bees for a while and thus establishing a search image for them, I realized that I was repeatedly looking not at a bee, but at a moth that was using the bee-created access to the nectar source.  Interstingly, the moth (Caloreas apocynoglossa) was always sitting head down while the bees would sit head-up. However, the moths' wing pattern 'took that into account': a dark hind-end  gave the impression of the dark head of the bee, even including antennae, and  a light patch imitated the  reflection on the bee's wings.

Moth Caloreas apocynoglossa
Two  interpretations are possible:
The bees may be armed with a painful sting - at least in comparison with a helpless moth. Predators would avoid bees and moths. So this would be direct Batesian mimicry.
But solitary bees are not usually heavily defended and many birds feed on them.

Another possibility is that the moth gains some protection from its head-down orientation: Flycatchers tend to grab their prey by head and thorax, in this case the pretend-bee-thorax - so the moth may be able to escape from the misdirected attack with minor hind-wing injuries (same idea as in hairstreaks).

But: If the relationship between bee and moth is old and established enough to have resulted in adaptive changes in behavior and pattern of the moth, it may be save to assume that the relationship of this Colletes species and Mertensia macdougalii is even older and that the bees are specialists. Too bad for the plant then, that these bees are specialized thieves!

Quoted: Thee Bees in your Backyard by JS Wilson, OM Carril, Priceton University Press 2016 
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Easter walk at Saguaro National Park West

April 17, 2017, 4:05 pm
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It was dry and hot and dusty. Of the wildflowers that the rainy (or here, not so rainy) winter had produced, only dry stalks and seed pods remained. Chollas and prickly pair were blooming, but I've seen better.


Insects were scarce. A bee fly with the ominous genus name Anthrax found the moisture and salt of my hand irresistible.


Foothills Palo Verdes, in beautiful bloom all over Picture Rocks, hardly showed any flowers here. But Ironwood trees were loaded with bursting buds.

There are few Mesquite Trees in the park and their flowers were past their prime. Still, they were the best source for beetles that I could find.

Megalostomis subfasciata

Coleothorpa axillaris
 Clytrin Leaf Beetles were flying around the fresh leaves, maybe searching spots to lay eggs.


Some mesquite catkins were covered in huge aggregations of mating Lycids. Often there are 2 species involved, but this time all I could find were Lucaina marginata , no L. discoidalis.

Lucaina marginata


They shared the catkins with many tiny Dermestid, Melyrid beetles and tiny Perdita Bees whose color is so close to that of the Mesquite flowers that it may take a second look to find them.


With its bee-like flight (the dark elytra stay folded over the body) Acmaeodera griffithi  could be overlooked by the beetle collector. Because I was trying to photograph solitary bees, I inadvertently focused on the Buprestid.


 While manipulating the Mesquite flowers to photograph the Perdita Bee, 2 tiny beetles landed on my hand. They are both  Dasytinae in the family Melyridae genus Trichochrous, the smaller one likely to be T. ferrugineus. (Thnks to Doug Yanega for getting this information from Adriean Mayor)

After only a quarter mile along the dusty road, our dogs were quite ready to go home to a drink and a bath in the tub. So this was a very short 'Osterspaziergang' but I could not completely let go of that lovely tradition.


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Madrean Discovery Expedition Cajón Bonito April 2017

April 30, 2017, 12:35 pm
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Camping at Ranchos los Ojos
Camping? In Mexico??? The US customs officer in Douglas, AZ asked in a very offended tone when we got back from our expedition. He and his colleges waved us away from our vehicle and sorted through coolers, sleeping bags, tents, camera bags and dirty underwear. No, we did not transport back any beetles or plants. Not even in our gas tank. Our specimens were transported and declared by Tom Van Devender who by now has ample experience with permits, legalities, paperwork, and office hours on both sides of the border and who safely  brought back everything to pass on to the respective experts for identification. All I brought back are photos.


Our expedition took us to the Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation properties in the Sierra San Luis. So From the border crossing in Douglas, we headed southeast, through Agua Prieta, Sonora, and then continued on highway 2 not quite to the border with Chihuahua. A winding dirt road took us to the main house of the Rancho los Ojos. Beautiful big cottonwoods shaded our campsite close to the river, but as the wind picked up towards the end of our stay it was more comfortable to move into the ranch house. After roughing it on a deflated air mattress, a room with original art on the walls and a great modern bathroom were a welcome change.


The huge area that is owned by the Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation consists mainly of rolling high elevation grasslands that are dotted with mesquite, juniper and 8 species of oaks. Smaller neighboring ranches that have been acquired recently include also pine forest, but we did not get that far on our tours because we were too engaged in exploring creeks, washes and slot canyons on the way.

 
Canyon at el Pinito

Claret Cup Cactus, el Pinito

In these parts, April is definitely part of the dry pre-summer time.  The mesquites were fresh and just greening out, but the grasses were brown and brittle.

Result of careful grazing management on Rancho los Ojos, left, overgrazed neighboring land, right
 It could be (and was) much worse. Since buying the land, the owners of the Cuenca los Ojos have used exemplary methods to revitalize the area, conscious that it contains the hinterland and the headwaters of the Rio Yaqui and therefore determines the health of this enormous drainage system with effects far downstream in other parts of Mexico.


The Ranch owner (standing) explaining her conservation procedures and plans for the land
Of course, the ranchos were originally cattle grazing grounds. But we hardly saw any cattle. There were active salt licks everywhere, indicating the presence of some cows, but. access to the river tributaries was fenced off.


The main feature of the foundation property are thousands of check‐dams or gabiones. They reminded me of artificial beaver dams (without the beavers' tree harvesting, though). But like beaver dams, these structures retain water, turning grassland into swampy cienegas, preventing erosion by seasonal flood-runoffs and instead allow permeation of water into the soil.

Punta del Agua
We saw some old photos of the property: rather barren grassland cut through by dry arroyos. Today, lush galleries of cottonwoods and willows accompany permanent water flow. The owner who considers this restoration her legacy, hopes that this 'sponge' in the head-waters will benefit the entire Rio Yaqui and sees the rancho as a model for other restoration projects. So students and scientists are welcome visitors.

Sangmi Lee and Fred Skillman with morning coffee and visions of great bug collecting
We were there to continue the exploration that earlier expeditions had begun. Birds, mammals, Fish, herps  and plants, even moths to some degree,  had  already been listed. But for most insects, the project is certainly still ongoing. Many of our finds might even be first records for Sonora.  So it was great to join a substantial group of ASU,  UA, and U of Hermosillo  scientists in one of the world's hot spots for biodiversity.

John Palting's moth collection already stretched, pinned and  baked, ready for presentation

Not carrying a kite, but an unusually small beating sheet. Nico's was three times as big, so he got more beetles, obviously!
 We collected insects with our beating sheets and nets (ouch, my right shoulder!), flight-intercept traps and light traps appeared all around camp, Berlese funnels crowded the barn, trails of oat meal were luring Darkling Beetles and crickets, ant nests were invaded with spades, individual ants checked for mites, and all night long bright Mercury Vapor lights attracted moths and beetles. -


So the place temporarily became rather dangerous for the local bug population, especially when during  daylight hours opportunistic Thrashers and Orioles joined in and cleaned up the black lights  at the kitchen door of the ranch house.

True Bugs, Heteroptera



We had moth and micro-moth, Curculionid, Cerambycid and Tenebrionid, Odonata, Ant and Butterfly experts, but True Bugs were nobody's favorites. But we encountered a great number of interesting species.

During an hour-long stop at Punta del Agua Doug Danforth contributed nearly 20 species of Dragon and Damselflies to the lists.


We had several people who specialized in mites. Other Arachnids were also plentiful.


Beetles, all - what, 6000 + (?) - Sonoran species of them, are my main interest. Sonora is considered one of the world's most species rich locations, but so far there are few good data available. So even species that are well-known from Arizona may get their first valid record for Sonora from our collection efforts. That really makes it a lot of fun. I also found a few that will be useful for my Arizona Beetle Book - those are species that are known to occur in AZ but I saw them for the first time on this trip. Surprisingly, we found a number of species that in the US don't occur west of Texas.
Over all, I personally ended up with over 70 species of beetles. The numbers would have been higher if windy conditions hadn't made collecting difficult on the last days. We are also way into the dry season. During the summer monsoons this area must be extremely rich.

Patchnose Snake, Herper, Birder, Botanist, Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar

The vegetation on the way to the hot springs of Ojos Calientes was especially lush (even after our botanists were through collecting)  and revealed a number of interesting reptiles: First a Patchnose Snake and a Sonoran Whipsnake (that one escaped without having its picture taken).

 After a very pleasant soaking in the natural hot tub, Anna Lilia and I ran into a pretty little Gila Monster, the first of three that were eventually found.

'Herpers' like Tom van Devender and Jim Rorabaugh do not let these lizards and snakes go without providing teachable moments. Touching and comparing the smooth scales of snakes and the hard, beady ones (each with a bony core) of the monster's back was a memorable first for several participants.

Night Snake
Gopher Snake (Photo by M. McNulty)

Clark's Spiny Lizard
The impressive Blacktail Rattler had just eaten (Photo Jim Rorabaugh)

Little Red-spotted Toad in the rancho's kitchen garden
Carne Asada dinner on day one (photo Jim Rorabaugh)
On our Sonora excursion, we are always cared for by la Comisiòn Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas, CONANP. Their cooks prepare our meals, and I often come home with new simple, but nicely spiced recipes. So Randy benefits at least a little from my travels. 



This year, our Mexican hosts had prepared an Earth Day and birthday (for several participants) surprise: a big pinata was gruesomely slaughtered. I leave the id of that thing to your imagination. 



Chip Hedgecock took the obligatory group photo with all of us perching on the huge trunk of a dead Cottonwood that had been hardly diminished by a three-day axe-attack on it by our tenebroid people. 

This memorable expedition was sponsored by Greater Goods Foundation, hosted by the Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation and prepared and led by Tom Van DeVender and Analilia Reina - thank you so much for making this possible! 

To learn more about the Cuenca los Ojos Foundation, its history and goals, and to see some beautiful art inspired by the landscape go to https://cuencalosojos.org/  
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Unusual Warbler - it's migration!

May 5, 2017, 7:26 pm
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I just saw a 'lifer' right outside my studio window in Picture Rocks, AZ.
Dark head, olive green wings, eye ring flashing in the dark face: an adult male MacGilivray's Warbler
  It was searching for and finding bugs in the Palo Verde that is usually the perch of a pair of Gila Woodpeckers but those are busy raising a brood in a Saguaro right now.
I went outside, but the warbler was gone. Pyrrhuloxia and a Blackheaded Gross-beak in the blooming Ironwood instead. The pair of Kestrels is displaying and flirting above. In May? Did they loose their brood?  The dark Redtail female is faithfully guarding her nest with two or even three chicks



 Rattlers are active day and night right now as the temperatures are creeping up towards three digits. Unfortunately, Bilbo got bitten and then went into hiding. We missed him and searched the neighborhood for hours, until he came finally limping up from the backyard, too late for effective antivenom.


So he got antibiotics and pain pills instead. His paw was oozing and bloated and he touched no food for three days. Was drinking well though. Today he suddenly ravenously chewed down a rib bone from yesterday's dinner followed by a chicken breast. I think he's recovering well now, but still limping. He's been such a smart well trained dog for 12 years, always stayed well away from snakes. But we always had a snake-wise alpha dog o watch out for the others. Since first Cody and then Frodo died the snake barking and avoidance has been less reliable - we heard nothing at all when this happened.

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Arizona Butterflies

May 10, 2017, 11:41 am
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Poster: Butterflies of Arizona

It's done!


To my insect poster collectors and bug friends: After publishing my first 4 arthropod posters (see below), I have been asked for a butterfly poster more times than I can remember. But there is so much good stuff out on Butterflies ... I was a little intimidated. Now I think I have put together a collection that does justice to the unique diversity of Arizona and at the same time looks beautiful.
Many thanks to Ken Kertell, who allowed me to use a number of his excellent photos!
So I'm introducing my new poster, 'Butterflies of Arizona', with numbered template and corresponding species list
The size is 18 in by 24 in, it is printed on heavy, semigloss art paper with my giclee printer. That's really art print quality, not poster quality, and it will not fade.
Cost: $25 plus shipping. 
Order at mbrummermann@comcast.net, pay through paypal.
 These are also still available, selling separately, of course. Same price as the new one.
Get a 10% discount if you order all 5!


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A declaration of love

May 18, 2017, 7:01 pm
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I know I have married the right guy when he wakes me up excitedly: 'You have to get your camera and get pictures of the Mesquite Tree Cactus - it's performing today!'


With nearly 30 flowers, our climbing Harrisia is really spectacular. It is also getting nearly too heavy for its small nurse Mesquite tree. The sun is not quite up, I need some more light for good photos, but Randy was afraid the flowers would wilt. Our short cold spell seems to be over.


There may be painting inspirations in these photos, but for now, I'm overwhelmed. I need to simplify but how to do that when the beauty is in multitude and profusion?


I know that I definitely married the best possible guy when a couple of hours later, he stands in my studio door (the Phippen Art Show is looming close): 'I hate to keep interrupting you, but you really have to get your camera again!' From his delighted tone, I think it's more flowers, though I also thought I heard him say something about 'very cute and pretty'.  Dove babies? No - they are neither. Baby quail? They would not wait for me to get my camera...


Of course he's right, the rattler at the door of the potting shed is small, pretty and cute. Tightly curled as he is, he would fit the palm of my hand. But Randy says: 'No, don't disturb him'. So we only drop a penny next to him for scale. He puts out a dark purple tongue once and then withdraws to his meditation.


The pattern is amazing. I don't think I've seen one with white eye brows before. The contrast of the pattern all along the body is amazing, maybe he's freshly molted?  We never got a look at tail and rattle because we did not want to disturb him.


When we checked on him an hour later, the penny marked the spot where he had been, now in full sunlight. But the little rattler had withdrawn to what shade remained and curled up even more tightly. Is he going to stay there all day? Or at least until quail or squirrels make so much fuss that he'll indignantly slither off?  Very soon our local snakes will be exclusively night active to avoid the scorching heat of the day.


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Black Bugs with red out-lines in Tucson

June 19, 2017, 12:50 pm
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left: Seed Bug Melacoryphus lateralis. right: Kissing Bug Triatoma rubida
This year, we have lots of Kissing Bugs In the Tucson area. But not everything that reminds you of a Kissing Bug picture you've seen on the internet is really a Triatoma rubida (right), a blood sucking Kone-nose. (note: there is more than one species if you go into the mountains or towards Texas)

At the moment, we also have a proliferation of little black Seed Bugs Melacoryphus lateralis (left). These can occur in very large numbers on Sabino Canyon trails and under porch lights in town, so just about anywhere. While Kissing Bugs (not much smaller than 1 inch) are also not dangerous - we had NO proven, KB transmitted cases of Chagas disease in AZ - the little Seed Bugs (about a quarter of an inch) are completely harmless - not even a garden pest.

Reed more about Kissing Bugs and their look-alikes in my older blog on the theme
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Midsummer on Mount Lemmon

June 22, 2017, 7:35 pm
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Admiring those tall stalks of Swertia radiata (Frasera speciosa) Green Gentian
 With temperatures soaring above 115 Degrees Fahrenheit in Tucson, I was extremely happy to join Debbi Bird's Wednesday Walk-about on the mountain. Thank you, Debbie and Bill Kaufman for inviting me! We headed from Summer Haven (elevation above 8000 feet) up Turkey Run,  but the outings of that little group of naturalists are probably never runs or strenuous hikes but leisurely walks to observe birds and plants. With my enthusiasm for every crawling bug I slowed them down even more.

The lovely, melancholy song of the Hermit Thrush set the tone for our walk. But this individual was too busy for such frivolities 
 People and bugs were very gracious about it. Birds less so - they wanted us to move so they could get on with their business of raising chicks. There went my bugs!

Gasteruption sp. female and Polistes sp. male
 Heracleum lantanum, Cow Parsnip, those super-umbels, where in full bloom, yielding not the hoped-for longhorn beetles but delicate little Carrot Wasps (Gasteruptionsp.) and much sturdier Vespids. The larvae of Gasteruption are predators  or predators-inquilines (consume larval food, not the larvae) of other Hymenoptera that nest in twigs and in wood, hence the long ovipositor. Paper wasps are eusocial colony builders who hunt other insects as food for they larvae. But the guy in the picture is a drone, a male, just out for his own indulgence in sweet nectar (note the hooked antennae).


Saprophytic Orchid
More botanical treasures along the path: The little leafless, chlorophyll-less orchids are sprophyds, meaning that they are depending on decaying organic matter for all their  nutrients including sugars. I'm wondering how directly they can absorb anything like that - are they maybe relying on the mycelium of symbiotic fungi to do the work? Orchids often do ...


On the sloping forest floor a little Ericaceae is hiding  in deep shade. But Bumblebees love heather and all its relatives, so Bombus melanopygus (southern color form) zoomed in and put the flash of my mini camera to the test. Luckily, the photo turned out well enough for an identification by our bee-wizzard John Ascher.

Little Wasps, Encyrtus sp.

 On the leaves of Silver-leave oak little ant-like wasps were running about. There tiny wings seemed non-functional (?) enhancing the ant similarity (there will be a follow-up blog to this topic). 


Another Wasp, Tenthredinidae (Common Sawflies) - these are vegetarians and no threat to the beetle. The larvae feed on pine needles or leaves, looking like caterpillars with extra legs, usually feeding in groups. They take on  a characteristic s-shaped position when threatened  - and most predators recognize it as a warning of their high toxicity.

Lycus fulvellus femoratus
 The wasp probably landed on the beetle just because - there were so many of them. It seemed that the Superfamily of the Elateroidea  which includes Click, Firefly and Soldier Beetles was having a big party, or rather fertility ceremony on this first day of summer.  

Discodon bipunctatum, Ellychnia corrusca

We first found the Soldier Beetle Discodon bipunctatum, which I nearly mistook for a firefly. No wonder, he's a close mimic of a toxic beetle in that family (I'm not sure if the soldier beetle, a Cantharid, is toxic as well, it might be, it shares it's name with the substance Cantharidin, but that is supposed to be a historical misnomer)  . Soon we also found the Firefly Ellychnia corrusca (diurnal, no flight display of lights at night). Extremely common.

Lycus arizonensis
 More obvious even than the Fireflies were their other relatives, the Net-winged Beetles (Lycids). Not only are they all red or orange, they were also drifting leisurely in the warm summer air, landing on us and every other surface and congregating along water seeps.

Lygistopterus rubripennis
Our walk could not have been longer than a couple of miles, steadily but not too steeply gaining in elevation. Still, I had the distinct impression that we saw at first mostly Lycus sanguinipennis and
Lygistopterus rubripennis, thena little higher upmostlyLycus fulvellus femoratus. Of course, elevation was not the only changing parameter - we also came closer to some running water, the canopy cover increased and the temperature increased as the day progressed. Lycus arizonensis at least was not found on the way up, but rather common on the way back later in the day. 


Lycus sanguinipennis, Lygistopterus rubripennis, Lycus fulvellus femoratus, Lycus arizonensis
Anyway - it was nice to see four of these rather impressive beetles in great numbers in short succession. I'd  like to point out that the red Lycid with black wingtips that is commonly found in lower Sabino Canyon is another species: Lycus sanguineus, the Blood-red Net Wing Beetle.

Lycus sanguineus
And not only the beetles had their midsummer night's rites scheduled for this hot June day and night. Adhering to old pagan traditions, there was also a lot of activity among fairies, elves, spirits and sprites of the fores and when they invited us into their garden, some of us seemed quite tempted to stay ...



Oh, no! They did!!!!


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Rediscovering a lost species

July 5, 2017, 10:46 pm
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Lycus sanguinipennis, Lygistopterus rubripennis, Lycus fulvellus femoratus, Lycus arizonensis
 Two weeks ago, I posted this series of Lycids (Net-winged Beetles) from Mount Lemmon on my blog. Joe Cicero, a friend and former college who has moved to Florida and now probably misses Tucson, commented that there is another smaller species on the mountain.

Joe Cicero's collection of Adoceta apicalis
He was talking about Adoceta apicalis  which he described as a small look-a-like of Lygistopterus rubripennis. In 1950 two North American species in the genus Adoceta were described by Green from only very few specimens each. It seems that no others were found for a long time, maybe until Joe discovered a few specimens some years ago under pine bark on Mt. Lemmon. These were Adoceta apicalis. They are smaller than the Lycids I showed last week, the wings quite parallel sided, and head and pronotum is black. The elytra end in an apical black band.  Joe challenged me to find more of them.


Last Wednesday, Ceanothus fendleri and Ceanothus integerrimus were in full bloom along the path that crosses an area that was heavily burned several years ago. There were plenty of red and orange things crawling on the flowers, from false blister beetles to moths, seed bugs and tarantula hawks (not pictured).

Some strange Lycids
Leslie Eguchi and I were shooting pictures of many different flower visitors and eventually came across an accumulation of small, narrow Lycids that were mating on the blooming bushes. There seemed to be many dozens of them. (Joe Cicero explains that Lycids not only congregate to mate, the females also come together and oviposit in groups. He thinks that I may have happened upon a mass emergence from a 'group-clutch' like that.)

Mating pair of Adoceta ignita
 
I was thrilled that I had found Joe's species. But being part of a group of naturalists who usually don't collect and who might be offended, I only collected a few specimens, making sure to get males (there were many) and females (much fewer) both.
Later, from home I sent photos to Joe to report proudly "mission accomplished".

I was pretty disappointed when Joe at first glance called my beetles 'just small Lycus sanguinipennis'  - he had immediately noticed that the pronotum of these guys wasn't black ... and then he thought that maybe I had a new species ...

Male and female of Adoceta ignita
 When I posted my photo on our SW  Arthropods page on Facebook, Arthur Evans had the great idea to share it with an international group that concentrates on a related beetle family, the Soldier Beetles, Net-winged Beetles (Lycids) and Soldier Beetles (Cantharids) are similar enough to interest some of the same taxonomists, and soon we heard back from Michael Geiser in Switzerland:
"It keys out as Adoceta ignita Green, 1950, a species I've never seen before (so the ID is just based on the description). A. ignita was described from two specimens from Arizona and is apparently very rare. I don't know how many times it was found after the description."Soon other specialists in the field like Michael Ivie and Vinicius Ferreira were alerted to our quest and agreed wit Michael Geiser's ID.

We also learned that there is an ongoing discussion about the taxonomic status of the genus Adoceta. In their 2017 paper Motyka et al. merged the genus Adoceta with the genus Lygistopterus. But since until now there were only so few specimens of the American species, these were not part of the genetic sequencing that the study was based on.We will now send a specimen to the lab around Bocak - I'm curious what the result will be.I also thought I would get up the mountain in time to collect a few more specimens, but right now Catalina Highway is closed because of an out of control wild fire. So I'm afraid the species I found may just get lost again.

References to cited papers will be added later
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Santa Rita Mts after the first rains of monsoon 2017

July 13, 2017, 6:19 pm
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Megathymus ursus, Ursus Giant Skipper
On big rocks in a creek bed with a little water I found a strikingly big Skipper: Megathymus ursus, Ursus Giant Skipper
Butterfly folks always ask if I see these. Now I know why, this is one very impressive skipper! Big and heavy! Rare enough to for mine to be the first for AZ on BugGuide.net, even though the type-location is the Catalina Mts in Pima Co (Type-location: where the originally described specimen was found). The inside of the wings has yellowish-gold markings, but It would not sit still to have those photographed.

Campsomeris ephippium male
 Another giant, though his female is even bigger, is this Scoliid Wasp, Campsomeris ephippium reaches more than 2 inches in length. Also impressive was his reaction to being pushed around a little: He made rather convincing stinging motions extending the retractible "trident" at the apex of the abdomen. Those sclerotized genitalia plus that behavior are a good example of intra-species Batesian mimicry.(note: only female hymenopterans have a stinger and venom glands, because the stinger is the ovipositor).
The females are usually busy scouting the ground for big scarab larvae, but males can be found nectaring on flowers. These Mexican wasps are now permanent residents in SE Arizona including the Catalinas (Sabino Canyon). I think we saw the first ones around 2010 in the Huachuca Mountains.

Triscolia ardens females
 There were more Scoliids on the same Acacia - just after the first rains, there were not too many blooming plants. These ladies were big for their kind,- over 3 cm long. Triscolia ardens are quite variable in size. I'm not quite sure if I'm not misidentifying a similar species at times. But individuals of many parasitic species develop by the luck of the draw - dependent on the size of the host that their mother was able to find.

Pogonomyrmex sp. mating
The rain triggered a mating frenzy among Harvester Ants. Hundred of alates (winged males and females ready to mate) crawled and flew to the top of a telephone pole. Up there they did their aerial dance during which males grabbed females and together they tumbled to the ground, usually three to four males per female. I wanted to collect some for the research project of a friend. It was slightly disconcerting to have my most feared nemesis rain down on me by the dozens, but I figured they'd be too busy to sting. I was kind of right: the ones that fell into my shirt from above did no harm...but a lowly worker did crawl up my pant leg. Before I had my boot of and could drop the pants, I got three stings from her.  Still red, hard and itchy three days later.

 A nice Mydas Fly along Proctor Road.
Ammophila Wasp and a nice metallic bee
Macrodactylus uniformis (Western Rose Chafers)
Anomala nimbosa pair
Euphoria monticola (Photo Sue Carnahan) and Euphoria leucographa
Euphoria spp. are day active scarabs. Probably mostly males were flying - in search of females. The pretty green E. monticola stayed in the understory of oak forest, while E. leucographa was 'hill-topping' (aggregations flying around the top of the tree) around all kinds of tall trees in the grassland.

The long face of Lycus arizonensis
Cicindela sedecimpunctata
On the rocks along the creek: our most common Tiger Beetle, not yet in great numbers. 

Arhaphe cicindeloides
Not far from the Tiger Beetle, I found  a nymph of the Largid (Bordered Plant Bugs)  Arhaphe cicindeloides. This species seems to imitate the behavior of the tigers, but if that is mimicry or just being smart and fast when chased I don't know.


Mecki  would like to point out that all the photos above, except the Pogo ones, where a cooperative effort.  From Bear Skippers to Tiger Beetles, we faced and stalked them all of them together, connected by the legally prescribed leash.  How else would she keep the camera steady?
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September in Picture Rocks

September 21, 2017, 8:04 pm
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Our resident pair of ravens visits regularly, but without this years brood of 3. I hope the kids moved on and are healthy! Our dogs have no patients for the ravens' performance of bows and songs of clicks and clucks.


Lots of snake activity lately. One night, this 5 footer was caught in our gate. While I held the head, Randy cut him loose. We are a practiced team by now.  This rattler turns up every time when Randy waters the Aloes in front of the house. On the path from the patio we have 2 smaller regulars.


I'm outside at night quite often: there are cacti that only bloom in the dark, Pocket mice rustle on the ground, toads and geckos are hunting and also a very nice little tarantula.

Photo by a FB friend
But the most special visitors are the long-nosed bats that regularly empty hummingbird feeders all over Tucson. Randy is quite tired of refilling them every morning. I like the secretive flutter.


It's still quite hot, so we take our walks into the state-land early, when the shadow of Twin Peak (singular now) still covers our path. Or I make a short late afternoon trip down one of the deeply gauged washes.  White-thorn acacia bushes sprouted fresh leaves and flowers after the rains and are now covered in delicate red pods.



A surprising sight: A big Jewel Beetle Gyascutus caelatus is checking the acacia for its  host-plant potential. I used to travel to the Santa Rita Mountains to see these beetles.


Already, we are thirsting for more rain. The monsoon was good, but could still be better ... but the Saguaros pumped up and the Palo Verdes and Ocotillos sprouted a nice crop of leaves..


Laika, now definitely an elderly dog, is still excited about our walks, but today she returned home early. But Randy had stayed home and she probably just missed him.


Mecki and Bilbo tired themselves out too, racing and digging, trying to find the cattle that is somewhere out there.


Laika was faithfully waiting for us at the gate by the garage. Even though I wasn't worried when she disappeared, I was still happy to see her there.


For the pups it's now time for a dip in the tub. That means that the will not come into the house until dry. In theory. In praxis, Mecki just stormed through the door and is now licking his feet right behind me.  Oh well. It's dark and the rattlers are roaming.
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