Backyard Black Light in May

May 16, 2014, 11:59 am

≪ Previous: The Red Tail Hawks have left the nest

At the beginning of the arid, hot pre-summer in the desert, our moths are small but intricately patterned

Graceful adult Antlions hang around, recently emerged from the pupal stage of pit-trap building, ant-eating doodle bugs that gave the group the name.

The Running Crab Spider is probably a harmless neighbor for the Darkling Beetle Eupsophulus castaneus. The beetles mate is a tap dancer. He uses his whole body, not his feet, to produce a 'tatatptaptaptap' that can be heard several feet away.

Darkling Beetles of the genus Triorophus emerge covered in a waxy blue layer that wears of as they age.

A male Glowworm Beetle, Distremocephalus opaculus is winged and has feathered antennae, but no functional mouth parts. The larva-form females may, like the larvae, feed on millipedes. The Twirler Moths, Faculta inaequalis, may be responsible for the tubular webs that I noticed a couple of weeks ago around the twigs of Palo Verde.

Checkered Beetle Enoclerus quadrisignatus

Pseudopamera nitidulain the family of the Dirt-colored Seedbugs. Really? Dirt-colored?

Apatides fortis (Horned Powderpost Beetle). We leave dead trees lying around so all borers, cavity breeders (bees), macro-shredders and decomposers get their natural turn. Just before the dead wood finally falls victim to termite activity, there are still Bostrichids like Apatides emerging from their big, saw dust filled tunnels. Once I placed freshly wnd broken Palo Verde branches into a tight box to catch everything that emerged. First I got buprestids and a few cerambycids. But up to three years after the wood was sealed in A. fortis still emerged. So the female had not oviposited on very old dead wood. The development of the larvae just took so long.

Cyclocephala longula, Acoma sp. and Hybosorus illigeri

On 5/16 the night was quite warm (daytime temps close to 100F) and it was slightly overcast. The summer scarabs began to appear, especially Acoma emerged in great numbers. Males only. I've never found a female. Hybosorus illigeri is a Scavenger Scarab Apparently introduced into the U.S. prior to the 1840's from Europe


I'm feeling watched; Ground mantis

Mediterranean Gecko

Sonoran Desert and Red-spotted Toads are faster at my black lights than I. They can live for more than 20 years. So they are probably old acquaintances from all those years of bug collecting at our garage wall.

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Snake encounters

May 17, 2014, 10:30 pm

≫ Next: Beetle Breeding

≪ Previous: Backyard Black Light in May

Lots of snake activity today, but no good photos.
This morning my dogs reacted to a loud keening noise and stormed to the side of the yard where our fire wood is stacked. I heard the buzz of a retreating rattler and found a dying packrat. Cody and Frodo were so excited that I had to pull them away. I wanted to watch the rattler come back to its prey, but I got distracted until I heard Frodo bark again. I arrived to see the rat, pulled along by the snake, disappear under the wood pile. The snake, probably a Diamondback Rattler, had moved into the packrat's nest. The packrats themselves are very disruptive neighbors, so we will try to let the snake stay and hope nobody gets bitten except the rats.

Gopher Snake tracks

Crossing the dirt road to visit our neighbors, we found the tracks of a big Gopher Snake that had crawled into a squirrel hole. This snake must be huge and heavy judging from the deep undulating imprints. (Diamondbacks move in a much straighter line)

In the late afternoon I took the dogs on a walk into the state land next to our property. This should have been the first 100F day of the season, but the sky was slightly overcast and it never got quite so hot. Zebra Tail Lizards were hiding under a thin layer of sand and kept jumping out right under the dogs noses. The dogs are getting old and experienced by now, and Cody has pretty much abandoned the chase. He used to be so intend that he'd jerk the leash from my hand and jump right over the creosote bushes. Young Jackrabbits were zigzagging between the shrubs, taking Laika and Frodo with them in break-neck pursuit.

Sidewinder Rattlesnake, Photo by the late Young Cage

Suddenly there was a quick motion in the sand, and both Cody and Bilbo tore towards it. I heard the buzz from a small rattle. A small, light colored snake was launching itself backwards, nearly flying over the sand. Only the head seemed to stand still, focusing slit-pupiled eyes on me. And there was a little horn over each eye - a Sidewinder, my very first! I got no photo because the dogs were misbehaving and getting much too close. They seemed to know that this was no Diamondback. The snake headed backwards straight to a hole in the ground and disappeared.
Picture Rocks is at the eastern border of the distribution of this sand-loving species. I know that they have been found in Red Rock and along the Santa Cruz River bed.
This is the 4th species of rattlers in our direct vicinity. Diamondbacks are the most common, followed by the occasional Mojave and so far a single Tiger Rattlesnake in our wash, and now this Sidewinder.

I have been watching more and more Desert Iguanas over the last years, while the numbers of Ornate Tree Lizards and Spiny Magisters seem to be declining sharply. It is a if the warming climate and the prolonged drought are pushing western species from the infamously hot Yuma Dunes deep into our area.

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Beetle Breeding

May 21, 2014, 3:10 pm

≫ Next: Trying out a new policy towards rattlers

≪ Previous: Snake encounters

Two years ago, my young Japanese friends from New York came to collect some Hercules Beetles (Dynastes granti) that they wanted to breed. They got eggs, also a few larvae, but had no luck raising them. They complained that in the US, unlike Japan, there is no good breeding medium commercially available.

Strategus cessus

So last year I decided to start my own beetle farm, mainly to try out a recipe for a breeding medium that I got from a friend. It started with oal pellets for the barbeque and involved a lengthy fermentation process. I started early. Then everything was set up at the beginning of July and the only big dynastinae that were around that early were Strategus cessus from Madera Canyon. So I tried the method with them. The beetles not only produced eggs, but the eggs also hatched very quickly, by mid August. The larvae were voracious and grew quickly.

second instar larvae in September.

When I proudly posted baby pictures on facebook, I was told that these larvae had not been formally described. The species is more localized than the other Strategus species. It only occurs in Arizona, New Mexico and NW Mexico. Also, they lack the impressive horns that the males of most other Strategus species sport, so I guess collectors are much less fascinated with this species. Anyway, Brett Ratcliffe at the University of Nebraska was happy to write a scientific paper about them. So I sent him a few larvae to be preserved at different stages for description.

Pre-pupal S. cessus larva below and two still growing S. aloeus larva on top (December 2013)

My S. cessus larvae got rather big but around Thanksgiving they stopped feeding. Instead they became very agitated, one actually escaped from the container. They were obviously searching for a pupation spot. Or did they not want to stay in the old medium to pupate? Fungus gnats and worse, mites, were contaminating the containers by then, and I already knew that the pupae might be vulnerable to predation where the sturdy larvae had survived just fine.

Larva in the pupal chamber, photographed through the wall of the container

So I got clay, first from my mother-in-law's backyard, and when that didn't work, from Madera Canyon. Finally the larvae settled down and buried themselves deeply. Three of them stayed close to the transparent walls of the container so I could watch their progress. Except there was none. All winter long, and through March and most of April, the big larvae were just sitting in their pupal chambers, if that's what they were. Occasionally they turned over. They seemed to loose volume and became more opaque than before, but for months nothing else happened. I began to wonder if they might need a cold stimulus. Then, in April, I could see one pupae, but it soon darkened and died. Brett checked the ones he was keeping in Nebraska at this time, and they were dead as well. Still, one larva was holding out and one was hidden from sight.

S. cessus pupa lying on its back

On the 19th of May, the visible larva had changed. It was either dead or? I decided to dig it up. When I broke through the hard crust of the pupal chamber, I found a healthy, gold brown pupa and the empty last larval skin. This one will go to Brett to complete his collection of developmental stages.

eclosing beetle

When I dug out they other chamber, it contained a beetle that was just about to eclose, to break out of the pupal skin. Head, thorax and front legs were already black and shiny with hardened exoskeleton, and the front part of the pupal skin had come off. But the pupal skin which had become transparent and brittle, still covered everything else. The wings were still soft, white, uninflated and folded forward towards the underside (ventral). The abdomen was bigger than in an adult beetle, containing the fluids necessary to break open the pupal skin in back and inflate the wings.
Insects are soft and vulnerable at this stage, so I carefully placed the beetle back on the clay. I assume he would need a rough surface to find traction for the now rather functional front legs to pull away from the rest of the pupal exuvium.

teneral beetel with pupal skin, exuvium

When I checked again a few hours later, the wings were properly folded back, the front ones (elytra) covering the membranous Hind-wings. They were still white and teneral, the abdomen still too big, but it already looked very much like an adult beetle.

For several hours the hardening and darkening process of the exoskeleton progressed. This what it looked like at 11 pm.

I the morning a perfectly hardened and dark beetle was trying to bury himself in the clay again.
I kept the containers with eggs and larvae in our basement in the water heater room, where it's dark and the temperature never changes dramatically. I do not know where the beetles get their input about the seasons. I am raising 3 species now, and they all seem to have their own, species specific rhythms. Strategus aloeus beetles, of the three-horned species, laid their eggs much later than their smaller relatives S. cessus. Then the larvae grew faster, buried into the depth of their containers and pupated. There was no great winter pause. Right now, in May, they are all resting as pupae.

Dynastes granti larva, much larger than the S. cessus larvae, with a darker head capsule and darker setae

The Dynastes granti females laid eggs all the way till late November when the last of them died. The eggs then rested through the winter and the first viable larvae appeared in late January. Eggs that were laid late also hatched last. All Dynastes granti larvae are still feeding and growing.

I assume that in nature the freshly hatched S. cessus stay buried in their pupal chambers until the first strong monsoon rain wakes them up. I have seen mass emergencies during those early storms twice in Madera Canyon. The beetles mate then and their flight period does not last very long.

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Trying out a new policy towards rattlers

May 27, 2014, 12:00 pm

≫ Next: A Duett of Lesser Night Hawks

≪ Previous: Beetle Breeding

This one visited at breakfast on the patio today. The dogs raced at him, the Laika She-Wolf just looked and quietly moved away. Frodo (coydog, bitten numerous times) stood close, but save, pointing. Bilbo ran around but stayed away. Cody, who should know better, barked and tried to get too close, so he ended up in time-out indoors. I hope he is not getting senile.

Packrat that was bitten by a rattler. The snake withdrew at first, then came back 5 min later and pulled it under the wood stack

We used to move all rattlers about a quarter of a mile away, only leaving a couple territorial old guys in their burrows. But they seem to be gone. Lately, we are so over-run with packrats that we are now opting to leave the rattlers be. This one is also a good active 'warner', even a hummingbird could set him off. So now he's curled up 10 feet from our table were the dogs are sleeping again and everything is peaceful so far. I looked him deeply between the eyes: he's a Diamondback.

On facebook, an interesting discussion about dog vaccination and treatment with antivenom developed. Of course I do not have any great answers, but at least some experience.
Here is one of the exchanges:

Terry D:
Your dogs all get the vaccine? First year I did for both mine.

Amy D:

I thought if your dog gets bitten it could die? That's why I started getting the anti venom shots. What is the truth about bites and dogs as a rule ? I know as a nurse at the hospital people get admitted right to Icu nowadays then down to the cardiac floor depending on age.

My opinion:
Generally, humans seem to be more sensitive than canines and cats. Wolfs and especially Coyotes probably had a long time to evolve with exposure to rattlers. Immunities do develop (evolutionary), as shown in prey species (Texas A&M). The validity of 'vaccine' has not been proven too well.
My 5 dogs got bitten about 8 times in our 12 years here. The females and one male never, the oldest male once, the youngest, the coyote mix, 7 times.

3 of our older dogs were also snake trained with electro-shock collars and live snake exposure, but one of them was bitten right afterwards.
The coydog was fed snakes by his mother in the den where he was born, I found the rattles.

We used antivenom once, iv overnight infusion of fluids twice, antibiotics several times (those snake teeth are full of germs). Anti venom after the bite may counter-act organ damage caused by the heamolytics of the snake venom.
The coydog was treated after some bites, but not after others. He always had strong facial swelling, so none of the bites were dry-bites, but he always recovered after about 6 hours. Several times, he didn't even reduce his activity level and ept playing and eating, but was always very tender in the bite area. The last bite got him in the sponge of his nose and he wined. After that, he finally left the snakes alone, and he is a good, reliable 'snake-barker' now. But Amy mentioned age. And she is right, that is a worrisome factor. My oldest male dog reliably stayed away after training, one bite and treatment (10 years ago) but he now seems to become forgetful and more grumpy...senile? All I can do is to keep him indoors during main snake activity, because I am afraid that a bite might be much worse for him now.

It needs to be said that not all rattler venom is the same. Most individuals produce a 'cocktail' of venoms. There are heamolythic and neurotoxic components and the mix is evolutionary linked to the immunity that may have developed in prey species. So far, neurotoxins seem to be more prevalent in Mojave Rattlers than in Diamondbacks. The available antivenom blocks only haemolythic components. The neurotoxins, if present, would kill too quickly for any intervention anyway. Hence my attempt to correctly identify the snakes that are left in the immediate vicinity of the dogs.

There is the idea that younger snakes are more deadly than older ones because they have not yet learned to get the dose just right, so they inject always all their venom. I'm not so sure. I have seen big old rattlers bite a mouse which then just fell over and was dead. I watched a younger, smaller snake strike at a young packrat and the rat screamed (for minutes it seemed) before it finally died. The snake actually went into hiding and came back later to retrieve its prey.
So the older snake must have administered a more potent bite. Of course, defensive bites may be different.

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A Duett of Lesser Night Hawks

May 28, 2014, 2:49 pm

≫ Next: Searching for scutigeromorph centipedes

≪ Previous: Trying out a new policy towards rattlers

The temperature predictions for today were 106F. So we got up at 5:30 am to take the dogs for a walk. The sun was still behind the lonely Twin Peak, but the birds were awake. Gilded Flickers called from freshly opened Saguaro flowers, Western Kingbirds were watching from high spots, the Kestrel pair by the corral was noisily defending their nesting cavity in another Saguaro. Thrashers, Gila Woodpeckers and Cactus Wrens, of course.

When we came to the place where a Nighthawk had tried to mislead me with a broken-wing-display some nights before, we heard the bird purr, saw it fly up from the ground, to be joined quickly by a second, bigger one, that had been sitting in a tree.

The first one flew slow, swooping loops and circles around the area, the second one followed so closely and moved in such synchronization that they seemed linked as one. This aerial ballet went on fore quite a while. One of the birds was purring continuously, the second one was making complicated, nasal-sounding calls.

The gular (throat) area of the larger pursuer - the male - was white and extended when he called. It's visible in the larger version of the image above.
All over lovely to watch but very hard to photograph against the grey morning sky. Incidentally, it stayed overcast all day and we never reached those record temps.

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Searching for scutigeromorph centipedes

June 2, 2014, 5:49 pm

≫ Next: June at my Black Light in the Backyard

≪ Previous: A Duett of Lesser Night Hawks

Dendrothereua homa (Arizona House Centipede) photo by jan nadeau

Last Thursday I took a German scientist who is working at the Department of Neurophysiology of the U of A on a tour of our canyons to search for scutigeromorph centipedes. They are long-legged, night-active and, as it turned out, elusive. We have an endemic species here Dendrothereua homa (Arizona House Centipede), which I have seen, once, and supposedly also the introduced species Scutigera coleoptrata (House Centipede) that is more common in the eastern US where it lives in human dwellings. Here it would probably be able to live outdoors, maybe in pine forest like in the Mediterranean. But between Florida Canyon Pima County and Sycamore Canyon Santa Rita County, all the creek beds with rocks and soil (leaf-litter) loose enough for these guys to maneuver in were so dry that we found very few creatures hiding under rocks and none of the ones we were looking for.

Vaejovis spinigerus, Arizona Striped Tail Scorpion

We did find a number of scorpions, though. Mostly Arizona Stripe Tails, but also a few Bark Scorpions and the one below that still awaits identification.

Diplocentrus spitzeri (?)

The toothy chelicera remind me of Dipocentrus spitzeri that Warren Savary once found on our trip to Peck Canyon. That's not far from Sycamore and the habitat seemed similar (I only saw it at night)

Rabidosa santrita with eggs

Of course we found ant nests, disturbed a number of spiders that were hiding under rocks, and where it was moister, big groups of Bombardier Beetles were huddled together.

Bombardier Beetle, Brachinus elongatulus and False Bombardier Beetle, Galerita mexicana

Twice I found a much larger Galerita mexicana, a False Bombardier Beetle, among them. I knew that this species may be mimicking those armed-with-explosives guys, but I didn't know that it actually hides among them...Too bad that all those carabids run so fast when uncovered - I didn't get a decent shot at them even though by then I had my camera always ready.

The female Chihuahuan Toad Lubber on the other hand was sitting still for all the photos we wanted to take. My German companion asked which toad she might be mimicking. Toads here are night active, the grasshopper is day active. She looks very similar to a Canyon Tree Frog, but most importantly, they both look like a rock. So I'd say this is a case of convergent adaptation, not mimicry but simply camouflage.

We had started our trip in Tucson at 6 am because I was afraid that it would get hot too soon. The predictions were for temperatures in the triple digits. But all morning long the sky was overcast and grey and it stayed cool. During our short stop at Pena Blanca Lake it actually rained. Unheared of in May! Consequently, I left my camera in the car. Also unheared of.

Both lacking cameras, we found a great new (to me) reptile under the loose bark of a burned tree: it was 4 to 5 cm long (without tail), shiny-smooth and had cream colored stripes on a dark brown body. The most impressive feature was the strikingly electri-blue tail. And it posed on the smooth bark of the tree...

It very much resembled the juvenile Wester Skink in my field guide. But that species should be only in the NE corner of the state, and Pena Blanca is as far south as you can get in AZ. We met a couple of herpers later who said that there is an endemic species around Pena Blanca. Not in my field guide, though.

As soon as it got warmer around noon, many Elegant Earless Lizards showed up. His bobbing rhythm is an extremely fast nodding towards the intruder or the object of his desire.

Large Whiptails were foraging. I think this is a Canyon Whiptail still in juvenile colors even though he was at least 7 inches long without the tail.

We met some 'herpers' who had caught a small mud turtle. The reticulation of the face and the little spur under the chin indicate that this is a Sonoran Mud Turtle.

So we saw a lot of interesting things and time flew by in a hurry. We turned hundreds of rocks and found scolopedromorphs and other centipedes, just no scutigeromorphs. This is the first time that I guided an excursion to find a special arthropod and failed. I did know that they had not been seen here in the arid pre-summer, but the opinion was that these centipedes cannot dig deeply into the soil because of their long fragile appendices and that they cannot stay inactive too long because they have to satisfy their need for water by either feeding on prey or drinking. So can they not aestivate? To survive here in Arizona they may have to.
If any of my readers find any or know about either the local Dendrothereua homa (Arizona House Centipede) or the introduced species Scutigera coleoptrata (House Centipede) - they are still needed! Please contact me at mbrummermann@comcast.net

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June at my Black Light in the Backyard

June 3, 2014, 3:22 pm

≫ Next: When everybody should become night active

≪ Previous: Searching for scutigeromorph centipedes

Berothidae (Beaded Lacewings) Lomamyia sp.

Hemerobiidae (Brown Lacewings)

Corydiidae (former Polyphagidae) Arenivaga erratica

Tettigoniinae (Shield-backed Katydids) Eremopedes sp.


Tettigoniidae (Katydids) Insara covilleae (Creosote Bush Katydid) Gryllidae (True Crickets), Gryllinae (Field Crickets) Gryllus personatus (Badlands Cricket )

Reduviidae (Assassin Bugs), Triatominae (Kissing Bugs), Triatoma (Bloodsucking Conenoses), Triatoma rubida

Oligotomidae, Oligotoma nigra (Black Webspinner)

Formicidae (Ants) Camponotus (Carpenter Ants) Camponotus fragilis

Tenebrionidae (Darkling Beetles) » Pimeliinae » Vacronini

Scarabaeidae (Scarab Beetles) Dynastinae (Rhinoceros Beetles) Hemiphileurus illatus

Cerambycidae (Long-horned Beetles), Elaphidiini, Eustromula validum

Cerambycidae (Long-horned Beetles) Elaphidiini Anelaphus subdepressus

Pythidae (Dead Log Beetles) Trimitomerus riversii

Lycosidae (Wolf Spiders), Hogna carolinensis (Carolina Wolf Spider)

Theridiidae (Cobweb Spiders), Latrodectus hesperus (Western Black Widow)

Buthidae, Centruroides sculpturatus (Arizona Bark Scorpion)

Sonoran Desert Toad,Incilius alvarius, former Bufo alvarius

This blog will be expanded as the month of June progresses. This first entry is from June 3, the temperatures have reached 105 F, no measurable rain for months, some saguaros are still blooming and others show the very first red fruit.

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When everybody should become night active

June 8, 2014, 11:29 pm

≫ Next: Fire Ants in Arizona: No Reason to Panic

≪ Previous: June at my Black Light in the Backyard

On the east side of the Tucson Mountains, Saguaro fruit are ripe and the buffet is open! Photo by Doris Evans

June was always hot and dry in the Sonoran Desert, and climate change is making it noticeably more so. Most plants seem to take a break from blooming and growing, but the desert trees and bushes like Creosote, Palo Verde and Ironwood are all bearing fruit now.

On our side of the Tucsons, the Cactus Wren is determined to be the first in line when the green fruit finally pop open

Our Saguaros are still producing a few late flowers but by now a few fruits are ripe, breaking open to show their bright red insides. The birds that have been visiting the flowers for nectar are back to harvest the seeds in their sticky sweet matrix. All those plants are ready to have their seeds distributed just before the first monsoon rains in July (?)

We are enjoying June as a slow time with neither art shows nor entomological engagements. During the heat of the day we eat lunch and breakfast on the shady patio, but otherwise we hide indoors were cool air is blowing in from the swamp coolers on the roof.
We take the dogs for walks in the state land close to sunset or sunrise. Twilight brings a pleasant, magical time with long shadows and warm colors. I would love to capture the running dark 'pups' against the light when they are outlined by gold. No such luck yet.

Day-active animals like squirrels, songbirds, kestrels, quail, zebra-tail lizards, tarantula hawks and dragonflies are still out, and of course the crepuscular dawn and dusk critters. Night active Great Horned Owls and tiny bats begin their activity when the sun has just set. Snake encounters are likely, but lately we've seen only their tracks.

This morning I carefully approached on some Lesser Night Hawks that had just landed. If I do not see them in flight first, I can rarely find them as they tuck themselves tightly along a branch that their feathers exactly match to spend the day.

I also love the warm summer nights. I walk around armed with a flashlight hoping to see Kangaroo Rats and night-crawling snakes. Much more regularly I find the miniature version of the K-rat, cute little pocket mice.

They love to chew on succulent agave leafs. When I taught renal physiology at the U of A I always tried to impress the students with the fact that the renal concentration capacity of these guys is so great that they can live basically without access to free water even if their diet consists of seeds and dry grasses. I guess being able to live that way doesn't mean they would not rather eat juicy stuff.

Eleodes armatus and Moneilema gigas

Last night I was looking for cactus longhorn beetles on a cholla where they feed and oviposit at night. The flightless beetles are good mimics of the smelly Pinacate Beetle (Eleodes sp,) whom they resemble in size, shape and behavior when they need to cross open ground.

While peering into the cholla I nearly bumped into a couple of birds asleep in the relative safety of their prickly retreat. A Curve-billed Thrasher moved away from the glare of my light, but a male Gambel's Quail sat there like he was transfixed. Most birds cannot see well at night, so they are very reluctant to give up their perches. I had never been this close to a wild quail before!

Good night!

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Fire Ants in Arizona: No Reason to Panic

June 12, 2014, 11:12 am

≫ Next: Royal gifts among butterflies

≪ Previous: When everybody should become night active

Solenopsis xyloni (Southern Fire Ant)

Two days ago we woke up to Fire Ants marching across the kitchen counter (after hummingbird food had been prepared there the evening before). A thorough scrubbing of all surfaces will convince them to stay outside, I hope. No new arrivals for a couple of days at least.

Polymorph workers: many different sizes

On the brighter side, theses are our little native Solenopsis xyloni (Southern Fire Ant), not the feared introduced Red Fire Ants, S. invicta, that I met in Florida on my last night of gator watching that left me literally scared for life.

But our little guys can sting too. When they come to my black light at night to tackle any small scarab that falls and lands on its back, they sometimes also get my toes. They seem to always plan their attacks until several are in position ... just like their bigger relatives in Florida. Their stings burn and itch but are really just a minor irritation. In our kitchen they were so docile that I first doubted my identification. No attempts at stinging at all.

Tackling a Minute Black Scavenger fly

But outdoors they are voracious and attack insects much larger than their size and manage to subdue them. So I assume that the crack in the kitchen wall (?) that they must have found is now free and clean of any other bugs. OK. Just stay off my counter and the floor!

Southern Fire Ants in the compost bin

Outdoors, I have noticed a belligerent colony close to the compost bin. We have lots of space, so this is far from the house.

Southern Fire Ant on a barrel cactus fruit

Solenopsis xyloni are also usually found on barrel cacti. To get the photo for this blog I just pulled a fruit from a barrel in the front yard and immediately had a couple of volunteers. I knew this would be the case because I'd seen the ants on barrels even in winter when I was looking for nymphs of leaf-footed bugs that develop on cacti.

At this time of the year saguaro cacti drop their fruit. Birds have been feasting on the sweet seed pulp before the fruit falls, but there should still be enough left to make some ants happy. Under a free standing saguaro, I found some of those fresh bright-red stars. There were some very small extremely fast-running ants, a Pheidole species I believe, but no Fire Ants. Do they not like saguaro fruit? Or are their colonies simply too far from this cactus?

At nigh at my black light site: Southern Fire Ants taking apart a scarab beetle and gorging on sweet saguaro pulp

To test my theory I moved a few of the fruits to my black lighting site because I know that Solenopsis xyloni lives around there. I turned on my lights for some hours after sunset (a gorgeous one with virga, rainbow, red clouds and early moonrise).
When I returned the Fire Ants had performed to expectations: not only did they overpower a small scarab beetle (Acoma sp.) and were just testing the resilience of a much larger Oxygrylius, they were also all over my saguaro offering.

I know that the time of day and temperatures also play an important role in an ant's activity, but I did find Solenopsis xyloni active in the afternoon on the barrels but not the saguaro. Since they obviously love the saguaro fruit, I am back to my idea that there simply is no colony close to the free-standing saguaro. Why?
The areas around the barrels and the columnar giant looks quite similar to human perception. So is it the cacti themselves that make the difference? Their yearly cycles are quite different. The saguaro blooms in April/May, and has fruit in June. As far as I can tell, those are the only times when saguaros have anything to offer to ants.

Barrel Cactus, this year's flowers and buds surrounded by last year's fruit

By contrast, the thick-walled fruits of the barrel stay on the plant, often for years, so several 'generations' of fruit are constantly present, arranged in rings around the center that keeps producing new flowers once a year, in July/August. Eventually the fruit are chewed open by rodents and the seeds disappear.
Barrel cacti also offer sweet sap from extra-floral nectaries all year round. It could be that the barrel cacti (via coevolution) are 'making sure' that ants have a reason to hang around. The cacti may be employing armies of little fighters for its protection against other bugs and the distribution of its seeds by offering them sweets. I have seen the ants attack cactus-juice-sucking coreid nymphs in several cases. The little Fire Ants also like the sweet stuff around the barrel cactus seeds, but I think distribution of those seeds may fall to some larger ant species that can carry more weight.

A jumping spider killing a coreid nymph on a barrel cactus

It is possible that barrel cacti rely overall more on arthropods as allies than saguaros do. Saguaros have many avian house guests that nest in or on the cactus or feed on nectar and fruit pulp. Many of them are insectivore gleaners like cactus wrens that also peck many insects off their host's thick skin.
Barrels are very vulnerable to rodents so they are tightly covered by a mail of interlocking thorns. This formidable defense may keep many birds from spending too much time on a barrel, and at any rate barrels are not tall enough to provide protective spaces for nests. Ants and spiders however have the ideal size and agility to police that space under thorns and between ribs.

Both saguaro and barrel cacti eke out a living in spartan surroundings. There is not much more than sand, widely spaced creosote bushes and cholla cacti. Under these borderline conditions the reliable yearlong provider may win out over the once-in-a-year party host when the opportunistic Fire Ants are choosing a neighborhood to live in.

Pheidole sp. left and Messor pergandei right. Colonies close to the saguaro

I am not saying that the saguaro neighborhood lacks ants: besides the Pheidole colonies, there is a huge permanent Messor pergandei colony. But those ants have a completely different social, foraging and storage system than the Fire Ants.

With this blog, I would like to stress that not all ants are alike, every species has its own ecological niche, and not even all Fire Ants are alike. The imported, highly invasive Red Fire Ants are established all the way from Florida into Texas in the east and in California in the west. But they need more moisture than they would find in southern Arizona and they may be too frost sensitive to live on the Colorado Plateau in the north. So they may never overrun Arizona.

Living with ants (and you will, if you live in Arizona) is easier and far more interesting if you learn about the different types, one species at a time. Theirs is a densely populated and highly socially organized world to discover.

Please do not contact me about methods 'to get rid of ants'. I have no experience in that field and - beyond my own kitchen counter - no interest in gaining any.

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Royal gifts among butterflies

June 16, 2014, 12:17 pm

≫ Next: A Solstice Party in Tucson

≪ Previous: Fire Ants in Arizona: No Reason to Panic

Butterfly Mist, Ageratum (Eupatorium) corymbosum, is blooming again in Tucson's gardens. Butterflies in the genus Danaus are visiting in great numbers. Most of them are Queen Butterflies (Danaus gilippus), but the occasional Monarch (Danaus plexippus) also shows up. Are they after nectar? But why just these two species but only a few individuals of other groups that like it sweet?

Female and male Queen Butterfly. Note the scent-scale patches on the hind wings of the male (close to the abdomen)

Looking more closely you'll find that the Queens and Monarchs are nearly exclusively males, recognizable by a black spot (scent-scale patches) on the hind wing that's missing in females.
Aggregations of Danaus males can be found on several flowering plants - as far as I know all of them composite flowers that are related to Butterfly Mist.

In their nectar, the plants provide a pyrrolizidine alkaloid that male danaines (Monarch, Queen and relatives in the subfamily Danainae) need to produce danaidone. Danaidone is the substance that the coremata (Pheromone glands) of the male release to attract females. It works: in experiments males with access to Ageratum had much more mating success than those without, but artificial addition of danaidone to their coremata immediately made those poor guys as acceptable as the Ageratum feeders.

But we are not just talking about a pretty perfume here. The fragrance advertises a very real gift that the male has to give. During mating, the alkaloid is transferred from the male to the female, and she then transmits the gift to the eggs. (should I add that in the typical gender stereotypical way he shares just 60% of his ingested alkaloid but she passes on 90 % of her share?

Young Monarch caterpillar feeding on Desert Milkweed

In eggs and very young caterpillars the inherited alkaloid functions as a defensive deterrent against predation. This protection may last until the caterpillars have ingested enough milkweed toxins (cardiac glycosides) from their host plant. They sequester the glycosides in parts of their body (exoskeleton) and even carry them over into adulthood, providing lasting protection from predators.

Stagmomantis often capture Queen Butterflies. They seem unaffected by the stored toxins

I speculate that the alkaloids are better protection against ants, predatory bugs and other insects that feed on small prey while the cardiac glucosids are targeting birds and mammals that may seek larger prey? I have repeatedly seen adult Queens in the clutches of Mantids but experienced birds reportedly leave them alone.

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A Solstice Party in Tucson

June 22, 2014, 3:06 pm

≫ Next: Mid Summer Sustenance

≪ Previous: Royal gifts among butterflies

Several of our naturalist friends forwarded Mark Dimmit's (former botanical curator of the Arizona Desert Museum) generous invitation to us:

'You should come if you can, these are always fun!'

'Don't know if you got this announcement, but if you didn't, this is THE PLACE TO BE. Mark always has a good gang, with good food, and best of company. A definite must.'

Mark's place is in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, but on the east side while we live on the west side. We celebrated under huge Mesquite trees that were a big part of the local charm. 35 years old! The garden must have looked very different when the parties started 35 years ago.

in the middle with hat: our host (Photo Jan Emming)

There was a potluck, and the food was exceptional. So many mysterious, delicious, healthy dishes! and one could just taste that a lot of the ingredients were backyard grown. There were also big bins full of beautiful tomatoes to take home after the party. Too bad that I completely missed walking down to the vegetable garden. I spent time in a 'Wasp Garden' instead. It was too late in the day to actually see wasps, but the variety of milkweeds from colorful annuals to sturdy shrubs already covered in prickly (!) pods was amazing.

Green houses full of cacti and other succulents, epiphytic and ground orchids and bromeliaceae captivated everybody. One nice feature: instead of being moist and oppressively warm, these green houses are really shade-tents and have huge swamp coolers that take up whole walls, so the temperature was very pleasant for humans and plants.

Anna Lillia Reina and Randy admiring adenium plants

Mark is world famous for breeding Adeniums. Some years ago many of his most mature trees where shipped all the way to Singapore to be the permanent center piece of a big new plant museum there.
We just got a little foster-adenium from our friends from San Diego so it was nice to see them in their full glory.

The invitation said: This is a celebration for plant freaks and like-minded souls who love the desert because of the summers, not in spite of them. If that describes you, then you're as welcome as desert rain!

Photo by Jan Emming

So the best part were the people. Of all generations, ethnicities and nationalities and united by their interest in plants and nature in general. Scientists and hobbyists, botanists, entomologists, a bigfoot specialist, museum docents, gardeners, film makers and artists. People that I had met before and new friends. Conversations would easily spring up and sometimes just continue a thread begun a couple of years ago ... A great evening. Thank you so much Mark!

Good night! This is the sunset of the 20th of June (when I wasn't busy partying) 7:48 pm. For my friends from more northern latitudes this may seem like a very short solstice day, but then our winter days aren't as short and dark as yours .....

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Mid Summer Sustenance

June 25, 2014, 5:01 pm

≫ Next: Late June at the Backyard Black Light

≪ Previous: A Solstice Party in Tucson

In my early June blog, I still had to use Doris Evan's saguaro fruit image from the east side of the Tucson Mountains because here in Picture Rocks the fruit were still green and closed like the ones on the right side of her picture.

Since then the fruits on our 'House Saguaro' first blushed on the outside, then split open and revealed their signal red inside: ripe! Birds, come and get sweet pulp and seeds! For weeks this bounty (and 2014 seems to be a particularly good year) has been a steady source of nutrition for the resident animals and entertainment for us.

Tiny Verdins and families of House Finches regularly gorged themselves, Cactus Wren and Curved Bill Thrasher parents were feeding their fledgeling young. Gila Woodpeckers and Gilded Flickers were too shy for photographs this year, but noisily announced their presence while peaking around from the back.

A Mourning Dove and a White Winged dove actually moved into the big cactus, their nests not even two feet apart but separated by one of the massive arms. By now the first set of chicks has moved out and the White Wings have started another batch of eggs.

Even a pair of ravens brought 4 youngsters around, causing the other birds to break into loud, angry mobbing. The fruits are surprisingly sturdy, safely supporting those huge birds. The tall columnar cacti certainly hold onto their fruit, even after they are ripe and split open. Why?
The saguaro relies on zoochory (seed dispersal by animals) and especially on the dispersal by birds.
Birds, who have great color vision and can easily reach the top of the saguaro. The splitting of the tough skin allows them access. They devoure the sweet pulp with the seeds, fly good distances, and then excrete the unharmed seeds.

Photo by Rich Hoyer

Rodents and ants would also carry some seeds around, sometimes bury them and forget their cache, so later clusters of seedlings might emerge. But their action radius is limited compared to that of birds and they also tend to chew the seeds and destroy them. So for the columnar cactus it 'makes sense' to keep the fruits out of reach of the ground dwellers and instead allow easy access gently digesting long distance travelers who lack gnawing tools by splitting the fruit open on top of the column (compare to the different 'strategy' of the barrel cactus) (Quotation marks indicate my flippant teleological descriptions of intricate evolutionary adaptations.)
After the birds had their turn, the fruits are finally falling and landing on the ground with an audible plop. The star-shaped hulls usually still contain enough seeds and pulp to attract some hungry quail that don't like the height of the saguaro top and many ants, flies, flightless beetles and rodents.

So the food chain of the desert floor is set into motion. Soon photo-shy Tiger Whiptails hunt for insects.

Our resident rattler seems to patrol at least once a day. Who knows what goes on at night when the packrat collects the hard dry hulls to decorate her nest? Coyotes and bobcats are hanging around more than usually.

One can hardly overestimate the importance of the saguaro fruit harvest for the desert dwellers who have by now endured over 3 months without measurable rainfall. In addition, many young animals were born in spring and became independent of their parents at this time, just when the heat becomes merciless and the monsoon rain is still only a cloudy promise at the horizon. Saguaros have horded the winter rains in their immense succulent bodies and thus have the ability to offer (for dispersal services) nutrition and some fluid during the season when it is needed most.

Stella Tucker harvesting Saguaro fruit. Watercolor

The Tohono O'odam are the desert people most intimately acquainted with the saguaro. To them the ripening fruits on the saguaros signaled the beginning of celebrations and prayers for a good rainy season. They use the long ribs of dead saguaros, with a small cross piece attached to one end, to push the fruit down when they are ripe, but not yet open. Then they split them with the built-in knife which is the hard, dried flower that is still attached to the fruit. Saguaro pulp was one of the few sweet treats available to the desert people. Some of it was made into preserves, but most of it was collected in ollas with water and allowed to ferment to make the ritual saguaro wine, an integral part of rain dance ceremonies that are held to ensure another life-bringing monsoon.
Years ago Stella Tucker, a Tohono O'odam story teller and historian, showed me how the long collecting pole is used. In my painting she is holding the saguaro rib, and on the back of her shirt are some petroglyphs depicting the harvest.

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Late June at the Backyard Black Light

June 27, 2014, 4:19 pm

≫ Next: Nature Poetry

≪ Previous: Mid Summer Sustenance

Around mid-June there was a drop in barometric pressure, clouds piled up over the mountains and some parts of town celebrated the first showers and even hail. All we got was a partial rainbow that did not quite fit into the same frame as the spectacular raising full moon.

Male Palo Verde Root Borer, Derobrachus hovorei

But some insects got the message. Some male Palo Verde Root-borers appear now every night at the black light. They are over 2 inches long, but much smaller than the females that will probably show up soon. Other summer longhorn beetles are still around and some of the spring species are reappearing.
Typical Midsummer Longhorns are the tiny flighty Methia sp. with very short elytra.

Eustromula validum

Achryson surinamum

Megacyllene atennata

Methia sp.

There really has not been a mass emergence of any scarab species this year. Remember, I am in a very dry part of the lower desert and things may look different in the mountains or in Cochise County. The few species that I described in May still turn up sporadically.

Phyllophaga scoparia

Cyclocephala longula

Diplotaxis sp.

The only typical June Bug that scrambles over the gravel of our driveway in numbers is Phyllophaga scoparia. At least two Diplotaxis sp. are present and as usual very hard to identify.

Epicauta sp.

Here is a Blister Beetle: A single individual of Epicauta sp. appeared on June 16. This could be Epicautasubgenus Macrobasis hirsutipubescens.

Anthicidae (Antlike Flower Beetles) are well represented this time of year, from the tiny very antlike Vacusus confinis that gets through every insect screen, to the genus Notoxus, recognizable by their cowls to Duboisius arizonensis which are unusually big for this family.

Hyporhagus sp.

When photographing at the black light, I pay attention to a lot of very small insects that might not thrill the collector. A decent macro-lens give insight into groups that may challenge the resolution capacity of many peoples eyes. Most of the beetles I am showing here are in the range between 2 and 7 mm and they are members of many different families.

Diabrotica undecimpunctata (Spotted Cucumber Beetle) and Pachybrachis sp., Ptinus sp., Typhaea stercorea, Cymatodera aegra, Bembidion sp.

Pachybrachis sp., Hybosorus illigeri

There are also many True Bugs like Cicadellidae, Miridae and Coreidae, dozens of different species of Mutillids (wasps), alate ants and a few earwigs.

Gyponana procera

Neivamyrmex sp. (Legionary Ants)

Vostox apicedentatus (Toothed Earwig)

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Nature Poetry

June 28, 2014, 6:45 pm

≫ Next: Longhorned and Shorthorned Denizens of the Oracle Ridge Trail

≪ Previous: Late June at the Backyard Black Light

Rudolf Baumbach (1840-1905)

Die Gäste der Buche

Mietegäste vier im Haus
hat die alte Buche:
Tief im Keller wohnt die Maus,
nagt am Hungertuche.

Stolz auf seinen roten Rock
und gesparten Samen,
sitzt ein Protz im ersten Stock;
Eichhorn ist sein Namen.

Weiter oben hat der Specht
seine Werkstatt liegen,
hackt und hämmert kunstgerecht,
dass die Späne fliegen.

Auf dem Wipfel im Geäst
pfeift ein winzig kleiner
Musikante froh im Nest.
Miete zahlt nicht einer.

I remember learning this poem by heart and drawing the illustrations for my grandfather's seventieth birthday. I was 8 then and growing up in Germany. Today, I could not quite remember all the verses, but google came to my help. The poem is about an old Beech Tree and the animals making it their home. Mouse and squirrel, woodpecker and warbler ... Beech forest is the climax plant society of the Westfalian low land where we lived and where I spent most of my free time exploring the forest. The poem reflects a romantic love for nature but also some ecological understanding. But translated into English it just sounds corny, so I won't even try.

But, now living in Tucson, Arizona, I feel very much reminded of that childhood poem when I watch the coming and going of birds, squirrels, insects and reptiles in and around our big 'house saguaro' that so many animals rely on for food and nest sites.

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Longhorned and Shorthorned Denizens of the Oracle Ridge Trail

July 9, 2014, 7:50 pm

≫ Next: The Night of the Desert Queen Peniocereus greggii

≪ Previous: Nature Poetry

The Oracle Ridge high in the Catalina Mts. (above 8000 feet) has been one of my favorite trails for years, even after it was hit hard by the devastating Aspen Fire in 2004. The slopes that were once covered in soft green Robinia neomexicana are still covered in the silvery skeletons of those trees, but thickets of young Gambel's Oaks are beginning to fill in the open spaces.

Today I was up there with 'Ned's Friends' a group of undiscouregable Sabino Canyon naturalists who last through the Arizona summer and even enjoy it. No, it's not a DRY heat anymore. Although the narrow trail is a challenge with a large group like that, we watched Spotted Towhees, Yellow-eyed Juncos, Western Bluebirds, Acorn Woodpeckers, Black-headed Grosbeaks, White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue-grey Gnatcatchers, Red-tailed Hawks, Turkey Vultures, and many other species of birds. But the day was overcast, so insects and reptiles were slow to wake up.

But when we found several sleeping male Longhorn Bees, we couldn't let them lie....so, startled, the little guy released his mandibular and tarsal grip and took off. People said they needed a dictionary to understand me. Must be my accent.

Parry's Agaves were in bloom along the crest of the mountain ridge and Mexican Cactus Flies Tarantula Hawks were nectaring. The male wasps also engaged in 'hill-topping' a behavior that is characteristic for their courtship.

Left: longhorn beetle Tragidion deceptum Right: tarantula hawk, spider wasp, Pepsis sp.

I tried to catch one, unconcerned because the males have no stinger. But what I found was no wasp at all, but a beetle that mimicked the wasps not only in color and shape, but also by walking, wings raised up, in those short energetic bursts of speed that are typical for hunting spider wasps. A female in the longhorn beetle genus Tragidion. Ian Swift later identified it a Tragidion deceptum.

A huge click beetle Chalcolepidius apacheanus was sunning himself on a smooth log. Somebody called him a roach (??). He looked fresh and perfect as if just emerged from the pupa

We also found hundreds of Convergent Ladybeetles that had moved from the heat of the low desert to the cool mountain tops. Do these individuals eventually go back down? Or do they live out their short lives up there?

Blue Pleasing Fungus Beetles are year round residents of the mountain forests. Adults and larvae feed on fungi that develop on the burnt trees, but I noticed that their numbers had declined considerably since I was last on this trail in 2012.

10 years after the fire the nutrients in the dead trees are probably finally used up. So their were much fewer of the large woody shelf fungi than before. Instead we found soft little fruit bodies of brightly orange slime molds on the dead upright trees and numerous earthstars in the decayed wood mulch on the ground.

And here are the shorthorned critters that I promised in the title: We found some of the nicest Greater Shorthorned Lizards that I have seen so far. Actually the biggest one, nearly the size of the palm of my hand and silver gray, would have nothing to do with my camera and ran right into the spiniest agave on the steepest part of the trail. But the two kids were perfect little hams, posing and making faces.

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The Night of the Desert Queen Peniocereus greggii

July 11, 2014, 10:53 am

≫ Next: Madera Canyon in July 2014

≪ Previous: Longhorned and Shorthorned Denizens of the Oracle Ridge Trail

Last night the flowers on our backyard Queen of the Night (Peniocereus greggii) finally opened. The flowers were small but perfect. They seemed to glow in the light of the full moon and their sweet fragrance floated on the humid, warm air of this monsoon night.

A single small moth was visiting. Even at my black light, this still is a moth-poor time. Last year I noticed that many queen flowers wilted away without producing fruit. The reason could have been a lack of pollinators. But last night I found a longhorn beetle obviously doused in pollen. I'm sure he came to the sweet smell and found the nectar and will also distribute the pollen.

I went back in the very early morning hours to find more blooming plants. The first thing I noticed was that our backyard flowers had already closed up, usually a sign that they are pollinated.

I walked across about half a square mile of state trust land. Many of the plants that were blooming last year were resting this season. The wild native Queen cacti whose branches are thin and not very succulent rely mainly on big underground tubers for survival during droughts. After a year with many flowers and fruit, the above-ground stems often shrivel and dry up. New sprouts emerge from the ground but rarely bloom for the first two years.

But I found about a dozen new plants that I had not known before. Many were small and had only a single flower, but some were as tall as I, with big, antler-shaped stems and up to a dozen flowers.
Of course the pollinators may be drawn to the flowers by the sweet fragrance, but I, being a visual creature, scan the area for the pale white spots that barely clear the branches of the creosote bushes. The color seems perfect to reflect the uv part of the lunar spectrum. So the big mobile sphinx moths can probably also do a long distance visual scan, even at night.

This morning however, I found even the wilting flowers inundated by honey bees that were obviously still getting their fill. Every plant was surrounded by dozens of honey bees. This is very different from last year, when I found little Agapostemon sweatbees but no Apis melifera at all.
I think I know the explanation: the winter of 2012/13 brought several nights of deep freeze. Well provisioned honey bee hives in Europe are able to keep the temperatures high enough during cold spells to allow the majority of bees to survive. Africanized honey bees usually sustain much greater losses. Small feral hives (many Africanized bees tend to split hive and swarm more frequently than Italian honey bees) are even less cold resistant. So while Africanized bees can usually survive Arizona winters as feral colonies, the winter of 2012/13 had pretty much wiped out the local population. But now, after the very warm winter of 2013/14, they are back in force.
The Queen of the Night is by timing and color the very opposite of a bee flower, but those feral honey bees have great scouts and are fast learners - I think they found all the wilting flowers today and carried off all the drags.

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Madera Canyon in July 2014

July 15, 2014, 12:58 pm

≫ Next: Madera Canyon during a monsoon storm

≪ Previous: The Night of the Desert Queen Peniocereus greggii

Last Friday I took some members of the Sabino Canyon Naturalists on a mini 'Bug Safari' to one of my favorite canyons. Madera Canyon stretches from the grasslands in Pima County up to the high elevations of the Santa Ritas in Santa Cruz County.
In the late afternoon we collected and photographed in the grassland, mainly around the famous 'sap-oozing' Desert Broom bushes. The first rains had come down a few days earlier and the monsoon parties on the cracked branches were in full swing.

Longhorn Tragidion densiventre and Scarab Euphotria leucographa

There were at least three species of paper wasps sharing with several species of scarabs, longorn beetles and Giant Agave Bugs.

Cricket Hunter Chlorion and Fig Beetle Cotinis mutabilis

As always, the charismatic Chlorion Wasps, the Cricket Hunters got the most attention. But those shiny green Fig Beetles are also very pretty.

Climaciella brunnea (Wasp Mantidfly) and Apiomerus spissipes (Bee Assassin)

Pasimachus californicus

Bee assassins and a rare brown Wasp Mantispid were the most obvious predators in the mix, but we also found a nice ground beetle, a Pasimachus californicus.

Whiskered Screech Owl babies, photo by Lois Manowitz

At sunset we moved from the grasslands into the canyon. On the way we stopped under a big old sycamore. A pair of baby owls were peaking out of their nest hole, but only the top of their heads was visible. Whiskered Screech Owls! I have no camera for dusk conditions, but my friend Lois had visited the same nest and she had some great shots to share!


Now it only has to get dark!

In the meantime, we pick nick. Guess who forgot to tell everyone to wear dark colors for this adventure!

The Mercury Vapor light illuminates the gazebo in ghostly green, and a sunset storm is hanging over Green Valley

Under the gazebo between the top parking lots we hung a bed sheet, a Mercury Vapor and a UV light, all powered by my brand new generator. At this elevation Emory and Silver Leaf Oaks dominate, interspersed with a few Alligator Junipers.

Macrodactylus uniformis (Western Rose Chafer) and Lycus simulans below

While waiting for the insects to arrive at the sheet, we had a pick nick and then hunted with flashlights. On Desert Broom bushes we found great clusters of mating netwing beetles, Lycus arizonicus and Lycus simulans. In some instances the aggregations consisted of both, netwing beetles and Rose Chafers.

At the light things were still a little slow for this usually rich location, but we soon had an owlfly, 2 different mantispids, and the largest AZ antlion, so the family Neuroptera was very well represented.

Arachnis aulaea and Apocrisias thaumasta (Tiger Moths), Artace colaria, Lappet Moth

Moths were disappointingly few but we had at least 2 nice tigermoths and a big white lappet moth. Most big moths fly late at night, but a sudden strong wind ended our light trapping at 9:30 pm, so we may have missed the sphingids and saturniids.

Strategus cessus, Prionus californicus

Chrysina beyeri and C. lecontei

Big black hornless Ox Beetles (Strategus cessus) tumbled around the light, and 2 or 3 species of Prionids arrived. The Jewel Scarabs were represented by Chrysina beyeri and lecontei, gloriosa surprisingly missing. I found 2 beetles of that species later at a light at Kubo Cabins.

Phyllophaga vetula and Dichotomius colonicus

Many different June bugs genus Phyllophaga were feeding and mating on the oaks around us and soon showed up at the sheet. Several tiny and one big dung beetle soon joined them.

Scorpion under flash light and uv light photos Suzi and Steve Manthorpe

At 9:30 heavy gusts of wind forced us to quit. Some of us went to carry back the sheet and light that I had placed deeper in the forest next to the dry creek bed. As they came back with news about a scorpion hiding under the sheet, we all marched down to see it fluoresce in the light of my little portable uv light. The effect was amazing: it turned from brown at visible light wavelength to bright luminescent green. The camera, however, saw turquoise.

Polyphylla hammondi and Cotalpa consobrina

On the way home I stopped along the pecan plantations of Continental Ranch to look for Strategus aloeus, but I found only the golden Cotalpa consobrina and several Polyphylla hammondi males.
Those always remind me of our German Maikaefer that we loved so much as children.

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Madera Canyon during a monsoon storm

July 19, 2014, 3:38 pm

≫ Next: Mystery Beetle Image

≪ Previous: Madera Canyon in July 2014

Chalcolepidius lenzi

I went back to Madera Canyon to fill a wish list for some beetle friends. This time the possibility for showers was down to 30%, but I had hardly reached the desert broom bushes by the 'toll booth' when a storm rolled in. I tried the 'wide-angle-macro-with-background that Piotr Nascrecki is making so popular - did not quite get the lead-in diagonal, but I like it anyway.

Climaciella brunnea (Wasp Mantidfly)

I then found another mantisfly. While the last one was brown and resembled very much our dark form of Polistes major castaneicolor, this one, a female, sported the colors of Polistes dorsalis or maybe P. aurifer. One of those wasps was sitting only inches away. When it began to poor I grabbed the mantispid but not the wasp to hide in the car. The insect flew to the window and watched the falling drops while cleaning its antennae. After a short video was filmed the rain stopped and the mantispid flew out.
By now it was time to find a good spot for the lights. I decided to try the very top parking lot above the gazebo. A mistake, because this time the rain move with me and the lingered around the top.

Eacles oslari

So I left my light up there and drove down to look at someonelse's set-up at Kubo Cabins. Ther it was at least dry and a little warmer, so there were not only all three Chrysina species but also a beautiful fresh Silk Moth, Eacles oslaris.

On the wet road in front of that cabin a snake was just about swimming in the water that was still standing on the asphalt. I tried to photograph it, but the reflection from the flash was too distracting. I shooed the snake into the leaf litter by the side of the road.

Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake, Lampropeltis pyromelana

After I blocked his way a couple of times to slow him down, he stretched upwards to check out the camera lens and seemed very interested in the focal beam which of course did not help the little point and shoot to focus.

Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake, Lampropeltis pyromelana

The snake then hid in full side between three rocks and allowed me to take some more photos and also to touch his cool, smooth coils. A beautiful Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake

Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake, Lampropeltis pyromelana

My patients was rewarded. When it finally stopped raining, a nice number of scarabs, cerambycids and even silk moths found their way to my sheet. I did find all the species that I was looking for and a few more.

My sheet at 9:30 pm

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Mystery Beetle Image

July 21, 2014, 5:15 pm

≫ Next: Bug Safari at Dead Horse State Park

≪ Previous: Madera Canyon during a monsoon storm

Sometimes I receive photos for insect identification that are less than perfect. This one came from a biological survey in the Ajo Mountains of Sonora Mexico. The main topic of the photo was the Echinocereus pseudopectinatus flower and the beetle was only discovered when the photo was edited. So it was very distorted and nobody could go back to take a proper dorsal shot.

Since the photo was taken across the border of Mexico, in fact just south of the Chiricahua Mountains of Cochise County, AZ, I was not allowed to post it on BugGuide - I had been seriously chastened for doing so before. We take our political borders seriously here!
So I posted it on facebook where I can luckily draw on the brain power of coleopterists like Henry Hespenheide, Mike Quinn and friend Robert Velten and Art Evans who just published another great book on beetles.

After posting the photo, I went outside to photograph the big yellow flowers of a little barrel cactus with very long spines - not our local species but one of my xerophytic imports that like the desert here well enough to bloom. It may be Ferocactus rectispinus from Baha California.

When I noticed some small beetles in those flowers I crawled closer through spiny ironwood branches and thorny agave clusters. There were mating pairs of small elongate beetles with dark stripes along the elytra: a tiny species of buprestids (Metallic Woodboring Beetles) in the genus Acmaeodera. I recognized them from the desert museum, where I had found them on yellow composite flowers like Desert Marigolds. They are Acmaeodera quadrivittatoides Obviously, plant a yellow July-bloomer, and they'll come, even if it is a slightly outlandish species of cacti. I suddenly remembered the mystery photo which also had been taken on a cactus flower. In German we say 'der Groschen ist gefallen' when we have the sudden aha-effect that I experienced.

Acmaeodera quadrivittatoides

When I opened my fb page again, the experts there had reached the solution a while before me and without Mother Nature's prompting, but at least we all arrived at the same solution. Great minds...

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Bug Safari at Dead Horse State Park

July 30, 2014, 10:34 pm

≫ Next: Low tech beetle photography with great results

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For my latest Bug Safari I met fellow beetle enthusiasts from Belgium at Dead Horse State Park near Cottonwood in Northern Arizona. Bernard and Erika and their two daughters had been cruising the Southwest, visiting our greatest geological attractions like Brice Canyon and Grand Canyon, but also on the look-out for interesting beetle species to photograph. Here is a link to Bernard's exceptionally beautiful work on his own website.
Dead Horse State Park is a lush, if in places too prettily groomed, part of the Coconino National Forest It encompasses a stretch of the Verde River close to the town of Cottonwood. Artificial lagoons are created for anglers, and the cattails are kept in check and the grass on the banks is clipped short so those anglers have easy access to the doubtlessly constantly restocked population of fish.

Countless dragonflies were hunting and competing for the few available perches. Even better, several species of Tiger Beetles were enjoying the sandy footpaths. Bernard is a carabid specialist and we had come to this park in hopes of finding several of the low desert species that had eluded him on the higher parts of the Colorado Plateau.

Cylindera viridistica and Pogonomyrmex sp.

After a short monsoon down-poor, our first species was dark, small and active, blending very nicely with all the Harvester Ants that also frequented an open, sandy path: Cylindra viridistica. I had seen it at lights in my equally sandy backyard, but the similarity to those fierce ants had not occured to me because we don't have those on our property. Like most tiger beetles, these were charismatic and photogenic, if tiny. We loved the subtle pattern of their dark elytra.

While his daughters were adeptly catching specimens, Bernard was soon lying down among the ants with his camera to shoot the beetles in their natural habitat.

Around sunset Bernard found Cylindera lemniscata running aroundin great numbers in open areas with little vegetation wherethose tiny desert tigers were perfectly camouflaged by their colors that matched the pebbly soil.

In contrast with those 'developed' areas of the park, along the Verde River, there is rather undisturbed Cottonwood and Willow riparian gallery forest, a rich and rather unique ecosystem. A number of insect feeding bird species and the rustling of many lizards in the leaf litter hinted at a rich fauna of arthropods.

Unfortunately, the monsoon rains had been very sparse so far and the grounds looked still completely dry. Very few flowers were blooming, only Datura, Silverleaf Night shade and a tall, yellow blooming leguminous plant were attracting interesting wasps and beetles.

We saw several big click beetles in flight and the air was positively buzzing with Green Fig Beetles that were drawn to the sap oozing from several Desert Willow branches.

Splashing through clear running tributaries of the river, Jade en Merel found an Arizona Mud Turtle, which promptly withdrew it's head and closed its shell with the movable front part of its undershell. Then it surprised us with its intensely unpleasant smell. Still, we were all fond of the little guy!

At sunset I set up our black light in the campground to have access to electricity (generators were not allowed).

As that area was rather far from the river and the natural vegetation was dominated by creosote, mesquite and desert willows, we attracted mostly desert species that I knew quite well.

But several more typically riparian insects appeared too, like two big Dobson Flies, Cryptocephalus leucomelas that frequents willows and cottonwood, the cottonwood feeder Cotalpa consobrina, The largest Polyphylla decemlineata (?) that I have ever seen, and Orizabus clunalis.

The discovery of the first Asian Ladybug at least as far as BugGuide contributions is concerned was not quite so positive - until now we had been hoping that Arizona, with its very special climate, might not be overrun by this introduced species. It is still possible that those beetles will stay out of our desert areas at least.

Bernard and I spend the next day photographing beetles that he brought from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and several that I had collected at Madera Canyon. His technique differs from that of most insect photographers and the results are very convincing. I will hopefully have time to show at least my own attempts in another blog. As usual, this time of the year is super busy and I am leaving tomorrow morning very early to set up my art booth at Southwest Wings in Sierra Vista where I will also give a powerpost presentation about AZ insects and in the evening of the 1st of August invite the public to join me at my black light at the Nature Preserve in Ramsey Canyon.

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