Bug stuff from New Orleans

Another foray to Bayou Gauche yielded more of the same (for the most part). Canal dipping alongside LA hwy. 306 was pretty good, especially for water scoprions in some spots. Also got one nice cerambycid that's a wasp mimic in the genus Neoclytus.

Lethocerus under lights were nowhere near as abundant as the week before, but the large beetles at the gas station in Des Allemends were there again.

I went to Manchac around May 15 to collect insects for a bug cooking gig in Los Angeles (more on that below). I caught about 60 eastern pondhawks, about 100 or more 2nd and 3rd instar lubber grasshoppers, several adult katydids and (not for cooking) some whirligig bettles. Manchac, like most of south LA, is really dry.

Los Angeles has a natural history museum that includes an insect zoo. This year the Ralph M. Parson's Insect Zoo held its 20th Bug Fair. Talk about cool! Around 60 exhibitors, and lots of them are purveyors of quality preserved specimens. Anyway, the whole thing is a bug lover's dream. For my part, I cooked "against" a friend and fellow bug chef twice on Sat. and again on Sun. (May 20 & 21). Our panel of judges included the woman who is the voice of Sandy the Squirrel on Spongebob Squarepants! I won 2, lost 1, and tied 1, by the way.

Final notes:
- "Washington" post - that predatory assassin may be E. floridanus, but I think it could also be Alcaeorrhynchus grandis. Very similar nymphs, but the U of FL "featured creatures" page for A. grandis shows that wavy "V" atop the thorax as in Steven's picture.
- "Austin" post - that "assassin" is actually a nymphal leaf-footed bug (F: Coreidae). Genus is probably Acanthocephala.

Off to North Carolina for June 4 - 9 (but may only have room for a single 15-watt UV tube and not the big rig)!