Tensas and Cache River Basins June 5-9, 2006

I spent a week working up in the Tensas River Basin in northeast Louisiana, and in the Cache River Basin in east-central Arkansas. It was intense field work, with little time for looking for critters. The habitat varied quite a bit, from agricultural fields (corn & soybean) to hardwood bottomland forests...bear country! I came away with only a few specimens, all from AR. The first was a freshly deceased Dynastes (at right) I found in the parking lot of the AmeriHost Hotel in Brinkley. For those who don't already know, Brinkley is the home of the famous "rediscovery" of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Anyway, I also collected a giant dung beetle (Dichotomius carolinus ?, left) in some woods bordering the Cache River. The mystery bug I collected from an ag field seems to be some sort of longhorn beetle (another one for you to I.D. Zack). It has a beautiful velvety-red back, and black legs and undersides. (see image at bottom) I collected one velvet ant from a site on the Cache River NWR. I didn't take digital images, so you'll just have to wait until I develop the pictures and scan them. More later.......James


Comment: 6/12/06
James,
Great catches and great shots. The third one looks like the "flower longhorn" we talked about, possibly Leptura emarginata
Leptura emarginata
I'd like to see the dung beetle in "real life" too.
Steven