the best way to be sure everyone gets an update of sorts.
Species Survival Center, 5/5
In spite of it being Cinco de Mayo, we did not see any bugs drinking beer while
we were traipsing about in the West Bank woods. But we did see or collect quite
a number of neat things. Among them:
Hymenoptera -
- Many carpenter ant queens (kept 7) and workers (kept about 12-15 for presentations)
- In addition to the ubiquitous (if not universally loved) fire ants, we saw
about 5 other ant species
- Found a queen yellow jacket in wood, and saw 2 others in flight. The former
has now happened a few times at SSC for me, but I'd never seen one flying about
- The number of newly-started paper wasp colonies on buildings was really impressive,
especially in crane (bird) stalls. See note below about these stalls.
- Honey bees all over the blooming privet
Coleoptera -
- Dead triceratops beetle Phileurus valgus outside staff building
- Several click beetle larva, one of the eyed click, Alaus oculatus, and a wiggly
pupa
- un-IDed ground beetle larva (found 2 in rotten wood) with nice sclerotized
banding on the dorsum
- 8 or 9 patent-leather beetles (added to Bait Shop)
- Small pleasing fungus beetles (I think a Triplax species) in some shelf fungus
Diptera -
-1 male and 1 female robber fly of the genus Laphria
-Soldier flies on good number at a manure-rich compost pile along South Bunker
Road (genus Hermetia)
Lepidoptera -
Sighted (none in great number): hackberry, question mark, fiery or whirlabout
skipper, snout, American painted lady (probably), a few small leaf-mimic moths,
and one slat marsh tiger larva
Spiders -
Azilia affinis, a rarely encountered spider in this part of the world, it
is usually associated with cave entrances
Sphodros rufipes, a fantastically interesting purse web spider which I thought
we gone from a previous spot - great to know they are still (or once again)
there
Acanthepeira stellata, a very attractive little orb weaver
Leucage venusta
Verrucosa arrenata
Argiope aurantia egg sacs
Other araneids too young for ID
4 wolf spp.
2-3 salticids, incl. a male T. sylvana
Ant-mimic (genus likely is Castianeira)
Other -
- Rosy wolf snails (2 young) and an assortment of other snails and slugs
for exhibit
- In rotting wood - we busted open a fair bit - we found 2 of our native Scolopendra
sp. and one each Vonones ornata and Vonones sp. (both harvestmen, the latter
quite pretty). Brought back a good bit of wood for use at the Insectarium.
- The small wooden entry ways (stalls) into fenced in crane enclosures are
interesting little microhabitats. They are loaded with old nests built by at
least 2 mud dauber species; they house jumping spiders, cellar spiders, and
occasionally large fishing spiders (though we did not get any on Wed.); black
and yellow garden spiders leave egg sacs in the stalls, and Carolina praying
mantids leave oothecae there as well. We collected about a dozen mantid nymphs
(at IRF now) that were part of a large batch that had clearly emerged from their
eggs quite recently.
- Zack
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