Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Some Insects and Other Arthropods from San Felipe Creek

We took a short trip down to San Felipe Creek in the desert, and encountered some interesting arthropod fauna after dark.

A small orb weaver with wrapped-up prey. This specimen was only about 9-10 mm in body length. Will do some searching on-line to try to identify it. This spider had it's web in a mesquite.

Dinacoma marginata. Have seen these in this spot before in a prior year.

These two males came to the flashlight beam as we walked a dirt road after dark.

Eleodes sp., as identified on Bugguide. This is the very large, robust, shiny species that seems abundant in the San Felipe Creek area. They tend to be about 30 mm in body length.

Looks like Euthysanius. E. lautus? Much smaller than the E. lautus we see in the Cuyamaca Mountains in summer. This one was about 17 mm long, and others seen were smaller.

My best guess as to identity for this clerid is Enoclerus quadrisignatus.