Some Arthropods of the New Season: Part 2

(Note: Please see my beetle site, "Beetles of the Cuyamaca Mountains" if you are interested in San Diego County Coleoptera: http://www.beetlesofcuyamacamountains.net/index.html )

Here are some arthropods seen around the county this spring, from the desert to the higher mountains.

This first set are from Culp Valley in the Anza Borrego Desert. Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon trichocalyx, I believe) was blooming in a big way near Pena Spring, and many insects were at or near the flowers. Also Encelia farinosa and Eriogonum sp. were in bloom, among others.

A bombyliid (bee fly) - to be determined. At the Eriodictyon.

Small jumping spider, Pellenes sp.

Large robber fly, maybe Stenopogon or Scleropogon sp., perched near the blooming Eriodictyon, waiting for prey.

Toxophora virgata, some very small bombyliids (bee flies).

The next set of images are of Eupompha elegans found in Crest (just SE of El Cajon) on May 18th. This is a very different-looking morph from the sort I usually see in the Anza Borrego Desert (see below the following two images).

Eupompha elegans, Crest, California.

Eupompha elegans, Crest, California.

Eupompha elegans, Borrego Springs, California.

The next set of images are from Palomar Mountain on June 5 and 6th. First we camped overnight at Fry Creek, something we have not done in MANY years! It was well worth it, with many interesting insects to be found on the flowering shrubs in the Fry Creek Campground, and then more visiting the black light that I set up that night. Then the next day we walked the road in the campground again and found new insects at the flowering Coffeeberry, etc., and then visited Doane Pond at Palomar Mountain State Park before heading home.

Callimoxys fuscipennis, a small long-horned beetle. Out in the daytime on the first day. Fry Creek.

Some mystery cocoons. Fry Creek.

Dichelonyx sp., maybe D. vicina, but I am still unsure. Quite a few of these scarabs came to the light at night. Fry Creek.

Another Dichelonyx sp. with slightly different coloration, but it still has the medial groove on the pronotum. Fry Creek.

Ready for take-off! Fry Creek.

Oeme costata, a species that we saw in decent numbers during the first couple years in Cuyamaca Woods following the Cedar Fire. Then they dwindled to nothing in my neighborhood (at least at my light). Three showed up here at Fry Creek at the light. 

Silis sp., a small cantharid. Out in the daytime on the first day. Fry Creek.

Neobellamira delicata australis (male), a small, delicate cerambycid (long-horned beetle). I believe that this is flowering coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica). Fry Creek.

Neobellamira delicata australis. Fry Creek.

Small tenebrionid (darkling beetle). Probably Eleodes sp. Fry Creek.

Moth (which came to light). To be determined. Fry Creek.

Moth (which came to light). To be determined. Fry Creek.

"Inch worm", TBD. Fry Creek.

A small robber fly that was perched on a leaf near the base of the Fry Creek Campground on the morning of the second day. TBD.

Harvestman abroad at night. Fry Creek.

Hippodamia convergens, nectaring. Fry Creek.

Swallowtail (Papilio sp.) drinking at the moist edge of Doane Pond. Palomar Mountain State Park.

Close-up, showing the proboscis better.

Acmaeodera connexa, sharing the wealth with bee flies, Thevenetimyia sp.. Palomar Mountain State Park.

Acmaeodera connexa, Palomar Mountain State Park.

Cyclocephala sp., a masked chafer. Oddly, this one was in the dirt trail in the hot sun. I picked it up and photographed it in the shade. Palomar Mountain State Park.

A Diversion to Utah, Part 2: Robber Flies and Velvet Ants

On our trip to southern Utah in July of this year, I had hoped to add to my photo collection of Asilidae (robber flies), as they are such impressive and photogenic predators. I have never had much luck photographing live velvet ants (family Mutillidae), but there were SO many of these in our Burr Trail camp that it was downright easy to get excellent close-ups of them.

The recent monsoonal rain had brought out quite a lot of local flowers, and perhaps that's why the robbers were out in good numbers in most places we visited.

Robber flies are often easy to photograph as they have some loyalty to a perch from which they search for prey items flying past. The fly will typically ambush its prey in mid-air, and administer a bite which delivers a neurotoxin to paralyze the prey, combined with proteolytic enzymes to digest the prey's insides, making a soupy meal to be sucked up at its leisure with the proboscis of the fly.

Efferia sp., male. He was lurking in plain sight on some dried-up mud at the little cattle pond (that we visited two years ago) east of our campsite on the Burr Trail. "Efferus" comes from the Latin meaning "wild" or "savage" - fairly appropriate, I guess, although that description could apply to just about any predator, from a robber fly to a mountain lion!

Efferia sp., female (note the long thin ovipositor at the terminus of the abdomen). As I crept up to her (on the opposite side of the cattle pond from the male), she crouched down, stretching her forelegs out, but did not fly off. It seemed like a very deliberate behavior. I wonder if there is any meaning to it, past just making her appear slightly smaller.

Efferia sp. female, with fellow asilid as prey. No family loyalties here.

The "pond Efferia male". Side view. The fuzzy mass of hairs protruding from the face is the "mystax" (meaning moustache) which is thought to protect the fly's face from wildly struggling prey.

Large asilid with prey, in the creek bed which passes by our Burr Trail camp site.

A smaller asilid species, to be determined, perched on the concrete bridge over the creek.

An almost-all-black robber fly, Ospriocerus sp. (note the red on the abdomen). This is a large species, like the Efferia seen on this trip - around 1 inch long. 

Another Ospriocerus sp., east on the Burr Trail, in an open windy area.

The sandy substrate combined with plenty of flowering plants following the rains seemed to create the ideal conditions for velvet ants around our Burr Trail camp site. Four species were seen within and close by our camp. I have not been able to conclusively identify any of them yet.

This species, with a black abdominal tip, came in orange and yellow forms. I'm tentatively guessing Dasymutilla scitula?

Digging in the soft sand around the camp site.

A very small but beautifully clothed female - actively searching for larvae of ground-nesting host species.

This small species, as well as the other two diurnal species we saw, was searching for the nest chambers of ground nesting bees or wasps. The female will dig her way into a nest, lay an egg by the host larva, and then the egg will hatch and consume the host.

This was the larger species, which might be Dasymutilla californica, but still uncertain. This female is next to a hole she dug out.

Busily digging, digging, digging. At least half a dozen females of this species were active in the late afternoon around our camp site. A couple males were present also (presumably of the same species, although with several species present, and the fact that male and female velvet ants of the same species often do NOT look alike at all, it's not certain which species the males belonged to).

Some of these females were very worn looking, or even had what appeared to be dried mud on them.

One of many neat holes dug in a small area with many velvet ants actively digging around. This hole was around 1/4 inch in diameter.

A male. Males are winged, but do not sting. Females of many velvet ants are wingless. Females can deliver a powerful, painful sting!

A large winged mutillid, probably in the genus Sphaeropthalma, which came to the black light after dark. It was around 20 mm long.