# 2011 Texas and Arizona summer collecting experience



## yen_saw (Sep 8, 2011)

My friend Chris has arrived last Saturday and we have done some collecting so far in Houston. We will be going to Arizona this Saturday for a week and hopefully travelling down to Texas border the following week. Part of Arizona and almost the entire Texas been hit badly by drought and heat this year so hopefully there will be any insect for me to upload here when the trip is over, If i survive the trip! :scooter:


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## lunarstorm (Sep 8, 2011)

Cool, good luck! I look forward to reading about your findings.


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## ismart (Sep 8, 2011)

Yes, please keep us posted on your experience. Sounds like a great trip!


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## hibiscusmile (Sep 9, 2011)

lots of fires, surely hurting the live stock there


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## minard734 (Sep 18, 2011)

Please keep me posted! :donatello:


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## agent A (Sep 19, 2011)

go Yen!!! yay!!! you can do it!!! oh btw one of the popas you sent me molted to L7 today!!! yay!!! can't wait to see what you find!!!


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## minard734 (Sep 20, 2011)

Any pics yet?


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## yen_saw (Sep 22, 2011)

Sorry i just got back from Arizona few days ago. Still working on the photos and continue collecting in Texas but will continue to post. The trip is predominantly for Chris who is after different ant species, so there will be plenty of ant photos in this thread. But I also take picture of other insects, including mantis, whenever i come across any.

I will start with some pictures before the Arizona trip, a visit to Jesse Jones Park in Humble, Texas.

Chris checking out one of the many mounds to Texas leaf cutter ant (_Atta texana_).







The leaf cutter ants has several caste with different ant sizes, all busy working.






It is a huge colony, which is typical for an established _Atta texana _colony.






An anole was spotting lurking in the bush






Spotted a nice Passiflora incense flower near a river bank.











There were two large Scoliid wasps (_Campsomeris plumipes_)











Due to the extreme drought in Texas, the water level is quite low, exposing some broken tree trunks apparently chew down by beaver.


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## yen_saw (Sep 22, 2011)

it is sandy soil on river bank. Dorymyrmex sp. (Pyramid ants) apparently doing alright nesting near the river.






A male jumping spider (_Thiodina sylvana_) was spotted chasing down some insects, a good jumper!






Chris is after something.... must be ants! Kenneth was there checking out what's cool.






It was _Dorymermex sp._ ants trying to take down Sesbania clown weevil into the nest.






Ah.. no chance for the weevil i guess






A short clip for it

http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/yen_saw2009/2011%20Christian%20Trip/Jesse%20Jones%20Park/?action=view&amp;current=M4H08016.mp4

There were plenty of common shore tiger beetle (_Cicindela repanda_) around the river bank too.






This one caught a bug.






One of the many mating pairs






I also found a red velvet ant too, which typically found on sandy soil.






More to come.


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## gripen (Sep 22, 2011)

no mantids?


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## RevWillie (Sep 23, 2011)

How long are the Tiger Beetles?


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## agent A (Sep 23, 2011)

neato


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## lunarstorm (Sep 23, 2011)

Thanks for sharing Yen. I'll be spending more time examining local insects the next time I visit the river near my house.


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## minard734 (Sep 23, 2011)

WE WANT MANTIDS! WE WANT MANTIDS!

LOL anyways... nice pics. Ants are very cool.


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## yen_saw (Sep 24, 2011)

RevWillie said:


> How long are the Tiger Beetles?


About 10-12 mm.Visiting the Cypress swamp in the park, but it was completely dry.


























But we found some grass mantis (_Thesprotia graminis_) walking on the deck, all females.
















Short video clip of grass mantis

http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/yen_saw2009/2011%20Christian%20Trip/Jesse%20Jones%20Park/?action=view&amp;current=M4H08039.mp4

The dried up swamp allow us to flip rocks, and found a nice five-lined skink with blueish tail.






To be continue.......


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## minard734 (Sep 24, 2011)

Grass mantids are cool!


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## gripen (Sep 24, 2011)

Yah mantids!!!


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## MantidLord (Sep 24, 2011)

Great pics yen! Keep us posted. The tiger beetles were really cool.


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## rs4guy (Sep 24, 2011)

Great looking trip! Lots of fun creatures! Thanks for sharing, keep it coming.


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## yen_saw (Sep 24, 2011)

Some of the rarer type of ant found here in Jesse Jones Park. Panther ant, _Pachycondyla villosa _or _harpax._







Some strange looking eggs found on a tree. All have hatched.











Park naturalist Anita checking out dropping from coyote.... looks like lot of squarrel hairs. Ekkkk..






Saw an armadillo crossing a road. This one was quick and vanish in the bush in seconds.











We try to follow the armadillo but it buried under the fallen leaves and disappeared, instead we found an egg case.






but also saw plenty of poison ivy, which is the type we should avoid contact to.






Most of the park is so dry....... but i guess some bugs adapt to dryer condition.






_Sesbania drummondii_, poison bean tree do well in sandy soil.


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## ismart (Sep 24, 2011)

yen_saw said:


> Some of the rarer type of ant found here in Jesse Jones Park. Panther ant, _Pachycondyla villosa _or _harpax._
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That ant queen is a sweet find!  Those eggs are wheel bug eggs.


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## lancaster1313 (Sep 24, 2011)

Great pics! It makes me want to go collecting more often.


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## minard734 (Sep 25, 2011)

Nice pics. What spp does the ooth look like to you?


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## agent A (Sep 25, 2011)

yen, i think those strange eggs on the tree are from an assassin bug in the genus Zelus or some other assassin bug similar to it

my zelus luridis laid eggs that looked just liked that

how big was the egg cluster?


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## yen_saw (Sep 26, 2011)

ismart said:


> That ant queen is a sweet find!  Those eggs are wheel bug eaggs.


Chris wished that is a queen, but unfortunately it wasn't 


Ryan Minard said:


> Nice pics. What spp does the ooth look like to you?


_Stagmomantis carolina_.


agent A said:


> yen, i think those strange eggs on the tree are from an assassin bug in the genus Zelus or some other assassin bug similar to it
> 
> my zelus luridis laid eggs that looked just liked that
> 
> how big was the egg cluster?


I think Paul is right about wheel bug.I still haven't got the chance to upload pics from Arizona yet... so more photos from Jesse Jones Park in Texas.

An insect poster in the visitor center






Carrying an alligator snappy shell






One of Anita's pet in her office - Eastern narrowmouth toad (_Gastrophryne carolinensis_)






Anita showed us one of the fish parasite caught recently - A strange looking parasitic 'bug' that consume and replace fish tongue (_Cymothoa exigua_)











We went to see the park greenhouse, mainly carnivorous plant. Here is the _Nepenthes rafflesiana_






and another Nepenthes sp. that smells like perfume.






Another native carnivorous plant _Sarracenia sp._






_Crematogaster sp._ ants could become the CP next meal






To be continue......


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Sep 26, 2011)

Awesome pics!


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## yen_saw (Sep 27, 2011)

We went to visit Lara who is entomology grad student in University of Houston. She is working on her research on the harvester ant in the university greenhouse and and Chris showed her an easier way to pick up the ant with aspirator.






We also met another grad student Darelyn who is working on an Chris favorite ant, _Pseudomyrmex_.






With Lara and Darelyn's help, we were able to get the permit to collect at UHCC (University of Houston Coastal Center).











I was quite surprise to see the place full of greens











Chris get started right away checking out hollow twigs for _Pseudomyrmex _colonies.






There is always a chance finding _Pseudomyrmex_ colony with a hole like this on twig






Get to work....






and there is the colony! (See queen ant with the pointed arrow)


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## yen_saw (Sep 27, 2011)

I walked into the field and saw plenty of flowering plant, snow-on-the prairie (_Euphorbia bicolor_)






and saw a mantis looking straight at me!






Taking a closer look...definitely _Stagmomantis carolina_. This one is subadult female.






Found more carolina mantis. This subadult male still has half of the bee on the front leg.






and more mantis....






Sweeping the field with butterfly net and found more mantis


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## gripen (Sep 27, 2011)

cool.


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## minard734 (Sep 28, 2011)

NICE! I get a lot of Stagmomantis around here. Subadult still, though? Multiple generations a year in TX?


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## [email protected] (Sep 28, 2011)

Love the pics Yen!


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## rs4guy (Sep 28, 2011)

Keep em coming, I think I speak for all of us, this is GREAT!


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## yen_saw (Sep 30, 2011)

Ryan Minard said:


> NICE! I get a lot of Stagmomantis around here. Subadult still, though? Multiple generations a year in TX?


Only one generation per year. I think the exceptionally dry summer has significantly slowed down wild mantis growth.Speaking of drought, you can see the lake drying up in UHCC. There are many turkey vulture around the area, probably picking up the dead fish.






A closer pic of the vulture






But there is also a white ibis near the pond






Came across this green lynx spider. The largest i have ever seen.
















Also some large banana spiders






This is a buggy area, but also has plenty of ticks. This one almost got me.






Chris continue to cutting up hollow twigs (Two more twigs leaning vertically against the bumper to be cut open)






Plenty of colonies collected. _Pseudomyrmex gracilis, Pseudomyrmex seminoles, Pseudomyrmex pallidus_.






I will jump to Arizona trip photos the next post.


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## lunarstorm (Sep 30, 2011)

As always, thanks for sharing Yen! Those spiders and the vulture shot were pretty cool, glad you avoided the tick's grasp! I look forward to the AZ pics.


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## minard734 (Sep 30, 2011)

You are da man!


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## gripen (Sep 30, 2011)

Can't wait for the AZ picks!


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Sep 30, 2011)

Excited!


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## yen_saw (Sep 30, 2011)

lunarstorm said:


> As always, thanks for sharing Yen! Those spiders and the vulture shot were pretty cool, glad you avoided the tick's grasp! I look forward to the AZ pics.


Yea i wonder what type of tick it is?So here we go. We arrived at Tucson, AZ and here is our transportation for the week in AZ. Ford Taurus.






After checking in to hotel, we went to Montosa Canyon with another bug friend John. We ascend to about 4000ft elevation and stopped by the roadside. The first thing I saw was a pretty gruesome sight. A plain lubber feeding on a road kill lizard.











A short clip

http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/yen_saw2009/2011%20Christian%20Trip/Arizona/?action=view&amp;current=M4H08273.mp4

There were many horse lubber grasshoppers crossing the road. One of the largest grasshoppers in Arizona.











There are so many type of grasshoppers in the canyon. Here is the colorful painted grasshopper.











This large grasshopper is about the same length. Not sure what species it is.






More on Montosa Canyon next time......


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## lunarstorm (Oct 1, 2011)

Wow! I've never seen a grasshopper so colorful as that painted, I bet they make some nice bait for fishing!  Fishing or not, I'll definitely look for 'em when I visit AZ.


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## agent A (Oct 1, 2011)

very cool, that toad is so cute

the Saraccenia species you took a pic of might be S. leucophyllia (not sure if i spelled it right), the white-top pitcher plant,

i've had those for a while and they are personally my favorite pitcher plants, i miss mine  

cool stagmomantis, mine are only like L5 and teeny tiny, but the pseudoharpax are subadult

so what happens with those ant colonies when they overcrowd the stick they live in? do they kick some of the ants out?


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## gripen (Oct 1, 2011)

those hoppers are bad @$$!


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## Precarious (Oct 1, 2011)

Wow! Love the green lynx and jumping spider. And the libbers and grasshoppers. Really beautiful.


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## yen_saw (Oct 2, 2011)

agent A said:


> very cool, that toad is so cute
> 
> the Saraccenia species you took a pic of might be S. leucophyllia (not sure if i spelled it right), the white-top pitcher plant,
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info.The canyon has plenty of hatched ooth on Mesquite tree, but i couldn't find any mantis but some other bugs.....












This metallic boring beetle was pretty cool











Plenty of mantis food....






Tarantula male






Several stick insects species spotted too


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## minard734 (Oct 3, 2011)

Sweet!


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## yen_saw (Oct 3, 2011)

There were plenty of beetles spotted, such as this one, _Stenaspis solitaria_.






_Acmaeodera rubronotata ??_






Pics of the canyon











There was a giant swallowtail on the ground






Plenty of ant species too, just no mantis. I think this lizard is laughing at me....






So no mantis for me on the first day, although we only got the chance to visit the canyon for few hours. The next morning we went to Madera Canyon and saw some winged ants being attacked by another type of ants. That also means we were too late for nuptial flight bummer.... Apparently some _Acromyrmex sp _ants were performing nuptial flight earlier and _Aphaenogaster sp _ants were feasting on the left over.






But there were also sign that mated _Acromyrmex _queen just dug in.....






So time for Chris to dig in and find the buried queen.


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## yen_saw (Oct 3, 2011)

There were plenty of fresh queen ant mounds. It was not difficult to dig in due to the sandy soil and rain from previous night. Soon Chris found some queen ants. Here is the _Acromyrmex _queen.






_Aphaenogaster _queen.






Queen ants kept in test tubes






I saw plenty of mantis egg cases, some were located near the ground











Some high up in the tree, as high as 10 ft above ground






Some on fence wireline






and multiple ooths too






All appear to be of Stagmomantis ooth, likely S. limbata, but couldn't find any mantis still. So i put my butterfly net to work, and finally found my first mantis. An adult male _Yersiniops sphodronica_ or the long horned ground mantis. Staring right at me.


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## yen_saw (Oct 3, 2011)

I continue to sweep along the knee high grasses and found more _Yersiniops sphodronica_, all in adult stage. However, i was surprise to catch few younger stage _Stagmomantis _nymphs. Probably drought on this part of the area has slowed down their growth too. Just like the one in Texas.






Something else spotted along the way











Cool looking yellow spider






Some of the queen ants in the test tube. Chris also tried to include sand in some test tubes.











You can see from this short clip the queen started to dig in even in the testube

http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/yen_saw2009/2011%20Christian%20Trip/Arizona/?action=view&amp;current=M4H08473.mp4

We decided to visit Arivaca after that. Saw plenty of male tarantula crossing the road.






Hmmm..... looks like a spider I should avoid contact






And plenty of mating horse lubbers can be seen on the road. Yeah these were large enough to be spotted while driving.






To be continue.....


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Oct 4, 2011)

those mantids are cool, do you ever breed those? (_Yersiniops sphodronica_ or the long horned ground mantis)


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## agent A (Oct 4, 2011)

very awesome

are those circular holes in the ooths possibly from wasps?


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## yen_saw (Oct 4, 2011)

ShieldMantid1997 said:


> those mantids are cool, do you ever breed those? (_Yersiniops sphodronica_ or the long horned ground mantis)


Yes back in 2008. Breeding this species is not difficult, but raising L1 nymphs was a nightmare for me back then. Fruit fly was not accepted due to the ultra small front legs for the hatchling.







agent A said:


> very awesome
> 
> are those circular holes in the ooths possibly from wasps?


yes those were holes made by parasitic wasp.Along the road to Arivaca there were plenty of beetles on the road side. Some will run away when appraoched. Like this large beetle.






Some will defend itself and holding firm to its position ready to attack






Flipping rocks and found these two harmless and cute narrowmouth toads






but not every insect lives underneath the rock was harmless.... fat tail, big stinger, small pincher..... better leave this scorpian alone






Arrived at a field in Arivaca and started to sweep. and found a mating pair of stick insect











Soon I found some _Litanuetria minor _and _Yersiniops Sphodronica _mantis. Here is a fat ground mantis _L. minor_.











Adult male _L. minor_.


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## lunarstorm (Oct 4, 2011)

Awesome pics Yen, I wondered if you'd run into any scorpions. How many ooths and/or mantids did you keep from the adventure?


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## yen_saw (Oct 4, 2011)

lunarstorm said:


> Awesome pics Yen, I wondered if you'd run into any scorpions. How many ooths and/or mantids did you keep from the adventure?


Thanks. I saw plenty of hatched oothecae so i didn't keep any. But i lost count on the number of mantis collected from this trip. :cowboy: Since we were late for the nuptial flight on previous day, we decided to visit the same place earlier. Especially when it was raining dogs and cats the previous night. It was all good when we saw some ants flying the next morning.






and saw plenty of winged ant wondering just outside the nest, ready to take the flight. It is _Acromrymex _species.






It didn't take very long before swarm appear.. yeah the pheromone is in the air!






Soon thousands swarmed the air. Hovering about 20 feet about the ground and performing nuptial flight. A pretty amazing sight for me.











Here is a short clip

http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/yen_saw2009/2011%20Christian%20Trip/Arizona/?action=view&amp;current=M4H08512.mp4

Mating pair dropped to the ground, but will fly after separated. Standing underneath the swarm, it felt like raining ants. A pair dropped on my hand and continue to mate.






Here is another clip where you can see mating ants dropping to the ground and taking off to the air during the nuptial flight.

http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/yen_saw2009/2011%20Christian%20Trip/Arizona/?action=view&amp;current=M4H08532.mp4

Load of mating ants on the ground


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## yen_saw (Oct 4, 2011)

As usual, not every pairing ants survived in the wild. It is a dog eat dog world out there and some other species of ants (_Aphaenogaster sp_) seemed to anticipated this 'event' and starting to attack the mating pair on the ground.






Winged ants that show up late have no chance to fly. Mauled by swarm of ants from other species.






I let Chris busy collecting the queens and started to look for more mantis. Soon I found an adult female ground mantis.






There were plenty of _Yersiniops _around the area too.











Soon I developed the 'eye' for this species and collected plenty of them. In less than one hour i found about 9 adult females and dozen of males. Here is another Yersiniops if you can find it  






To my surprise I also found a white velvet ant!!! What a contrast to the orange/red velvet ants i usually found in Texas.











Well there was a reason to celebrate so I had a good meal that day.











Lot more pics to post on that day....... stay tune!


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## lunarstorm (Oct 4, 2011)

Whoa. The swarm of flying ants looks pretty wild, I've never seen anything like that before.

I noticed you said something akin to "here's a clip" on a few images. Are they supposed to be videos? If so, it's not working for me, everything you've posted thus far appears as an image.


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## yen_saw (Oct 4, 2011)

lunarstorm said:


> Whoa. The swarm of flying ants looks pretty wild, I've never seen anything like that before.
> 
> I noticed you said something akin to "here's a clip" on a few images. Are they supposed to be videos? If so, it's not working for me, everything you've posted thus far appears as an image.


Thanks for letting me know. I put the direct link up instead. Hope it works this time. The image clip used to work on old forum format. I better go change other clips posted on the new format too.


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## lunarstorm (Oct 4, 2011)

Cool, thanks, that worked.

Your shot of the hidden Yersinops ("Here is another Yersiniops if you can find it") is devious...

Potential spoiler, for those that haven't found it yet, don't click this.  



Spoiler



I *think* it's just right of center?


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## yen_saw (Oct 5, 2011)

lunarstorm said:


> Cool, thanks, that worked.
> 
> Your shot of the hidden Yersinops ("Here is another Yersiniops if you can find it") is devious...
> 
> Potential spoiler, for those that haven't found it yet, don't click this.


 :clap: Good spot.... mind joining me for the next bug hunt? ^_^ Continue to stay at Box Canyon/Madera Canyon area, at this point i was just taking picture of insects as I ran out of containers. Plenty of pairing insects - mantis food.











A nice size cactus beetle.






I have never seen that many stick insects in Madera Canyon.






This is a strange one. The exoskeleton of this insect must be thick as passing ant appeared to ignore it.






A surprise sunspider found hiding underneath a rock.






But most of the time it was the scorpians that hid underneath logs or rocks.






and sure enough there were more mantis spotted






So Chris had a good collection that day






It wasn't too bad for me as well


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## agent A (Oct 6, 2011)

i have a question about litaneutra

can L1 nymphs handle D.melanogaster?

just curious, maybe 1 day i'll rear them


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## yen_saw (Oct 15, 2011)

agent A said:


> i have a question about litaneutra
> 
> can L1 nymphs handle D.melanogaster?
> 
> just curious, maybe 1 day i'll rear them


L1 Litanuetria minor or Yersiniops sphodronical need something smaller like springtail.Walking around the lighting area around the hotel, I found some nice insects
















Also spotted this ootheca on the building wall. Looks like it belongs to Litanuetria






Feeding and observing some collected mantis











Morning photo from the back of the hotel






Ants has already been active in the early morning











Spotted this poor frog on my way to breakfast


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## gripen (Oct 15, 2011)

Wow what species is in the 3rd pic?


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## yen_saw (Oct 15, 2011)

gripen said:


> Wow what species is in the 3rd pic?


Oh that was Bactromantis mexicanus adult male. Nice specimen. I saw two on this trip, spotted hanging near lighting area on both occasion.


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## agent A (Oct 15, 2011)

was the frog dead? or was it just stuck? i think that solid green mantis was cool

what was it? stagmomantis? tenodera?


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## gripen (Oct 15, 2011)

yen_saw said:


> Oh that was Bactromantis mexicanus adult male. Nice specimen. I saw two on this trip, spotted hanging near lighting area on both occasion.


Do the females of this species have wings? How big was this specimen?


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## minard734 (Oct 15, 2011)

agent A said:


> was the frog dead? or was it just stuck? i think that solid green mantis was cool
> 
> what was it? stagmomantis? tenodera?


Stagmomantis.


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## yen_saw (Oct 16, 2011)

agent A said:


> was the frog dead? or was it just stuck? i think that solid green mantis was cool
> 
> what was it? stagmomantis? tenodera?


It was dead, appeared to be stuck. THe solid green mantis was Stagmomantis limbata adult male.


gripen said:


> Do the females of this species have wings? How big was this specimen?


Adult female is wingless based on the dead specimen I have seen. Adult is about 2 inches long.


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## gripen (Oct 16, 2011)

Looks like the American grass mantis.


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## minard734 (Oct 17, 2011)

yen_saw said:


> It was dead, appeared to be stuck. THe solid green mantis was Stagmomantis limbata adult male.


Now that explains the strange coloration. I've had one or 2 S. carolina males with that color also... but it is incredibly rare!


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## agent A (Oct 17, 2011)

ryan, i think he was talking about the frog

but if he was talking abou the dead mantis, it could be the work of an assassin bug or spider...


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## minard734 (Oct 17, 2011)

agent A said:


> ryan, i think he was talking about the frog
> 
> but if he was talking abou the dead mantis, it could be the work of an assassin bug or spider...


I didn't mean to include the first part... just the par bout the green mantis.


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## yen_saw (Oct 17, 2011)

My morning stroll continue. I found the spider reluctant to leave the prey when i approached the web







beautiful larva of some beetle






and saw this beetle closeby, guess that's what the larvae turn into






and here is the six leg spider with vivid color.... nah, actually i accidentally snapped two of the front leg bummer.






flipping rock and found some good 'food' for ants. Termites.






Feeding time for the mantis before leaving to Tucson Mountain Park


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## yen_saw (Oct 17, 2011)

One reason going to Tucson Mountain Park was to help Christian looking for the elsuive turtle ant colony. A shy species where the major worker ant will use the flat head to plug the hole in a twig where the colony live. This species live in dead twig of certain tree.

Arriving at the Tucson Mountain Park. The place is beautiful but also been vandalized unfortunately. We will be hiking through the park via Gate Pass Trailhead.
















Full of cactus but nice view











Walking on the rugged terrain is not as easy as I thought, well I am not any younger either.






There are not many insects spotted around this arid/rugged land. I couldn't find any ant but saw some other good size beetle
















Another colorful spider spotted... this time it has complete 8 legs


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## yen_saw (Oct 17, 2011)

I took a break once a while especially with the heat and tough trail.






A pair of beetle






It took Christian half a day to spot a colony of turtle ant...yay! Here is the entry/exit hole for the turtle ant






The shy turtle ant worker slowly emerged from the hole only when we leave the twig sit quietly for a while











Here is the closer look of the major worker, with a flat head use for plugging the entry hole. It reminds me of a bulldozer.






Here is the size comparison between the major worker and the regular smaller workers






And a colony of turtle ant. Notice the queen in the middle with elongated abdomen






To be continue......


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## minard734 (Oct 17, 2011)

Cool pics man! Those turtle ants are amazing. Wish I could get some from you, being interested in ants myself.


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## lunarstorm (Oct 17, 2011)

And the pics keep on comin! Thanks Yen.

I've never heard of a turtle ant before, very cool.


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## yen_saw (Oct 21, 2011)

Our last few days in Tucson we moved to Starr Pass Golf Resort in West Tucson. The place is near the Tucson Mountain Park.
















Plenty of animals and insects around the hotel











Even saw this Javelina resting in front of the hotel






and then made a dash to the bush when spotted me






Later that day we went to Peppersauce Camp for bug light trap with a friend John.






Chris checking out bugs in the dark






This catepillar look more like a stick.


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## yen_saw (Oct 21, 2011)

We found some mantis too using just flash light, here is the S. limbata adult female climbing on my foot






Also found a jumpy Stagmomantis nymph






and this S. californica adult female






there are plenty of stick insects











THere wasn't as many oothecae as in Madera Canyon spotted






But was able to spot more mantis






Also found this large and round spider











By then we started to see some bugs attracted to the light


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## yen_saw (Oct 21, 2011)

My attention was on any adult male mantis attracted by light






and one S. californica adult male found on the sheet too






mantidfly too






This large Rhino beetle male (D. granti) was a great sight.






adult female rhino beetle can be attracted by light too






Here is one wierd looking weevil beetle.






We went out to the road nearby and found this lengendary ant. A theif ant that steal brood of other ant species, and mainly blind.
















and found this cool mantidfly on a build glass too


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## twolfe (Oct 22, 2011)

Great trip, story and photos! Thanks for sharing.

I expected to see armadillos in Texas when I was there last October but never found any! And I looked... (My avatar is a photo of me petting an armadillo when I was in Florida last January. Most of them ran away, but that one would push at our shoes when we got in its way.)

Those ants flying were bizarre. I was in Arizona for three weeks in April but couldn't find any mantids. I guess it was the wrong time of year or else they were too small. I hardly found any insects except for some grasshoppers (not as colorful as the ones you found). I did almost step on a rattlesnake...twice...when I was photographing Saguaro cactus.


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## gripen (Oct 22, 2011)

Wow look at those mantidflys!


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## minard734 (Oct 24, 2011)

WOAH! These are some good finds. Best yet. D. granti? JEALOUSY!


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## yen_saw (Nov 14, 2011)

Tammy Wolfe said:


> Great trip, story and photos! Thanks for sharing.
> 
> I expected to see armadillos in Texas when I was there last October but never found any! And I looked... (My avatar is a photo of me petting an armadillo when I was in Florida last January. Most of them ran away, but that one would push at our shoes when we got in its way.)
> 
> Those ants flying were bizarre. I was in Arizona for three weeks in April but couldn't find any mantids. I guess it was the wrong time of year or else they were too small. I hardly found any insects except for some grasshoppers (not as colorful as the ones you found). I did almost step on a rattlesnake...twice...when I was photographing Saguaro cactus.


Thanks. I didn't expect any ant to perform nuptial flight this late into the season so it was a bonus to witness the swarm. The earliest i have ever been in Tucson area was May, and all the mantids were in their early stages. So April was too early, but I didn't see any snake this time.


Ryan Minard said:


> WOAH! These are some good finds. Best yet. D. granti? JEALOUSY!


Yes it was a nice pair of Dynastes granti. Again never thought they come out this late in the season.I hope to post more pics when time permit.


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## agent A (Nov 14, 2011)

I wonder if the mantises living in the area know of your yearly visits to Arizona and carve writings in the soil of the return of the great yen for future generations and wait for u and hope to be seen by u  

I would do that if I were a mantis  

Anyways do the mantises u catch from the wild seem to need a period of time to transition to captive life? just curious  

Keep posting pics!!!


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## yen_saw (Nov 16, 2011)

agent A said:


> I wonder if the mantises living in the area know of your yearly visits to Arizona and carve writings in the soil of the return of the great yen for future generations and wait for u and hope to be seen by u
> 
> I would do that if I were a mantis
> 
> ...


I would run away and hide if i am a mantis  Some skittish WC mantids do take a few days to settle down in captivity, especially nymphs.

A few more insects spotted during that night.

















The next day I followed Chris to look for more turtle ants.






but found only dead turtle ant queen. Probably due to drought.






I left Chris alone in Tucson Mountain Park and went to the International Wildlife Museum for a break






However, the first two animals i saw was native to the area. Huge AZ hairy desert scorp











Another native.....


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## minard734 (Nov 16, 2011)

I would love to acquire some D. granti!  Did you collect them?


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## yen_saw (Nov 18, 2011)

Ryan Minard said:


> I would love to acquire some D. granti!  Did you collect them?


Yes. and here is how it look now 





So being an avid insect hobbyist I spent time looking around the insect display room.
















But soon I was attracted to the museum's wonderful taxidermy.


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## yen_saw (Nov 18, 2011)

This is probably a hunter's dream room
















Some visitors return the favor and take pic for me.











Here is another look of the museum on my way out






The pics only showed the tip of iceburg for this museum. There is also a theater inside. A taxidermist could spend a whole day there easily. Unfortunately the last pic in this thread become the last photograph for me in Arizona as my spare battery ran dry, and i forgot to bring the converter to the charger bummer...... but there are more pics coming up when we return to Texas.


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## yen_saw (Nov 21, 2011)

I will end this thread with some pics from collecting in Texas, mostly whle looking for ants.

This is the particular species Chris looking for, _Pseudomyrmex gracilis_.






Any sign of an entry hole on hollow twig presented a chance to find a colony for this species






So with aspirator and pocket knife, Chris get to work











and the queen ant came out of the twig finally











Cutting up the hollow twigs, we sometimes saw some other insects, like pseudoscorpian






Another type of arboreal Componotus sp.






Beetle larvae






and other insects such as arboreal wasps, spiders, weevil beetles, etc


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## yen_saw (Nov 21, 2011)

Peeling off bark, we also found some long horn beetle






termites too






termites appear to be good food for some ants, including P. gracilis, so Chris collected some






We also came across another arboreal ant species such as this Crematogaster sp. here is the queen











The Crematogaster worker ants have stinger but seldom use it. It has a heart shape abdomen and raised up the tip of the abdomen when being threatened.






The tip of the abdomen has a drop of venom






Another commonly seen twig ant is the smaller _Pseudomyrmex pallidus_. frequently seen inbreeding within the same colony. Here are winged male and female






and pairing up soon






Although i was not stung by any of the collected ant, it was the unwanted ant - fire ant - that got me....


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## yen_saw (Nov 21, 2011)

To find arboreal ant species, bushes full of dried up twig is always a good place to go for






We were also lucky enough to witnessed some harvester male (lighter color) ready for nuptial flight






We saw snakes through out the entire trip, but luckily all were harmless






Instead, it was the annoying mosquitoes that got us






Although most of the collecting places were dry, there is always good chance of finding grass mantis






One of my favorite place for Brunneria borealis this year been really dry, we end up finding another type of elongated twig ant, _Pseudomyrmex seminoles_.






BUt the drought also made it easier to narrow down the smaller green patch and locate the stick mantis






zooming in






Another adult B. borealis spotted






It has been a blessing for us to find any insect at all when Texas had the worst drought and heat in the record. Arizona was facing the same problem but the AZ native insects appear to have adapted to the dry environment so it wasn't as badly affected as I expected. Thanks for following this thread.


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## lunarstorm (Nov 22, 2011)

Good thread Yen, I really enjoyed all of the pics and captions. Thanks for taking the time to show us a zoomed in shot and the general area too! If you published a magazine, I'd subscribe.


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## rs4guy (Nov 22, 2011)

Thank you for such a well documented excursion, I think I speak for all of us when I say that this is a great thread.


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## SilentDeviL (Dec 10, 2011)

yen_saw said:


> As usual, not every pairing ants survived in the wild. It is a dog eat dog world out there and some other species of ants (_Aphaenogaster sp_) seemed to anticipated this 'event' and starting to attack the mating pair on the ground.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


So this is Yen And Chris cool Get see how you guys look ..


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## ns22 (Jul 30, 2021)

10 years late, but I'm planning a trip down to Madera and I was wondering if one can still expect to find unicorn mantises this late in the summer? Also, having trouble finding the Yersiniops mantis in that last picture haha


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