# Collecting experience in Texas and Arizona during early May



## yen_saw (Jun 2, 2010)

Have been away from the forum most of last month due to friend visiting and also a trip to Arizona. Christian Ludwig from Germany (NOT the Christian from this forum) visited me back in 2008 and he is mainly after ants. Since I know his nickname from this visit I will refer him as ‘Motte’ or Moth in Germany.

This year Motte has decided to pay me another visit. There were few hurdles in meeting up again due to our busy schedule, particularly when our planned visit time is also the ‘prime time’ for the 2010 World Cup (ok I admit that I am a big soccer fan). By the end, we decided on early May. May is actually still early for collecting insects since most are still small or in early stage of life, but some ants do perform nuptial flights emerge earlier if rains actually arrive sooner. There will be only few mantis pics through out our trip so you will see many other insects (especially ants) instead.

We went to the Bear Creek Park the folowing day after Motte arrived. I haven't been back to this park since Hurricane Ike wrecked havoc in late 2008, so it is interesting to find out.

It doesn't take very long for Motte to spot an ant colony that interest him.







So he sets up the camera and shoot away.
















I can see some ants carrying seeds back to the nest... a harvester type? Motte told me this is the first time he spotted this species in the park. I forgot the scientifica name.
















I also spotted some egg cases that have hatched.
















(To be continue)


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## Fisherman_Brazil (Jun 3, 2010)

Wish I were there too, as always enjoy the field trip myself.

Excellent!


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## revmdn (Jun 3, 2010)

Very cool.


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## ismart (Jun 3, 2010)

Awesome finds! Cant wait to see whats next?


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## yen_saw (Jun 3, 2010)

ALthough the weather in Houston is hot and humid, there hasn't been much rain. So we still have to turn the logs and rocks to look for bugs. FOund ome good size slugs under the wood, and some beetles too.











A big species of ants (Camponotus sp.)which is of Motte interest.











Accidentally stepped on the dreaded fire ant nest. This species was every where ack in 2008 but the storm appear to bring the number down.






I remember the pain being bitten by one of these, wasp-like ant or Pseudomyrmex gracilis according to Motte.






Familiar food plant for Phasmid keeper .... bramble.











Motte took some sample too for some of the ant colonies use this to grow fungus.


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## yen_saw (Jun 3, 2010)

THere was no nuptial flight for ants in sight. With nothng much to do so took pics of any bugs i could find.






THe dreaded inch worm....






More bugs
















Saw Motte taking aim at something...






Ah it was a mating pair of moths






We did not stay for the entire morning and decided to visit Anita who is the park naturalist for Jesse Jones Park and Nature Center that afternoon. She is also studying on ants and have seen Texas leaf cutter ant (Atta texana) nests in the park. The park is at North of Houston where the Naturefest was held. While waiting for Anita, took a pic for Motte in the convention center






After meeting up with Anita, Motte ad Anita discussing ants species existing in the park, while i found out from Anita that she has seen Stagmomantis carolina, T. graminis, Litanuetria sp. and B. borealis in the park.






and we're off to tour arond the park with this cool vehicle






(to be continue)


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 3, 2010)

I think I spotted an inchworm


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## Rick (Jun 3, 2010)

mmmmmmmmmm blackberries


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## yen_saw (Jun 3, 2010)

The first sight from the tour that caught my eyes was not a bug .... it was the carnivorous plant!











We moved on into one of the trails and spotted a tree full of berries. Both Motte and Anita gave it a try.











Motte spotted a black catepillar on the trail






We also spotted a Texas leaf cutter ant trail that made Motte very excited but it was probably too hot that we couldn't spot any leaf cutter worker ant.






Anita came up with this idea of speed sweeping where both Motte and I be holding a butterfly net each while Anita driving the cart along the tall grasses/bushes. It was really cool i wish i have a picture of it... what a brilliant idea Anita :lol: We usually end up with lot of bugs inside the net






This 'Mohawk' bug looks interesting.











Some starting to climb out of the net






We later found out that this it belongs to tree hoppers/juvenile membracidin in the family Membracidae.

(to be continue)


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## revmdn (Jun 4, 2010)

You guys are having too much fun down there.


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## yen_saw (Jun 4, 2010)

revmdn said:


> You guys are having too much fun down there.


Never enough Martin  Well the fun part just began!Plenty of hopping insects in the net. Treehopper is one of it.






A colorful immature hopper or katydid






Didn't sit on Anita's finger for too long and jump right to the seat






Some lost a leg while escaping... bummer






Some allowed me to take a closer look






While same ready to hitch-hike with us






A spider took advantage of a free food in the net..... which is another spider!






Anita found this odd looking thing in the net. looks like a miniature hermit crab haha! carrying a dome shell. Anita called it a walking poop bug HA!






We later found out that is actually casebearing leafbeetle larvae (Cryptocephalinae)






That finger is too close to the assasin bug!






(to be continue)


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## Mr.Mantid (Jun 4, 2010)

Coool pics!


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## naeff002 (Jun 4, 2010)

great photoshoot


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## yen_saw (Jun 7, 2010)

Still in Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Center. Surprise to see the sandy 'beach' next to Spring Creek.






Didn't see any bugs but found some petrifierd wood pieces... cool.






Plenty of grapes too.... but still green






Stopping by at this swampy area






Anita found a metallic beetle











Some birds looking for food at the swampy area.











This one just caught a frog!






Later we finally found what Motte was looking for. A massive Texas leaf cutter ant nests


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## yen_saw (Jun 7, 2010)

Leaf cutter worker ants are busy cutting and moving the leaves











Motte and Anita found a strange looking ant species. Motte collecting the ant using aspirator and checking out the species with Anita.











There were swarm of Easter lubber grasshopper nymphs nearby...... easily amount to thousands.











Also plenty of velvet ants.
















This is probably the hairiest catepillar i have ever seen.


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## yen_saw (Jun 8, 2010)

After touring the park we went to the greenhouse. Inside greenhouse there were plenty of carnivorous plants, where both Anita and her husband Jim taking care of them most of the time.






Good size pitchers...











Plenty of CP of differentr species





















There were also some at the outdoor











After Anita found out about my new hobby, she decided to give couple of CP to me (N. miranda and N. x ventrata) as gift before leaving the park.


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## yen_saw (Jun 8, 2010)

Few days later Motte and I flew to Tucson, Arizona. A new experience collecting this early (mid-May) in Arizona. We decided to stay in Green Valley for the first 2 days and then moved to Catalina foothill for another 2 days of bug hunting.

It was very dry in Tucson. I can almost imediately feel the dry air as soon as we're out of the airport. Along the way to the hotel, we noticed grasses along the road are kind of dry.... not a good sign for bug collecting!






Instead of checking in the hotel early we went to the same area along Continental Drive (road to Madera Canyon), found out it was pretty 'dead' along the road side.






But since we're already there so we start to look around. There were many large holes probably from the lizards but looks like it has been abandon.






It was close to noon and the ground is starting to heat up pretty quick. Motte found an active ant nest, but most of the nest are closing up to avoid the heat.






We continue to check around the dry bushes and soon found a small stick insect.






Well that was a bad pic (if you can spot the stick insect on previous pic then you have a very good eye sight!). This one is probably easier to spot the stick insect.






Very small.... not sure what species






But soon we found a larger one






Suddenly Motte and I starting to spot something moving on the ground..... sure enough there was the ground mantis! The ground mantis move pretty fast, follow by a long pause, so once i lost sight from the first sprint it is very difficult to find them again.






Thsi is the habitat where we spotted the ground mantis. i thought i saw the mantis when i took this pic but couldn't find it on the photo again.






(to be continue)


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## revmdn (Jun 8, 2010)

Good eyes Yen. I cound't see a thing.


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## MantidLord (Jun 9, 2010)

great pics and eyes!


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 9, 2010)

As always, Yen, your pix are a joy. I had forgotten how soft and verdant the desert is in Tucson is compared with Yuma!  In that area, the holes in the ground, if they went out of site, were probably grasshopper mice holes. This far west they tend to be kangaroo rat holes. The trick is to see if they have any spider webs in the mouth, in which case they are abandoned (interesting that the Talmud and the Koran both tell a story about that). Although the ant nests close down around noon here, too, sometimes, as the shadows lengthen, I will see a "huge" shadow staggering slowly across the sidewalk. It is a tiny harvester with a huge chunk of leaf or a propeller seed pod, still wending his weary way homeward, long after his buddies settled down for siesta.

More pix please!


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## yen_saw (Jun 9, 2010)

revmdn said:


> Good eyes Yen. I cound't see a thing.


 Thanks Martin &amp; Mantidlord.Here it is. Sorry the stick insect on the first pic was blurry.














PhilinYuma said:


> As always, Yen, your pix are a joy. I had forgotten how soft and verdant the desert is in Tucson is compared with Yuma!  In that area, the holes in the ground, if they went out of site, were probably grasshopper mice holes. This far west they tend to be kangaroo rat holes. The trick is to see if they have any spider webs in the mouth, in which case they are abandoned (interesting that the Talmud and the Koran both tell a story about that). Although the ant nests close down around noon here, too, sometimes, as the shadows lengthen, I will see a "huge" shadow staggering slowly across the sidewalk. It is a tiny harvester with a huge chunk of leaf or a propeller seed pod, still wending his weary way homeward, long after his buddies settled down for siesta.
> 
> More pix please!


Thanks Phil. It makes lot of sense now. Is kangaroo rat the same as ground squarrel commonly found around Tucson? there were plenty of them in the canyon so those holes could be from these. A few times i have mistaken them for lizard until closer look.

Continue to look for more mantis and found a few more. Including a Yersiniop mantis, which was found hiding underneath dried grasses.






Ground mantis are easier to capture as they sprint across the empty space.






Have a pic right where a ground mantis was located.






Sweeping the net through the grasses and found this subadult male ground mantis.






Motte must have spotted another ant nest....






The heat was getting unbearable so we head back to the car and spotted this huge catepillar on mesquite tree right underneath us.






Also spotted couple of hatched out Stagmomantis egg cases.






Checking in to the hotel... this is where we stayed.


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## yen_saw (Jun 9, 2010)

Checking in the lobby.....






Decided to get a drink and cool down. Nice place.






West side of the hotel.... so Motte and I decided to get a look after drink.






Plenty of holes on the ground with web. Some holes has spider lurking on the entrance.











Spotted a huge ant nest. Looks like some kind of harvester ants.






Get a closer pic on them... kind of scary because the sting by one of these is very painful.






Motte digging up a small ant colony






It was about 1 pm and the heat is killing me, so we head back to the hotel.






There were plenty of rattle snake warning signs everywhere around the hotel compound.






(to be continue)


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## Rick (Jun 9, 2010)

Great pics Yen. Snake signs were cool. Too many people are quick to kill any snake they see.


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## yen_saw (Jun 10, 2010)

Rick said:


> Great pics Yen. Snake signs were cool. Too many people are quick to kill any snake they see.


 Thanks Rick. Yes unfortunately the rattlesnakes get kill often, as human starting to take over their habitat. The hotel is new and out there in the desert, but i didn't see any snake during my 2-day stay there.After avoiding the hot sunny day we decided to travel to Box Canyon in the late afternoon with our rented car - Ford Fushion.






As temperature drops, ants starting to come out again. Plenty of ant species but with the dry weather ant nuptial flight is nowhere in sight.











Motte trying to dig up rock underneath to check any possible new nest by the queen, but could find one. It was clearly very dry still in the canyon.






Took a pic at the Box Canyon entrance before sunset.






Temperature drop quickly soon after sunset. In as little as half an hour the temperature went from 88F to 69F. Time to head back to the hotel.






Had our dinner in the hotel. Have to say food here in Tucson is reasonably inexpensive and good, half the price of what I usually get in Houston! Especially steak. I had Masala chicken while Motte had his favorite steak.











Sorry about sidetracking to the food! Since the hotel is also close to one of the 'hot spots' recommended by Dr. Yager for Yersiniops and Litanuetria. We decided to travel to a small town 25 miles South of Green Ville called Arivaca the next morning.






Spotted a cool restaurant right before the entrance to Arivaca rd.


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## yen_saw (Jun 10, 2010)

Along the way to Arivaca, grasses are much greener than the Madera or Box Canyon which probably means this area might have been wetter or closer to water source.






Stopped by half way to check out for bugs. And spotted a huge fast moving darkling bug. I have heard these are capable of emitting some stink odor when disturbed so i left the beetle alone.











The sky is still cloudless and temperature raising fast in the morning.






There were plenty of great locations for witnessing nuptial flights in the wet season as we could find lot of different ant species along the route. After about 40 minutes of driving we finally arrived at this small town.






I found an empty lot directly opposite of the building on previous pic. Almost instantly saw an egg case on a small tree.






Get to 'work' immediately starting to check out bugs. Motte already down there looking for ants.


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## yen_saw (Jun 10, 2010)

As it is still early in May, i expect any mantis to be real small. So i basically have to glue my face to the ground to have any chance of finding them. But this place is full of mantis! Soon i spotted one....






it is probably easier to find the ground mantis from the following pic (same mantis - different angle). They do blend into the surrounding well. The only time I can see the mantis is when they move. Ground mantis will make a short sprint and stop completely, not moving again until you get real close to them. So it is really easy to lose sight of it, especially under thick bush.






The ground mantis are really active during mid-day, that makes them easy to spot but not as easy to capture. HOwever, there were plenty of them so i must have caught about 20 in just one hour, but i have also lost at least as many during that hour.






We took a break from the hot sun from 1-5 pm and went back again to this 'hot spot' for another run. This time Motte join me for the hunt. I guess the 'hunting fever' caught us and both of us must have caught about 70 mantis in that late afternoon. Most of the ground mantis and about 6 Yersiniops sp. probably sophronica.
















Catching the mantis in late afternoon is just the opposite of during mid-day when it was much hotter. Mantis is less active in the cooler temperature so they move less often unless you get very close to them. But once the mantis is spotted, there is a great chance it will be bagged as compare to the afternoon where the ground mantis will actively moving to avoid capture. That area muct have hunderds of ground mantis! MOst of them in early stage.

We passed by another 'hot-spot' recommended by Dr. Yager, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, but decided to skip it.






The entire Arivaca rd. is heavily patrolled by border patrol, i reckon this must be a popular smuggling line... either drugs or illegal human trafficking activities. We were stopped by border patrol cars twice along the route..... gezzzzz. The sun-burn must have making me look like one of the illegal immigrant!

Man.... i still have load of pictures to upload... stay tune.


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## revmdn (Jun 10, 2010)

Wish I was there.


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## ismart (Jun 11, 2010)

revmdn said:


> Wish I was there.


Me too!


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## pohchunyee (Jun 13, 2010)

Ha Yen,

You are not alone. I have been misidentified as Mexican 2X myself. Especially during summer time when I get real tan.


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## yen_saw (Jun 13, 2010)

pohchunyee said:


> Ha Yen,
> 
> You are not alone. I have been misidentified as Mexican 2X myself. Especially during summer time when I get real tan.


Hey Chun, yeah the border patrol officers are just doing their job but guess i do look like one of the 'coyote' haha! We were there during the midst of the new unpopular immigration law in Arizona actually but they just let us go after showing them my butterfly net and Texas driving license. :lol: 

Sorry i have been gluing to my chair/bed watching World Cup he he  

The next morning we were ready to check out. Went for breakfast before leaving to another hotel at Catalina foothill. Had a chance to take the photo on the golf course which is on the East side of the hotel. Man i need the new Sony Isweep panorama shot haha.











After checking out we met a garderner who was telling us that during July when it rains, this hotel will be full of bugs crawling around. He took a pic for me and Motte at the entrance of the hotel block we stayed. I found a sun spider right outside the door.






After settling in the Best Western Inn which took a while because of the graduation day for University of Arizona (students celebrate in hotel after college graduation nowadays?). I have the honor to meet up with a very knowledgable fellow member here, Mike! He wore ant shirt so i could spot him easier haha! We went to Sabino Canyon the same time.






The park is beautiful....






The first animal spotted was a ground squarrel!






and they don't seem to be afraid of the us






Mike spotted a move group of ants with queen ant. So get his aspirator to work






haha got the queen






(to continue)


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## revmdn (Jun 13, 2010)

You should grab a ground squirel.


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## yen_saw (Jun 14, 2010)

revmdn said:


> You should grab a ground squirel.


 I did not, but I saw a dog got them, not in the park though (no pet allow in Sabino Canyon), will post the little drama later........Moving along, Mike spotted an ooth.






Sure enough it has hatched out before. Probably just a month ago.






All the giant cactus around the canyon are good size. this is is probably 100-yr old.






Deeper in the canyon there are plenty of those huge cactus






Just one of the trails into the canyon. Spotted a quail on the far left






Closer look at the quail, colorful....






We only spend an hour and the sun set pretty fast






Well, we didn't see much but the dinner at Village Inn was good... right Mike?


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## yen_saw (Jun 14, 2010)

The next morning, we went to Aravaipa Canyon. This time we have the honor of having another 2 insect field heavy weight coming along. This pic was taken at the end of the trip but thought it is good to introduce them up front. The person on my left is the popular figure in bug guide, Eric Eaton, who is the principal author for the _Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America_. A wonderful and soft spoken guy. The person in the center is Dr. Margarethe Brummermann, who is currently working on Arizona beetle guide, and is also the lead for this trip. Of course, it wouldn't be fun without Mike joining the group  






Aravaipa Canyon is a good 1 and half hour drive north of Tucson. Right before we reached the canyon, there was a snake spotted crossing the road. By the time we get down, Margarethe has already shoo the snake to the edge of the road.






It was a gopher snake according to Margarethe.






The snake is making a move towards Eric who was busy setting up his camera to shoot the snake.....






and before he knows.... the snake went underneath his feet!!






and sure enough the snake went up to Eric's pant!!!! guess the snake found a cool spot :lol: By now Eric is getting panic.....






Mike come to the rescue.... he is the hero  






Well after that little drama i bet Eric doesn't wanna see anymore snake.... the snake found a 'natural' cool spot finally.






So we finally arrived at Aravaipa Canyon






This is the downstream of Aravaipa Creek. Always good to see water source, although it was still pretty dry on land.






(To continue)


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## Rick (Jun 14, 2010)

Good haul with all the mantids Yen. Love that pic of the big cacti from a distance. I need to get out there someday. Would like to go looking for things somewhere new for a change.


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## yen_saw (Jun 15, 2010)

Rick said:


> Good haul with all the mantids Yen. Love that pic of the big cacti from a distance. I need to get out there someday. Would like to go looking for things somewhere new for a change.


Thanks. The mantis habitat is quite different from the one in Texas.The collecting method for Margarethe is by beating the bush wih stick and check the beat sheet for fallen insects











Saw a robber fly on the branch






One lucky robber fly got a fly!






Mike working on his aspirator again






Ha... must be the roach day huh Mike!






Spotted a dead bird






Flipped over the bird and found a colony of ant underneath it. By now everyone is taking a peep on it






Near the river, plants are geener, and easier to find bugs too.






THere are at least 4 different type of beetles on Margrethe's beat sheet.






Some of the beetles are posted on Margarehe's blog too

http://arizonabeetlesbugsbirdsandmore.blogspot.com/2010/05/aravaipa-canyon.html

(To continue)


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## yen_saw (Jun 18, 2010)

Just upload some more pics....

Eric seems to have lot of fun checking the bugs around the creek






Not letting Eric have all the fun, i joinned in. The river is full of little fish.






Motte spotted something worth a pic.... wonder what was it.






It was a spider.






Some of us trying to flip over a wood trunk






Found couple of click beetle larvae






Due to the dry weather, insects usually concentrate around or close to the area with higher moisture, which include a fresh cow dung. Margarethe found some beetles in there.






Ant colony can be found in some dry cow dung too.











Even scorpian preferred to hide underneath it.






(next: more from Aravaipa Canyon)


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 18, 2010)

It was like watching a movie, thanks Yen, I needed the break, and the little leaf guy is so cute!


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## yen_saw (Jun 18, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> It was like watching a movie, thanks Yen, I needed the break, and the little leaf guy is so cute!


Sorry Rebecca i know it is like a soup opera i have been slow to upload the pics since World Cup began  Promise to finish up sooner.There were some moths and butterflies but not too many
















Mike found an empty egg case o Stagmomantis sp. So mantis are actually wide spread in this region, just that we can't find them this early.






Saw a large funnel web, Eric trying to lure the spider out by touching the web with a stick






and there come the spider checking out what's up...






We found a dead cow, another great place to check out for beetle and its larvae






A sourvenier for me...






We move onto different spots along the Canyon, nice scenery.


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## yen_saw (Jun 19, 2010)

There are some nice looking lizard too in the canyon.











The view of Catalina foothill sunset on the way back to Tucson after leaving Aravaipa Canyon






Back to the hotel, Motte busy downloading the pictures, and that was my last pic before i 'passed out' on my bed for an hour.






We were flying back to Houston the next day afternoon but couldn't resist the invitation from Margarethe so we decided to make a quick visit to Margarethe's home in the morning. Her house is just next to the beautiful Sagaro National Park. Here is the entrance to her place






We were greeted by 5 friendly dogs











I spotted something moving on the pebble path to the garden. Oh my god it is a horned toad!!! I have always want to see them in the wild....finally.






I have seen in the documentary that this lizard is capable of squirting red blood liquid at approaching enemy when threatened.






Very cool looking lizard. Glad to see this.






(to continue)


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## pohchunyee (Jun 19, 2010)

Reading this is like I was there at Arizona... very nice!!!


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## sbugir (Jun 19, 2010)

Very cool, is the Horned lizard/toad the one that shoots blood out of its eye?


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## yen_saw (Jun 21, 2010)

pohchunyee said:


> Reading this is like I was there at Arizona... very nice!!!


Thanks Chun.


lemmiwinks said:


> Very cool, is the Horned lizard/toad the one that shoots blood out of its eye?


 A few species of horned lizard are able to do that. They'll also inflate their body to several times larger than its original body size when being threatened. But i actually shoot the lizard from a distance so the lizard won't run away or felt threaten. The following pic is the actual distance from the lizard, can you find the horned toad??






There are many type of lizards around Margarethe's house, here is another one






Zooming in






Plenty of bees gathering around the flowers in the garden






The day gets hot soon and it was not even 10 am (over here the sky turns bright as early as 5 am). The bird is resting in the nest






Margarethe decided to bring Motte and I out to a deserted compound next to her home.











Heard a woodpecker pounding on cactus, a huge cactus






Nice woodpecker, probably building a nest.






(To continue)


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## yen_saw (Jun 22, 2010)

As we are walking further away from Margarethe's house, the desert is getting dryer and hotter. But that also means insects will be hiding on shady places. Underneath every cow dung there is almost certain to find a scorpian. Flipping over one we saw a spider and scorpian share the same refuge.






This spider is not afraid of us.






But the scorpian will try to dig in, especially when disturbed.











Here is a cow dung....






Flip it over, and there's the scorpian






This one is really dry, i wonder if there is anything below it...






Well, sure enough, another scorpian






And another one, wanna guess what's underneath it...yeah a wild guess.






What else... there is one in almost every dung we flipped over.






So now i know where to look for 'food' if i am lost in the desert :lol:


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## yen_saw (Jun 22, 2010)

We continue to look for other insect but what we saw next was not insects or reptiles, there were couple of young ground squarrels which i mistaken as lizard at first. Both dive into the holes nearby but came out of the hole rather quick for some reason. Cody which was a really nice dog following us all this while suddenly went crazy and chased after the two ground squarrels. (One of the squarrel can be seen underneath the bush)






Cody totally ignored Margarethe's shouting and went for it..... a tragedy






Bummer one squarrel is gone....






Didn't take long for Cody to get the other one, poor thing.... Margaretha was furious...






Cody gets a bashing from Margarethe, he looks sad











Cody went home alone afterwards, with his tail down. I guess Cody will be sad until...... he sees another ground squarrel :lol: I asked Margarethe why the ground squarrels jump out from the holes, Margarethe then said she released a rattlesnake somewhere around this area yesterday.... uh oh. Must be in that hole, bad luck for the ground squarrels.

Motte spotted a colony of ants finally, but the ground was too dry and hard to dig up anything






We went back to the house and i had a new friend! but not Cody  






(To continue - Back to Houston, more hunting)


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 22, 2010)

Really nice final pic Yen!


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## yen_saw (Jun 24, 2010)

hibiscusmile said:


> Really nice final pic Yen!


Thanks Rebecca. I believed that is Tana (name after Montana) as i lived in Montana for 3 years that name stucked on my mind for some reason.  The Arizona trip was great, especially observing the mantis habitat in early May. Motte wasn't so lucky on collecting ants so we hope to find him some queen ants back in Texas. I was approached by a undergrate biology student named Dayne who is working on studying mantis behaviour (on aggression trait) couple of months ago for some mantis, and his mentor happen to bea grad student studying harvester queen ants foraging behaviour, so i thought Motte would like to meet the person. Besides, i was interested in checking out how Dayne keep his mantis in the 'controlled' environment.

Here is a pic of us together in the lab in University of Houston. Dayne is on the right and next to him is Lara who is the grad student.






Here is where Dayne keeps his mantis.....






With all the parameters and lightning











We went checking out the Bear Creek park and found plenty of huge harvester ant nests. Here is one of the colony.






It was during mid day by then and we decided to meet at the same place again early next morning to check for any sign of queen ant cocoon or winged queen ant so we could predict the nuptial flight time. So we gethered around again at the same place. For some reason there are lot of harvester ant nests this year.






Each nest has many trails connected to the nest, here is one of the trails with harvester ants busy moving seeds back into the nest.






We went through several nests before finding one that could be the easiest to dig up without severely harmimng the nest.











Saw some queen ant cocoon on most of the nests, indicating the nuptial flight shohuld be around a month or so, depending on the next down pour.


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## yen_saw (Jun 24, 2010)

While looking for ants, Dayne found a red ear slider haha!











The following day we went to several spots looking for swarm of ants mating site with the guidance of my bug friend David. We found some mated queen ants on a few gas stations and store. The nuptial flight have taken place probably a day ago or so and plenty of dead males around. These are the Texas leaf cutter ants.











The queen ants of this species is one of the largest in the world.











The male has smaller head






Some queen missed out the mating swarm and still carry wings






Few of the Texas leaf cutter queen ants from the group we found.... Motte is a happy camper! Caught plenty and Motte spent lot of time packing them to bring back to Germany






(To continue)


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## Hypoponera (Jun 24, 2010)

Hey wait a second! How about sending one or two of those leaf cutter queens my way!! Guess our next meet up will have me going to Houston rather then Tucson.


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## yen_saw (Jun 27, 2010)

Hypoponera said:


> Hey wait a second! How about sending one or two of those leaf cutter queens my way!! Guess our next meet up will have me going to Houston rather then Tucson.


Mike, sorry the Atta texana nuptial flight season appear to be over in my area. They only swarm during the new moon phase from April to June. You may want to ask Motte (Chris) to trade some  The queen can easily fetch more than idolomantis in Europe, and a colony could worth more. Yeah sure we could meet in HOuston next time I will bring you around  but the drive from NM to east Texas is far less interesting than the one you took (to Tucson) i have hard time keeping myself awake the last time i drove across TX state! But the Texas leaf cutter ant swarm should worth the trip  SOme other species of queen ants Motte collected






Also a Componatus queen






We also found the nuptial flight 'aftermath' for the dreaded fireants






Also spotted a cool insect











Takin a fruit fly using the front legs and sapping up with the probosis






Some beetles and mole crickets captured around the parks











Motte also brought back a few paper wasp colony











(to continue)


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 27, 2010)

I could look at these pix for ever, Yen! Thanks again. Love those paper wasps, even though they are an exception that wrecks my handy dandy distinction between hornets and wasps, that I made recently



Did your friend Motte happen to say what he thought the species was? From the brown coloration and location, I would guess Polistes major castaneicolor, but I am a very long way from being expert. This genus, Polistes, is interesting in that it appears to be a transition between solitary and fully social wasps.


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## yen_saw (Jun 28, 2010)

PhilinYuma said:


> I could look at these pix for ever, Yen! Thanks again. Love those paper wasps, even though they are an exception that wrecks my handy dandy distinction between hornets and wasps, that I made recently
> 
> 
> 
> Did your friend Motte happen to say what he thought the species was? From the brown coloration and location, I would guess Polistes major castaneicolor, but I am a very long way from being expert. This genus, Polistes, is interesting in that it appears to be a transition between solitary and fully social wasps.


Your guess is as good as Motte Phil. Except that yours is even more specific (to the species). This species appear to be socialize type. Motte told me a few hatched out during his trip back to Germany.Sorry for dragging this thread so long. Following are few more photos taken at several parks around Houston area.

A type of ground wasp ready to get into the hole, Motte told me the scientifica name by I kept forgetting.






Another type of wasp






Motte found this spider on the fence.






and brought back some egg sac too, i have no idea this live on my house's fence.






Few spiders











other bugs











a pseudoscorpian






Sorry have to end the thread abruptly, due to my recent assignment at work there have been little time left for my hobby. I hope to be able to come back and share more photos again, there are still plenty of photos left still in the memory card.

All in all, looking for bugs during the dryer season is not as easy, unlike the wetter season when insects are everywhere. However, if one can locate the spot with green vegetation and moisture it is not difficult to find them as most of the insects would stay close to the water source during dryer season. I hope you'll have fun following this thread and thanks for looking.


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 29, 2010)

I guess that all good things come to an end. This thread has been an absolute delight for me, Yen, and I am sure for many others as well.

Your friend Motte is very wise in generally not going to species level without a good dichotomous key and a dissecting microscope. The second of your two latest wasps cannot be accurately taken below the family level, Ichneumonoidea, from a photo or even a quick look. (I am assuming that the slightly out of DOF thing behind it is the ovipositer). The first one is easier, especially in this area and is an Ammophila sp. To help you remember the name, here is the stupid explanation that I gave on a local website, years ago:

Ammophila means "ammunition loving". These wasps normally have all black abdomens but in areas like Yuma, which has a USMCAB, they carry off the ammunition used in the planes' machine guns which contain depleted uranium (25mm DU rounds). After eating these for a while, the tip of their abdomen begins to glow red.........

I got a nice note from the moderator, saying that though it was incredible to him, some folks actually believed what I wrote so would I desist or use smiley faces or something.

Of course, maybe yr friend called them Sphecid wasps, which is a bit further back. Fortunately, I don't have a stupid story for that.


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## ismart (Jun 30, 2010)

This thread has been a real pleasure to follow.  Thanks yen for sharing your pics with us.  In the future when you have time. Please post the rest of your pics.


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## animalexplorer (Mar 6, 2011)

Super adventure thhread Yen! You should go to South America, you would love it. It would probably hard for you to leave because you would end up liking it there so much.


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## yen_saw (Mar 7, 2011)

Thanks Paul, I am hoping to visit Arizona again this coming September.

South America is like my dreamland, i would like to visit the Amazon before my grave.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Mar 8, 2011)

Thanks for the journey Yen, enjoyed the ride.


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## Peter Clausen (Mar 9, 2011)

Looks like this post is seeing some action again suddenly. I expect to move to Tucson this summer. Talked with a mutual friend last week and he said you would be in AZ again this summer. Perhaps our luck will work out better this time.


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## yen_saw (Mar 12, 2011)

Slinkytreekreeper said:


> Thanks for the journey Yen, enjoyed the ride.


You are welcome, it was fun for me to look back at those pics too eventhough it was only half a year ago. 


Peter Clausen said:


> Looks like this post is seeing some action again suddenly. I expect to move to Tucson this summer. Talked with a mutual friend last week and he said you would be in AZ again this summer. Perhaps our luck will work out better this time.


See you in September Peter! Maybe with this move Stagmomantis gracilipes will no longer be a stranger in this forum.


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## Morpheus uk (Mar 17, 2011)

What happens to all these inverts after they have been captured?


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