2011 Texas and Arizona summer collecting experience

[yen_saw]

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.

 

[ismart]

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.

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

 

[lancaster1313]

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

 

[minard734]

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

 

[agent A]

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?

 

[yen_saw]

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

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

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

Stagmomantis carolina.

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......

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

Awesome pics!

 

[yen_saw]

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)

 

[yen_saw]

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

 

[gripen]

cool.

 

[minard734]

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

 

[[email protected]]

Love the pics Yen!

 

[rs4guy]

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

 

[yen_saw]

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.

 

[lunarstorm]

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.

 

[minard734]

You are da man!

 

[gripen]

Can't wait for the AZ picks!

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

Excited!

 

[yen_saw]

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&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......

 

[lunarstorm]

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.