d0rk2dafullest
Well-known member
awesome spider crab!
Bug hunts in Arizona(Tucson) and Eastern Texas area
- Thread starter yen_saw
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Continue with more bug hunt. This time we went to Kingwood - about 30 miles north of Houston - to meet up a bug buddy of mine David for both day and night hunt. Before the hunt I want him to show Chris his awsome dried collection, but i was the one who really want to see it again. I never get tired looking at those eventhough i have seen it many time.
Here they are (nothing much on mantis)
Kenny holding a large Malaysian stick insect - bought from KL butterfly park.
David has about 30+ trays i will only show part of it
more pics next post....
Here they are (nothing much on mantis)
Kenny holding a large Malaysian stick insect - bought from KL butterfly park.
David has about 30+ trays i will only show part of it
more pics next post....
An owl butterfly and nice birdwing butterfly pair collection David had someone bought for him from Malaysia in KL butterfly park
I can see Chris "crying" when he saw the Texas leaf cutter queen ant in one of his pin collection! How he wished it was a live specimen.
Zoom in on the mantis collection, not sure what it is but look like European mantis
Well enough with the collection so we moved on to the day hunt, but sun was fast setting. Then i saw a wasp looking ant moving near the garage door and quickly let Chris know. Turn out that it is a queen!!! Chris quickly captured it without getting stung (it deliver a painful sting!)
It appear to be the same wasp-looking like ant species we saw over the park near my house. Got the sceintific name from Chris as Pseudomyrmex gracilis?! He claimed that he will be the first person in Europe to have this species, but he will need another queen to continue breeding future generation as this species avoid inbreeding. Damn he will be so rich
if we found another.
To attract more ants we brought a can of sugar and pour it along the trail from a park. Since both David andf myself are not the ant guy only Chris is looking down the ground and holding the sugar walking down the trail :lol: Unfortunately what we attracted were only bunch of fire ants.... grrr they are everywhere!
So move on with night hunt next post......
I can see Chris "crying" when he saw the Texas leaf cutter queen ant in one of his pin collection! How he wished it was a live specimen.
Zoom in on the mantis collection, not sure what it is but look like European mantis
Well enough with the collection so we moved on to the day hunt, but sun was fast setting. Then i saw a wasp looking ant moving near the garage door and quickly let Chris know. Turn out that it is a queen!!! Chris quickly captured it without getting stung (it deliver a painful sting!)
It appear to be the same wasp-looking like ant species we saw over the park near my house. Got the sceintific name from Chris as Pseudomyrmex gracilis?! He claimed that he will be the first person in Europe to have this species, but he will need another queen to continue breeding future generation as this species avoid inbreeding. Damn he will be so rich
if we found another.To attract more ants we brought a can of sugar and pour it along the trail from a park. Since both David andf myself are not the ant guy only Chris is looking down the ground and holding the sugar walking down the trail :lol: Unfortunately what we attracted were only bunch of fire ants.... grrr they are everywhere!
So move on with night hunt next post......
The first interesting creature we found was not a bug, but a green anole.
Then we stopped by at a school with bright flourscent lights around.
Tiger beetles were everywhere!
A metallic tiger beetle
Some bugs i have no idea
A very large black cricket...... which eventually taken by my Florida barkies.
Found two Stagmomantis carolina adult male. One will go to bug fest.
More pics to come....
Then we stopped by at a school with bright flourscent lights around.
Tiger beetles were everywhere!
A metallic tiger beetle
Some bugs i have no idea
A very large black cricket...... which eventually taken by my Florida barkies.
Found two Stagmomantis carolina adult male. One will go to bug fest.
More pics to come....
A nice large beetle
hopper
Chris managed to find another queen ant of Pachycondyla harpax, and again saying that he hasn't seen this species in culture back ini Europe..... he is so lucky! The ant move so fast i don't wanna risk taking a pic sorry!
I also found a dead adult female Thesprotia gramins... what a bummer! But i am really glad this species is making a comeback to Houston. I couldn't find a single grass mantis (not even a dead one) last year due to the non-stopping summer storm.
So my mission will be finding an adult pair of grass mantis while Chris's mission would be another wasp-looking queen ant in another park........
At the meantime. The AZ grasshopper mantis produced an ootheca!
Could it be Y. sophronica or Y. solitaria ? Well i can only hope it hatches and only time will tell.
hopper
Chris managed to find another queen ant of Pachycondyla harpax, and again saying that he hasn't seen this species in culture back ini Europe..... he is so lucky! The ant move so fast i don't wanna risk taking a pic sorry!
I also found a dead adult female Thesprotia gramins... what a bummer! But i am really glad this species is making a comeback to Houston. I couldn't find a single grass mantis (not even a dead one) last year due to the non-stopping summer storm.
So my mission will be finding an adult pair of grass mantis while Chris's mission would be another wasp-looking queen ant in another park........
At the meantime. The AZ grasshopper mantis produced an ootheca!
Could it be Y. sophronica or Y. solitaria ? Well i can only hope it hatches and only time will tell.
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The_Asa
Well-known member
That is an amazing bug collection! Never seen anyone that devoted :lol:
How do you guys find these bugs? Do you search or do you prefer to attract them?
How do you guys find these bugs? Do you search or do you prefer to attract them?
David really has the heart and patient for his pinned collection. I learnt quite a bit from him.
We go out searching for diurnal species (dragon fly, butterfly, grasshopper, etc) during day time and attracting nocturnal insects (moth and beetle) using light trap. It depends onwhat you like but it is easier to collect bug at night as they are attracted to the light source so you don't have to look for them.
Never try feeding mantis tiger beetle. Mainly wild caught moth. But i am sure mantis is capable of handling both.
Took a break and brought Chris to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to check out some bugs at BUtterfly center/insect zoo. THe insect zoo manager (Erin) was kind enough to give me some free tickets for Chris. I gave Erin some mantis, scorpian, and tarantula (Thanks again Peter!) and we started taking some pics
Leaf insects
How many leaf insect can you find?
Chris and myself in the backstage
Chris with Erin
Stick insects
Vinegaroon
MOre stick insect
Discussing with Erin on the budwing, carolina, and asian giant mantis nymphs (32oz insect containers)
MOre pics on the butterfly park........
PIcs from the butterfly center
Chris with his favorite ant display section
Next we are back to bug hunt near West Houston Bear Creek Park......... post more pics tomorrow. Promise to have some mantis photos!
Chris with his favorite ant display section
Next we are back to bug hunt near West Houston Bear Creek Park......... post more pics tomorrow. Promise to have some mantis photos!
collinchang635
Well-known member
Be sure to stop by Malaysia. There are a lot of insects and some mantids here. If you do, check out Cameron Highlands. That place is full of orchids and dead leave mantids. If you're not that lucky in finding them, be sure to ask the 'orang asli' to help look for them (they're really good). If you would like topurchase some, I think you can go to the butterfly farm. From the information 'pohchunyee' (also a Malaysian like me) gave me, you can go around and ask the farmers if they will allow you to look around their farms for mantids.
pohchunyee
Well-known member
collinchang635
Well-known member
Spent most of my first 20 year living in Malaysia
CH (Cameron highland) was part of my plan this Summer vacation, but i got sick... sigh....
Are you from KL? CH is developing into a tourist area so i would go sooner for bug before all the trees are gone! There used to be only one way going up (via Tapah road) but few years ago there is a Simpang Pulai route going to CH which has less winding road. The new route also open up more access roads to bug collecting. I was planning to visit the Orang asli too although my "Bahasa Melayu" is pretty bad nowadays.
So back to bug hunt. Went to couple of parks. The first one looks like this
Nice area for ant collection and grass mantis. But plenty of large spider (Orb weaver?)
Ah i was late! appear to be a hatched out (with parasitic holes) Carolina ooth.
A cicada and an old shed
Adult female Thesprotia graminis!!! although a good 2.5 inches they are pretty tough to spot as they blend in well with the surrounding. I couldn't take the pic of it using my lousy camera so i have to place her on a stick for focusing, ya i am cheating ha!
She is kind of fat so finger cross she has been mated.
Found an interesting ant at first glance.
But wait it is not an ant!!
It is some kind of wheel bug nymph. An ant mimicking bug... cool. The long "probosis" gives the clue.
We also found some velvet ants. The small one reminds me of the "Disney" velvet ant found in Arizona.
By the way, the AZ velvet ant was identified as Pseudomethoca contumax in bug guide.
The more common velvet ant
Next post is about hunting ant lions and queen ants.....
I have never been bothered digging up the antlion from its trap. But since Chrsitian is here we decided to dig up a few. Antlion appear to be selling good in Japan according to Chris.
Here we found the typical antlion traps. They are usually found right below a large dead oak tree where ants infested the area. Also at area where the area soil type is of soft clayey and sandy.
All you need is a small shovel, and small tweezer, and as usual, a good pair of eye as antlion lays motionless appear just like a clump of clay. Antlion usually stay pretty close to the surface so you don't have to dig in too deep. However, you need to be quick or they dissappear beneath the soft soil pretty fast too.
Here is when we first dig up the trap. If you have a good eye you can spot the antlion's head. But trust me it is difficult to spot when we first dig it up, not to mention being sucked dry by tons of annoying mosquitoes at the same time.
Slowly going through the pile of soil... and there you are!
Then Chris is busy checking for the wasp like ant
and hit jackpot! another queen! now good chance he will continue to breed this species in Europe.
and found a colony with some brood, and some winged queen and male. Talk about luck!
Here is a comparison between a worker and winged queen. The winged queen looks just like a wasp.
A colony all hiding in this piece of log. So Chris took the whole log with him. He is certain there is a producing queen inside.
Opss reach the limit of 10 pics per post so move on to the next post with more bug hunt....
Here we found the typical antlion traps. They are usually found right below a large dead oak tree where ants infested the area. Also at area where the area soil type is of soft clayey and sandy.
All you need is a small shovel, and small tweezer, and as usual, a good pair of eye as antlion lays motionless appear just like a clump of clay. Antlion usually stay pretty close to the surface so you don't have to dig in too deep. However, you need to be quick or they dissappear beneath the soft soil pretty fast too.
Here is when we first dig up the trap. If you have a good eye you can spot the antlion's head. But trust me it is difficult to spot when we first dig it up, not to mention being sucked dry by tons of annoying mosquitoes at the same time.
Slowly going through the pile of soil... and there you are!
Then Chris is busy checking for the wasp like ant
and hit jackpot! another queen! now good chance he will continue to breed this species in Europe.
and found a colony with some brood, and some winged queen and male. Talk about luck!
Here is a comparison between a worker and winged queen. The winged queen looks just like a wasp.
A colony all hiding in this piece of log. So Chris took the whole log with him. He is certain there is a producing queen inside.
Opss reach the limit of 10 pics per post so move on to the next post with more bug hunt....
guess my luck on ootheca is not doing so well... another very old ooth. Carolina i presumed.
but the luck can turn as quickly too. Found couple of fresh ootheca without parasictic holes. yay!
This one is so fresh my guess is it was deposited just a day or only hours ago.
So i was playing around with the adult female grass mantis and found another fat one!
So now i am hoping to find a male grass mantis just in case the two female haven't been mated. But based on my experience the grass mantis adult female found around the tree bark are mated and ready to deposit ootheca which is commonly found around lower part of tree bark. So I moved on to the grassy area where grass mantis adult male can sometimes be spotted flying around.
But what i found was a surprise.... a green snake! This one is about couple of foot long.
So i moved on to find some other bugs instead. A jumping spider attacking a moth its own size
Some more wheel bug
This wheel bug was finally identified as the adult form of the ant mimicking wheel bug.
And before we decided to end the bug hunt, there is this subadult male grass mantis found short grassy area! he is missing a leg but hopefully he can molt out alright. I can certainly use him if both adult female grass mantis ahven't not been mated (which i doubted)
That's all for now!!!
but the luck can turn as quickly too. Found couple of fresh ootheca without parasictic holes. yay!
This one is so fresh my guess is it was deposited just a day or only hours ago.
So i was playing around with the adult female grass mantis and found another fat one!
So now i am hoping to find a male grass mantis just in case the two female haven't been mated. But based on my experience the grass mantis adult female found around the tree bark are mated and ready to deposit ootheca which is commonly found around lower part of tree bark. So I moved on to the grassy area where grass mantis adult male can sometimes be spotted flying around.
But what i found was a surprise.... a green snake! This one is about couple of foot long.
So i moved on to find some other bugs instead. A jumping spider attacking a moth its own size
Some more wheel bug
This wheel bug was finally identified as the adult form of the ant mimicking wheel bug.
And before we decided to end the bug hunt, there is this subadult male grass mantis found short grassy area! he is missing a leg but hopefully he can molt out alright. I can certainly use him if both adult female grass mantis ahven't not been mated (which i doubted)
That's all for now!!!
Giosan
Well-known member
Omg I have a thing for grass/stick mantids :lol: Very nice.
idolomantis
Well-known member
i begin to get addicted to watching this...
collinchang635
Well-known member
Not from KL actually, I'm from PJ
collinchang635
Well-known member
Not from KL actually, I'm from PJ. Going to Cameron next month with a friend for a bug hunting trip. This topic motivated me.
mantidsandgeckos
Well-known member
Yen saw, can you give us tips on how to and where to catch mantids in Cameron highlands?
