Ortholeptura valida

This attractive longhorn beetle (Ortholeptura valida) was fairly abundant this year in the Sierra Nevada between 5,000 and 7,000 feet.  This individual (measuring about an inch long , exclusive of the antennae) came to our light near Shaver Lake (above Fresno, California) a couple of moths ago. We also found a population above Wishon Reservoir (still Fresno County) in July.

Linsey and Chemsak (in the Cerambycidae of North America, Part VI. no. 2) list the host plants as Abies, Tsuga, Pinus, and Pseudotsuga. This individual probably came out of ponderosa pine or white fir - both fairly common around Shaver Lake q.v.

Batyle ignicollis

Last month while wandering among the scrub willows of a tributary of the Duchesne River (near Altamont, Utah) I happened upon this attractive longhorn beetle (Batyle ignicollis). It was resting on the willow leaves in a cobble-strewn riparian habitat.

It is a variable species with a handfull of subspecies sprinkled accross the Western US. It is about an inch long. It isn't an uncommon insect at the right time of year (and in the right place). But then again it isn't all that common either. Finding it made my day.

Molorchus longicollis

The Merced River below Yosemite National Park runs through a beautiful yet spare landscape. It is dry most of the year and most species of plants bloom in the spring. Two years ago this last March, we camped at McCabe Flat Campground and enjoyed the beautiful show of flowers along the river and the pleasant weather.

I aslo found a few longhorn beetles (Molorchus longicollis) on buckbrush. Some were on the flowers covered in pollen and others were mating on nearby branches. They are interesting beetles with pale abbreviated wing covers and long antennae.

The species is one of the smallest longhorn beetles in the world. It is hardly even a centimeter long (about the size of your freshly clipped baby fingernail). Compared to another longhorn beetle (the largest beetle in the world) that is as long as your hand with fingers extended, you can get the idea of the size difference.  In the habitat shot you can barely see the Merced River through the oaks.

Rhagium inquisitor

The ribbed pine borer Rhagium inquisitor (Linnaeus) is a longhorn beetle that occurs around the world in the Northern Hemisphere. The larvae usually live a couple of years under the bark of dead pines. After pupating in the summer, adults emerge in the fall and overwinter inside a frass wall beneath the bark.

These appropriately named beetles have interested insect physiologists for a number of years because of their ability to withstand harsh sub-zero winters above ground (albeit somehat protected inder an inch of bark). They have a combination of anti-freeze compounds in their blood that enables them to avoid ice crystal formation at temperatures below -16 degrees C. Here are a couple of the frass wall hybernacula that I found last week near Watsonville, California.

We were visiting the beach and I found a couple of the beetles on a dead Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) just a mile or so from the coast. It can be seen in the habitat shot off to the right.

Tragosoma pilosicornis

Tragosoma pilosicornis is small as far as prionid longhorn beetles go. It's a substantial insect, however, by other criteria. This individual is about an inch long but like other bycids, when it extends its antennae, it seems much bigger. This one came bumbling in to my blacklight a week ago just below Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California (at about 4,700 feet). The main trees in the vicinity were ponderosa pine and incense cedar.

This species is not nearly as common as T. depsarium which also occurs in California (and much of the West and across the Northern Hemisphere). It is also quite a bit less hairy than its more common relative and has very noticeable pitting on the anterior half of the wing covers.

This is the first time I've seen T. pilosicornis alive. The habitat shot is a morning view after Michael and I pulled ourselves out of our sleeping bags.

 

 

Cosmosalia chrysocoma

Here's a Rocky Mountain longhorn beetle, Cosmosalia chrysocoma. It's one of those variable lepturines with a fairly wide distribution (throughout Canada and in much of the Western US) but with populations that can look unique. It can often be found on flowers. I found this one on a thistle bud.

Some of individuals are much darker (with the black base color showing through the elytral pubescence). I have also seen specimens that almost look gold. I found this one just before dusk up American Fork Canyon (in the same place as the giant ladybird beetle of my last post).

The habitat is spare scrub oak and sagebrush with Douglas fir and boxelder along the canyon floor. It's always a good day when you find bycids about.

Prionus californicus

Over 30 years ago I hung out my first blackight trap to attract night flying insects. It was in the early summer along the Wasatch Front of the Rocky Mountains and I really didn't know what to expect. I hung it out behind our barn and after I had watched it for some time with nothing more than midges and water boatmen coming in I left for the house. Then several minutes later my brother came in quite excited and said that there was a big beetle on the sheet. I ran out to see for myself and found the largest beetle I could imagine. It was Prionus californicus and it was almost 2 inches long.

Since then, I've discovered that this insect isn't uncommon at all. In fact in some places it can be a pest of fruit trees. It is a Western species occuring from Colorado to the West Coast. In the North it occurs in southern Canada and ranges south into northern Mexico.

These pictures are of an individual that landed just outside my office west of Fresno this week. I'm not sure where it came from - maybe somebody's apple orchard. Finding it was like finding an old friend.