Ampedus occidentalis

Ampedus occidentalis is a medium-sized click beetle (about a centimeter long) that lives much of its life in the decaying wood of fallen pines. I found this one under the bark of a dead ponderosa pine several miles east of Jackson, California a couple of weeks ago.

There are several species of Ampedus that have this general color pattern - of the black body with pale (almost orange) wing covers. Many of the species have a black spot at the end of the body. In A. occidentalis, the black spots normally do not touch the sides of the wing covers.

The grove of trees where I found it was a mixed conifer forest of ponderosa pine, white fir and incense cedar (with the occasional oak as well) in El Dorado County at about 4,300’ elevation.

Pseudanostirus pudicus

Here's a click beetle that tends to fairly local in the Rocky Mountains. It can be common in Utah but it is often poorly represented in collections outside the area. It looks similar to the more widespread P. propola but lacks the bold elytral markings. They tend to be more diffuse in P. pudicus.

I found this one at about 6,000 feet up American Fork Canyon (Utah County, Utah) a month ago just as the sun was setting. It was resting on stream-side vegetataion when I discovered it.  I've seen it at elevations as high as 8,000 - 9,000 feet. 

  

Limonius crotchii

This is the first individual of Limonius crotchii that I have ever seen alive. It is not a very commonly seen insect. Jon and I came across it a couple of weeks ago just north of Lake Isabella along the North Fork of the Kern River (just into Tulare County, California). The orange elytra are quite striking and are a lot brighter than in preserved specimens.

It isn't all that big - just about a half inch long (over a centimeter) and it does look similar to other black and orange elaterids. Species of Ampedus can often look similar and even have the double sutures on the prosternum (on the underside of the pronotum). Even the front of the head in L. crotchii looks more like Ampedus than some other Limonius.

A good way to distinguish this beetle, though, is to look at the base of the front legs which are nearly completely closed (meaning they are surrounded by the hypomera). If this sounds all too complex, you can simply take my word for it (fortunately I'm only wrong less than half the time :).

It has been a wet year in many parts of California and the North Fork was very high. We saw several brave river rats floating rapidly along in bright red rafts. The habitat shot is just off the road from the river near an unmarked camping area where we stayed.

Lacon sparsa

Lacon sparsa is a broad black click beetle about half an inch long that lives under the bark of dead trees. I found this individual over the Thanksgiving weekend under the bark of a dead gray pine on Los Gatos Creek in western Fresno County (west of Coalinga). There wasn't much out except for lark sparrows lower down the canyon, yellow-billed magpies and darkling beetles along the road.



Lacon sparsa is easily recognizable with its predominantly black scales overlying its black body. There are a few scattered white scales intermixed but not nearly enough to confuse it with L. rorulenta which also has coppery scales (see my previous post for November 4). It's an attractive clicker.



If November isn't the most productive month to be collecting in this part of California. Los Gatos Creek isn't very productive for another reason: it's fenced almost it's entire length. There are a few places to get out and look around - even a few new campgrounds being put in - but overall, Warthon Canyon to the south is better for finding insects.


That said, the scenery is still nice - open pine oak woodland. You just have to enjoy it on the other side of a fence.

Lacon rorulenta

Lacon rorulenta is a beautiful coppery-colored click beetle of the northwestern parts of the United States. The beetle itself is only about half an inch long and it's real color is black. It is the thick flat hairs covering its body that give it it's attractive color. Some of these hairs are coppery and others are black. They lay flat over the beetle's body somewhat like shingles so that the entire insect looks brightly colored. I found this individual a couple of weeks ago in the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness of Fresno County. This is a bit south of its known distribution but the fact that I was high in the Sierra doesn't make this too unusual. (Many northern species are known to work their way south at higher elevations.)



I was hiking early in the morning from Lake Nelson. The ground above 8,700 feet was frozen and a few small piles of snow were still on the ground from the recent storms that had passed over the Central Valley several days before. There is a rich forest of red firs along the trail at this elevation and it was under the bark of one of these fallen trees that I found the click beetle. Red fir has a thick furrowed bark that doesn't come off until the tree has been dead for well over a year. This picture is of the small red fir grove where I found the beetle.





Overall, it was 10 miles to and from Lake Nelson from the Cliff Lake trailhead near Courtright Reservoir. But the hike was well worth it. As the sun was coming up over the hills to the east, the lake reflected several shades of soft morning blue light with a thin layer of frost on the shore and mist coming from the water. It was a grand sight.

Cardiophorus aeneus

Here is a picture of a small click beetle (just under a centimeter long) that you don't see very often. It's Cardiophorus aeneus, a Western species that shows up infrequently in collections. I came across a population a couple of weeks ago just west of Kerman (Fresno County) California in the tall grass of an alkali meadow. I was actually out looking for another species and just happened to find it. It's pretty distinctive as far as Cardiophorus goes. It has a metallic bronze luster to it although this is hard to see through the thick gray matte of setae. The elytra are also a bit uneven on top, bearing a few broad elevated areas. this is different than most related species where the elytra are fairly flat, or at least evenly convex. It's a nice find.

Danosoma

Species of the click beetle genus Danosoma can be easily misplaced in the genus Lacon. Both genera contain species with colorful scales and look similar in their general appearance. The reason why they are placed in a different group is because Danosoma lack a defining seta at the base of the tarsal claws. This can be confusing to locate (since there are other setae on the tarsae) and becuase the claws are small (at least they are if there is not adequate magnification) so be careful wih your id's.

Here are pictures of the two American species D. obtectus and D. brevicornis. They both have a diagnostic groove down the middle of the pronotum but D. brevicornis also has a couple of round impressions(on each side of the groove). Danosoma obtectus is a bit narrower and lacks the impressions.

Geographically, D. brevicornis occurs in the northern parts of the US and into Canada (essentially coast to coast), whereas, D. obtectus occurs in the Northeast US and adjacent areas in Canada.