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.

Cabbage Aphids on Wild Mustard

Right now there is a lot of wild mustard in bloom around the Central Valley. It's a pretty plant but it's also a bit of a nuisance for anybody growing cabbage, collards, bok choi, or other cole crops. It's a nuisance not so much because it's hard to get rid of. The bigger problem is that it's a great over-wintering host for cabbage aphids.

I recently found one plant with over a thousand aphids on it. This image will give you an idea of what to look for. Compare this with what you can expect on your cabbage plants if you don't take care of the problem. Cabbage aphids are not just another aphid species that can be treated with the standard aphicides. They're a lot harder to get rid of than say green peach aphids or melon aphids. It's definitely worthwhile taking precautions to avoid this kind of damage. This is particularly true for growers that have their cole crops in the ground early.

This is the time of year when the aphids can jump from wild mustard to your crops. Some of the worst damage can happen early in the year before the aphids' natural enemies become effective. So enjoy the pretty yellow flowers - but preferably at a distance (and down-wind) from your farm.

Gibbifer guatemalae

Here are a few images I took this morning after playing around with the lighting on my camera set-up. I'm much happier with these images than I am with earlier images that I have taken with virtually the same equipment. I use a Sony Cyber-shot camera with a built-in macro lens (which cost me about $350). I have intentionally wanted a smaller and less expensive camera because when I am in the field, my equipment can get bumped around a bit in my backpack. So I have been motivated to figure out how to take reasonably good images of small insects with the same camera.

Some time ago I created a lighted platform to take pictures of pinned specimens. It is a 4-inch bottom of a 5-gallon plastic bucket (the top part cut away) with a circular hole cut out of the bottom through which I take pictures. Around the inside of the modified bucket I have secured small shelving lights (halogen lamps). I place this bottom-side up (with the hole now on top) and place the specimens to be photographed inside the lighted bucket on a white foam base.

This has been OK but the problem has been that the lighting contrast was too great between the bright white background and the specimens. These pictures are different in that I placed a black cloth around the specimens to damped the contrast. I think the coloring of these images is much better.

The Gibbifer specimen is from Honduras. It is an erotylid beetle that is just under an inch long - quite impressive. Central America is famous for its impressive erotylid beetles. The Phymaphora male has one of its antenna knocked off. The female image has both still attached. They are only about 3 mm long and were found in North Carolina near the Eno River feeding on a small fungus under the bark of a dead tree (in the middle of the winter). Phymaphora is an endomychid genus.

Haliplus eremicus

Here's an image of Haliplus eremicus. It is a crawling water beetle that is endemic to the Southwest and occurs only (so far as we know) in Clark County, Nevada. It is of particular interest to me because it is the first insect that I described. I named it H. eremicus because the name reflects a dry desert habitat, where it occurs. This species should be listed as a species of concern on state and national lists. As is well known, water habitats in the southwestern US are under constant pressure to supply urban demands - in this case to Los Angeles and outlying areas. It's hard to tell from this image but in live individuals, the color is more of a cinnamon, or even a salmon, color. It is really quite attractive for a small insect.

South Fork of the Merced River

We had an extra day during the week of Thanksgiving and decided to take a hike along the South Fork of the Merced River. The river itself is designated a Wild & Scenic River and there is a trail some three to four miles from Highway 140 to the old mining site of Hite Cove. The trailhead starts some 20-plus miles northeast of Mariposa (and a few miles west of the Yosemite National Park entrance) in Mariposa County, California.

November is a good time of the year to make the hike if you want to have the trail to yourself. The wildflowers that draw most visitors won’t be out for another few months. The scenery is nice nonetheless. Long terraces of moss-covered stones line the river and are reflected from the limpid slow-moving river.

Because the sun is low in the sky this time of year, Gimasol Ridge (to the north) kept the canyon shaded and cool in many paces while the bright sun also warmed us up in other places. The few autumn colors were clothed in a diffuse November light that made for a beautiful day.

There weren’t many insects out so late in the year but we did find a few things. Most notable were the several lady bird beetles (Hippodamia convergens) that had congregated en masse on the pines and other plants near the metal ruins just down-stream from Hite Cove.

Apparently Hite Cove was a mining settlement. It was named after John Hite who discovered gold here. There was once a small settlement - including a post office – during the late Nineteenth Century. There are still a few large processing tanks with fittings still attached, along the trail. In a few places you can still see old stone walls and even an old house.

Tarantula Crossing

Two years ago when I first moved to California, I took a detour through the San Rafael Mountains east of Santa Ynez. Much to my surprise, I came upon this warning sign with a spider on it. Where I come from there are no such things as Tarantula Crossing warning signs and I was intrigued. I have known of other animal notable enough to be sign worthy. Cows and sheep come readily to mind. And occasionally you see a sign of a pedestrian walking a dog. On Maui I once saw a Nene Crossing sign and had to check a dictionary to be sure of what I was seeing (the nene is the Hawaiian duck). In Germany, in the Palatinate, I recently saw a sign with the large black longhorn beetle (Cerambyx cerdo) featured. I guess there must be a lot of these signs around the world. Maybe somebody should make a field guide of them.

I haven’t yet made it back to the San Rafael Mountains to see the massive tarantula migration but I did discover another one just a couple of weeks ago. I was just north of Auberry (California) a couple of days after a good rain storm and almost ran over one of the impressive arachnids (Aphonopelma sp.) as I came around a bend in the road. I asked around a bit and discovered that I had jut missed the big annual event – or rather I was seeing the very end of it. After the first good rain of the year (and in California that means the first good rain after the hot and dry summer) the spiders move out of the lower drainage areas to higher ground. Locals often gather them up by the buckets-full, as they cross the road, and sell them to pet stores. I think the area needs a few more Tarantula Crossing signs.

Puncture Vine Weevil

Here are a couple of pictures of the puncture vine weevils (Microlarinus lareynii) I found on a healthy puncture vine (Tribulus terrestris) in the Central Valley near Fresno, California this last week. They were most easily seen by turning the plant over and looking closely on the ground just beneath the sprawling plant. I've been watching them fairly closely for several days. Two weeks ago when I first noticed them, the goatheads (or the thorn-covered seeds) looked healthy and were beginning to harden to the point of becoming very annoying. A few days ago I looked again and noticed that many of them were being hollowed-out by the growing puncture vine weevils. The
picture of the mature larva is a bit staged. I had
to remove it from the hole (seen below it) in order
to take the picture.

The weevils were introduced to the United States
over 40 years ago to control this weed. But, since
the weed is still a problem, the weevils have been
pretty much ignored. This is too bad. The weevils
are effective in at least reducing the puncture vine
problem; and, importantly, they haven't jumped
onto other useful plants. Many of our intoroduced biological control organisms have done just that.