Sycamore Canyon with Leslie, Sue and Curtis

In southern Arizona, October can still be a pretty good month for insect ans spider observations. So the four of us headed west on Ruby Road for Sycamore Canyon in Santa Cruz County.
Close to Pena Blanca Lake, Ruby Road turns into a dirt Road that winds its way up through the Atascosa and later the Pajarito Mountains.

Montezuma Quail

We spotted a family of Montezuma Quail by the side of the road - I think there was a dozen of half grown chicks hiding among the dry grasses. The male brought up the rear and posed nicely, but my macro lens was not quite up to the task.

Our target, Sycamore Canyon, extends from Ruby Road south towards the Mexican border. Many north-migrating arrivals, people as well as new insect species, enter the US here.

It's a lush, beautiful place, not the hard unforgiving desert that claims so many lives, but border patrol keeps a permanent presence. We met an agent peacefully lunching in the shade way up the canyon. We also came across a big cache of supplies for the greatest needs of human wanderers. 

Leslie Brown Eguchi and Sue Carnahan

This late in the year, the upper canyon was rather dry. Usually it's swampy and wet where Leslie and Sue are discussing a botanical question here. Several of the small water holes in the upper canyon were completely empty.

Further down, fish were crowded in little remaining ponds, but the rare chubb species that occur here are well adapted and can survive buried deep down in mud if they have to.

Neon Skimmer

Flame Skimmer

I think I saw my first Flame skimmers here years ago, and they were around again!  They mingled, or rather competed for perches, with their relatives, the Flame Skimmers. So we could clearly see their different coloration and also how the red extends much less into the wings of the Neon Skimmers. Obviously, the two species can be found sharing the same habitat.

Rhantus gutticollis,, Boreonectes sp, , Laccophilus fasciatus, Thermonectus nigrofasciatus,
Rhantus atricolor, Thermonectus marmoratus

In many places the water was not very deep, so aquatic beetles were easy to see and to catch. Several Sunburst Beetles shared one puddle with at least 5 other, less flashy species of Predaceous Diving Beetles.

Grasses and perennials setting fruit

Outside of the riparian zone, the grassland was yellow and most flowers had gone to seed. An army of black tenebrionid beetles was feeding on the starchy fresh seeds. Unlike their earthbound relatives, the crepuscular Pinacate Beetles, these smaller darkling beetles in the subfamily Pimellinae fly well and congregated not just to feed but also to mate among the wind-blown grasses.
 

Ericydeus lautus, Conotrachelus arizonicus, Zygogramma continua
Collops grandis, Lobometopon fusiforme or related Pimelinae, Phaenus quadridens

I also spotted some weevils (most are night active here in the desert). All conpostite genera seem to have their own, host-specific Zygogramma (Leaf Beetle) species. Many Melyrids (Soft-winged Flower Beetles) were out hunting - if I'm not wrong the larger Collops is feasting on a smaller Attalus in my photo. There was a small heard of black cattle watching our every move and noisily commenting on it. In the dung were mostly imported  Euoniticellus intermedius but I also pulled a dead Rainbow Scarab out of the mud at the creek.

Only very little water washed over my favorite bedrock area, but a dragonfly photographer was set up to patiently wait for a rare damselfly that had been reported from here recently.

Desert Firetails et al - Damseflies by Lealie Brown Eguchi

 We were just as happy to watch more ordinary species. The mating activity was still in full swing. Especially interesting was the mate guarding of most Damsel males that does not only allow the male to keep close control of 'his' female until their eggs are deposited, but also enables some females to safely submerse most of their bodies to place eggs in vegetation deep under the water surface.

Piezogaster spurcus and Pselliopus near zebra

Many true bugs were still active. Those 'suckers' seem to be especially well adapted to dry conditions. We also found water specialists in ponds and puddles: Gelastocoris oculatus (Big-Eyed Toad Bug) on the water surface and big, round Abedus herberti lurking well hidden in the brown water.

Phidippus octopunctatus and P apacheanus males

The activity time of the larger jumping spiders seems to be nearly over. Several females had sealed themselves in with their eggs - we saw hardly any silken retreats that were still open. A few males were still literally hanging out in the grasses.

Arctosa litoralis spinning electric blue silk?

Wolf Spiders raced and jumped among the moist leaf litter close to the creek and also skimmed over the water supported by nothing but surface tension. 

Tarantula Hawk

A Tarantula Hawk who was clearly at the end of her strenuous hunting life still ran and searched and twitched close to the wolf spiders. I think she would make do with one of them if she could. Not every Pepsis egg actually lands on a big tarantula.  Dwarf forms of big Pespsis species can often be observed and may result from unfortunate larvae that were left with just a small spider to devour.

Zenodoxus rubens Photo Sue Canahan

On our way home we stopped at the campground close to Pena Blanca lake, mainly so Sue Carnahan could identify the bush that has provided a number of interesting leaf beetles before. It turned out to be the Desert Honeysuckle Anisacanthus thurberi as expected. A nice Sesiid (Clearwing Moth) added a  last highlight to this late-season trip. The reported host of this moth (stem or root borere) is in the family Malvaceae, but it sure payed a lot of attention to the Honeysuckle