The First Coleoptera Course at the SWRS in Portal

I just returned home from the inaugural, 10 day Coleoptera Course at the South West Research Station in Portal, AZ. We hardly noticed that this was a first - it ran so smoothly.

The man who organized it all Steven Lingafelter

Brittany, Rich and Steve finally at rest

Steven Lingafelter was the Lead Coordinator and did most of the planning and preparations for the 2019 Coleoptera Course at the Research Station in Portal, Arizona:  After he took and enjoyed the long established Moth Course in 2018, he brought the idea for a Beetle Course to the station management and then devoted weeks (months?) of work to the project. It must have been a huge undertaking and it turned out so well!

 Reference literature and synoptic collection of relevant beetle families

Among all the other things, Steve prepared a reference library, a teaching collection representing all relevant beetle families, and 14 Smith Boxes with examples of 50 families for all students to practice their identification skills on. I helped to collect the specimens for those boxes - that's mainly how I became a course assistant.

Images for the Book Arizona Beetles were also available as references

I had printed out over 30 pages of images that I have prepared for my and Art Evan's Book Arizona Beetles. Before the course, I only made it to family Tenebrionidae (my PC crashed a week before),  which means there were 1267 identified species depicted (of the about 2000 that will be in the book). During the first days of the class, the ring binder with those images was used quite a lot for species identifications. Later people got more involved and confident with the keys, and were working mostly with difficult to photograph small specimens.  I tried to photograph those during the course to the abilities of my camera equipment to later add them to the book.

Rich Leschen 

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Every day started with a lecture. Richard Leschen flew in from New Zealand to be the Lead Instructor. He gave a series of very focused lectures on diversity, morphology, classification, and identification of beetles. I am no systematist, but I feel that I learned a great deal. I am grateful that he made the lectures available in print and file. It relieved us from painstaking note-taking and provides a useful base for further study.
Rich was supported by knowledgeable input from Matt Gimmel. Matt also introduced an electronic interactive identification key. Differing from the usual dichotomus keys that are based on a fixed series of character couplets, this key lets the user decide on the approach that seems most accessible. A very interesting tool that I will have to explore further.

Chris and Brittany collecting leaf litter for a Berlese Funnel

Matt Gimmel and Chris Carlton servicing a Flight Intercept Trap

Christopher Carlton, supported by  Brittany Owens, instructed us in the use of a diversity of traps for collection: V-Flight intercept, Malaise Trap, Pheromone traps, insitu sleeve contaiment,  Berlese funnel were demonstrated and put to use.  He also explained special preparation methods of delicate specimens that made somewhat hidden components of the exoskeleton more visible under the compound microscope..

Guest lectures  Wendy Moore (Paussinae, UoA) Gene Hall (Ptiliidae, UoA) and Andrew Johnston (Tenebrionidae ASU) introduced their fields of research.

On the first day, I wrote on the white board a list of the 100 beetle families that we were most likely to find according to Matt's predictions.

Brittany, Rich Leschen, Matt Gimmel, Andrew Johnston discussing THE LIST

 When beetles were collected, the relevant families were tagged. As to be expected, he large, most obvious beetles were soon found and tags appeared on the first 50 families rather quickly. Further families were added more slowly, after tiny beetles that many of us tend to overlook or ignore where found and analyzed.

THE LIST, nearly complete

Searching different habitats (creek and ponds) and the catch from traps and filters added many of the more elusive families. End result: 71 families in 9 days. Pretty impressive!

Class of 2019 at work

The lab was well equipped with a good modern microscope and light source for every student, and we spend many hours bent over tiny specimens. The class dynamic brought back memories from field stations during my student years -  concentration, cooperation and long hours.

People appeared before breakfast and stayed long after the last black lights outside had been checked. Personal collections, beetles pinned neatly on styrophone boards, grew on every desk. (I only identified and photographed my specimens)

after lunch at the cafeteria, talking bugs, I'm sure

The station has convenient lodging and dining facilities, making it perfect for courses and also individual researchers. Meal times and procedures are quite strictly regimented and announced by a deafening noise, produced ranch style by banging on a metal triangle. Long lines form. The food is well worth it.

Matt Gimmel sampling Dasytine Melyridae at Barfoot Park 

Beetles collected at Rustler Park, around 9000 feet elev.

Flickr album of beetles in situ - from excursions during the course 

The Research Station in Portal is located in the heart of  one of the high-diversity areas on the planet.  A main component of the course were field trips into the higher Chiricahua Mountains and the surrounding desert. I think that the breathtaking beauty of the surroundings cannot be underestimated as an inspiration to unlimited exploration.

Sphaerobothris ulkei on Ephedra sp.

Despite the full schedule, students with interest in special families, like Buprestids, did find time for their own excursions. The famous Buprestid from Desert Willow Rd was found in small numbers by several participants.

The south-fork of Cave Creek provided riparian habitat right on the station's property, and frog ponds added the still water component.

Gymnetina howdeni

I fished the usually terrestrial scarab Gymnetina howdeni out of the swimming pool. It's the first time I got hold of a living specimen. They usually fly high in the tree canopy and seem to only fall to the ground at the end of their lives.

The desert habitat along Foothills Road provided very different beetles from those of canyons and forested mountain tops. We black-lighted there in a wash - rain was not in the forecast, otherwise flash floods could have surprised us. The photo above is from last year.

Coenopoeus palmei and  Moneilema appressum

Folks to whom desert habitat is as exotic as rain forest would be to me returned during the day to check out Barrel Cactus and Opuntia patches surrounded by vast stretches of Creosote and Mesquite.  Perennial flowers that usually bloom there at this time were still delayed by the late onset of the summer rains. I hope they will be ready in time for the bee course that directly follows  our beetle course.

Mary Jane with moths

Every night UV and Mercury vapor lights attracted beetles and rather competitive collectors alike.  For the next course, we may want to slow down the sheet collection somewhat, so more students can actually see and enjoy the beetles. Moth will remain free for grabs, though.

Friendly Striped Skunk

Wren eating moth (Chris Carlton)

We also had some uninvited guests helping themselves to 'our' bugs. Skunks, visiting at night, became quite habituated and never threatened to spray us. Acorn Woodpeckers, Canyon Wrens and Summer Tanagers could be seen at sunrise, cleaning the sheets off last night's bugs.

Musicians Michele Lanan, Mary Jane Epps, Charles Hart and Rich Leschen

The classroom was open 24/7 and although I slept very little, I never found it empty. Some people seemed to be at workaround the clock. We did have some party time off, but by then we were all so tired, that only the great blue grass music played by 4 very talented members of the group rescued the evening. Loved it! Here is a link to Flickr because my recording is too long to be posted directly to this blog

The students in this first class were nearly all all professionals with a good deal of experience. Most were identifiers or entomology professors. This was a hand-picked group that will hopefully give valuable feed-back after this first run.

The Bee Course at the SWRS, which is the oldest of the courses and a model for the newer ones, is now in it's 35rd year and still has long waiting lists for applicants. So - lets see how our Coleoptera Course is doing in 35 years!

A Canyon in Santa Cruz County

My friend and I had planned a black-lighting trip to the northern Tumacocaries for a while. His schedule is super busy, so I was so happy he could fit the excursion in.  I was not too happy to find out that I was on gallery duty for that same day. It turned out okay though,  I met too few customers (it's hot!) but a very nice tarantula. Once invited to climb on, she hardly wanted to leave me again.

After 6, we headed south into Santa Cruz County and the north part of the Tumacocari Mountains. The evening was beautiful and the light lovely until the dirt road turned west and became quit invisible in the glaring sun through dirty car windows (my car, mea culpa).  But we got to our destination.

Our black light brought in pretty good bug activity at a great secluded spot close to nearly riparian drainage through the mesquite grassland. It even had some Mexican Blue Oaks.  We met one border patrol car on it's way out and then had the lush canyon all to ourselves.

I used a Mercury vapor lamp and 2 fluorescent UV tubes. Here is a small sample of the bugs that came to the sheet - Rich took many more photos than I this time.

We also put several LED black lights on a ground sheet right into the thick vegetation along the mostly dry creek. There we got scores of Trogidae, both Trox and the larger Omorgus. Also in this picture are 5 shiny little Pseudocanthon. While the Trogids are a welcome addition to the teaching collection for  this summer's Coleoptera Course in Portal, I was glad that we never found out why there was such a concentration of Hide Beetles in that part of the canyon.

Western Screech Owls called all night close to the sheet - that bug eater probably collected with us.  Early in the morning we went birding. Montezuma Quail males were whistling all around and came even closer to Rich's call. Gray Hawk and Thick-billed Kingbirds were hanging around our camp site.

Walking among sloping hillsides  crowned with copper-colored cliffs, we listened to and watched Varied Buntings, Blue Grossbeaks, Summer Tanangers, Chats, Cardinals, Black-tailed Gnatcatchers. Botteri's Sparrows, Rufous-winged Sparrows.  Have you ever heard a Black-throated Sparrow called a Diamond sparrow? It makes sense seeing the shape of his black bib and hearing his song - like cutting diamonds! 3 wren spp: Bewick's, Cactus and Canyon. We constantly heard Crissal Thrashers calling, but the only one we saw flew very quickly over our heads.

By the time we turned around the surprisingly cool morning had begun to warm up, so insects were getting day-active. The Tarantula Hawk, like us, covered both shifts. Pepsis males hill-top and tree-top in the morning hours and both sexes fuel up on nectar, but we also had several at night at our sheet. Considering that tarantulas are mainly night active, the big wasps may also hunt at night.

A nice Cerambycid, Rhodoleptus femoratus, had us mistake him for a Cantharid or a Lycid at first. But look at those deeply divided eyes! A very good mimic of the group of bad-tasting to toxic beetles of those 2 other families.

Real Lycids were also getting active. I think these were Lycus simulans.

We had seen Kuschelina jacobiana, now  Alagoasa jacobiana at the black light. So now we examined its host plant, Desert Honeysuckle. No A. jacobiana, but instead both color morphs of Kuschelina tenuilineata

Also present:  the other renamed species of Flea Beetles Capraita durangoensis now Walterianella
durangoensis. Too bad, Kuschelina was so easy to remember and Capraita reminded me of bouncing  goat kids - very fitting for those little hoppers.

Packing up camp took time - we had so much stuff with us for just one night! The frame for the black light sheet, generator and gas can are of course the bulkiest items.

A beautiful Antelope Jackrabbit waved good by with its huge ears and mournful eyes. Don't worry, I will be back one day. There is much more to explore in that canyon!

Morning walk with too much excitement

Temps are in the triple digits, humidity is climbing too, so now we are going for our state land walks at 6 am. Our remaining 2 dogs, 2 weeks after we lost Mecki, need the exercise and the boost of morale. We humans too.

We walk pretty much diagonally across 500 acres directly adjacent to our own land. It's all creosote, cholla and saguaros, with ironwoods and palo verdes along the washes. We are in the slight slope of the bajada of the Tucson Mountains with sweeping wide views over the Avra Valley to Picatcho and Kitt Peak in the north and Boboquivari to the west.

Per agreement, our neighbor walks his group of foster dogs even before we get up, and then we have it all to ourselves.

Today, Kira walked up to a big black beetle and sniffed it. When it didn't go into the headstand of a Pinacate Beetle, I knew that it was a Giant Cactus Longhorn, a good mimic of the Pinacate but without its defensive smell.  Flightless, it has to walk to explore new cactus plants to place its eggs, and usually does so at night or the very early morning hours.

A bigger black shape loomed shortly after, but kept its distance. He is the bull of the small herd that is left to fend for itself on this very dry grazing lease.

Shortly after Kira and Bilbo had rounded up the herd but came back nicely and happily when called. Treats as rewards! The cows are neither afraid nor aggressive towards our 'cattle dogs'  and tend to follow us a little on our walks. 

Kira's greatest joy is to race around after lizards. She never catches any and usually gets outrun and loses sight of her game at the first creosote bush, but her chase is punctuated by excited high and wide hops and leaps that are great fun to watch and impossible to photograph.
But today she raced around a creosote bush to immediately rear back, and a faint rattle was heard. 

 A Sidewinder. Even though smaller than our more common Diamondback, it carries a very strong venom. It's cryptic, quiet, and rarely seen. In Picture Rocks, it is at the very border of its more western distribution. But lately I have seen the telltale parallel tracks on our dirt road and I also found a piece of a dead one along the path that our neighbor walks every day. Old fashioned folks here have no qualms killing rattlers. 

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This one of course lives, after first scaring our dog and getting really aggravated, he even gets to strike at me while I'm trying to get photos and video through those dry grasses. I get close to and sometimes have to move a lot of rattlers, and I can't remember the last time one actually struck towards me. 

That puny little rattle produces a mere whisper compared to that of a Diamondback. 

Kira squeaks continuously during  photos and video, but she is subdued and shows no intention to get close to the snake again. In fact, even the next Zebratail Lizard sends her backward.  We keep watching her face - no sign of a bite.  On the way home, her tail droops and she, usually pulling ahead, has to be dragged along. I know exactly how she feels:  a while after a close encounter - and she had her nose right on the snake - the initial adrenaline rush fades away and you are left feeling weak and shaking. I've been there, last year at the San Pedro when I barged right into the biggest rattler I'd ever seen and we both, the rattler and I, threw ourselves sideways in different directions.
I hope this was good snake training for the little bitch who is usually too feisty for her own good.