It’s the middle of spring now, and it certainly looks and feels like it. The palo verde trees are yellow with flowers, the prickly pears are topped in peach-colored blossoms, and the temperatures are at times edging close to 100°F. With the hotter days, the reptiles have been more active, which means I’ve been seeing quite a few lizards and snakes lately. Gila monsters have been waddling through the neighborhood, and it’s always a treat to see them. I also saw my first (live) rattlesnake since moving to Arizona, a young western diamondback (Crotalus atrox). Another snake I spotted in the neighborhood was a long-nosed snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei), although despite the name, its snout didn’t seem too lengthy.
During the winter months, it’s easy to forget just how many lizards there are during spring and summer! Many of them are on the hunt for insects and spiders, while simultaneously trying to avoid snakes and roadrunners.
The bugs have been bountiful lately. Native bees, grasshoppers, and bombyliid flies are a very common sight on my walks. The webs of funnel weavers and wolf spiders seem to glow in the sunlight, as do the silk-lined burrows of tarantulas.
A couple of weeks ago, I found a neat little arachnid in our garage. It’s a type of Solpugid, commonly known as a sun spider, wind scorpion, or camel spider. They’re neither scorpions nor spiders, and are in the order Solifugae. They aren’t particularly dangerous, as they have no venom, but they can apparently pack quite the pinch if threatened. Solpugids would rather run and hide, and they are extraordinarily fast.
Another inhabitant of our garage was this spider, a male Plectreurys tristis. It was a rather handsome individual, all velvety-black with thick forelegs. This particular species plays dead when harassed.
And, speaking of spiders, stay tuned for an upcoming post about my very own pet spiders!
Bug Talk 