more mountain meandering!

This morning I returned to the location I wrote about in my previous post — a pull-off on the Mount Lemmon Highway at about 6000′ elevation. The day, though warm, started out overcast and it certainly seemed to affect the bugs. The cicadas were subdued, and the butterflies were a lot more scarce. The clouds did eventually clear up, and with the sun came the insects.

I saw a lot of beetles this time around, including two different species of net-winged beetles (Lycidae). On the left is Lycus arizonensis and on the right is Lygistopterus rubripennis.

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Another interesting beetle I found was this Cerambycid wasp mimic, likely Necydalis cavipennis. In flight, it looked a lot like the yellow paper wasps that were also in the area (pictured on the right). I’ve seen plenty of Cerambycid wasp mimics before, but none quite like this one. Even its wings were uncannily similar to those of a wasp!

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A big beetle find of the day was the Pleasing Fungus Beetle, Gibbifer californicus. It truly is a pleasing, attractive beetle, with its speckled slate-gray elytra and shiny black pronotum. At first I saw one… and then another… and then a mating pair. They were scuttling about on the damp, rotting roots of an oak tree.

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This trip yielded a wealth of arachnids, as well. For starters, here are three different jumping spiders I encountered. I believe the ones on the left and right are Phidippus carneus and the one in the middle is Sassacus papenhoei.

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Another interesting spider find were dozens of sheetweb weavers, all in close proximity to one another, males and females alike. I’m not yet sure of the species. Most seemed to be about the same age/size, but there were a few larger individuals, as well.

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And, lastly, I found myself wondering if scorpions can live at 6000′ elevation. My question was answered when I poked at a dry-rotted log, long-since abandoned by carpenter ants. As the bark fell off, two small scorpions cringed away from the sudden sunlight! I’m not sure of the species, but they’re in the Vaejovis genus. They were much more brown than the ones I’m used to seeing in the desert.

And there you have it! Beetles, spiders, scorpions, and nary a mosquito to be seen — can it get much better?