The world’s pretty messed up right now. Let’s take a moment to pause, look at some photos of arthropods, and then get back to fighting the good fight.
March 31, 2020: Arhaphe arguta at 6000′ along Mount Lemmon Highway. This fast-running hemipteran bears a close resemblance to tiger beetles.
March 31, 2020: a pair of small bumblebees licking moisture off a rock alongside a seasonal stream. They were also observed at 6000′ along Mount Lemmon Highway.
April 14, 2020: a larva of a firefly, Microphotus sp., observed at 8000′ along Mount Lemmon Highway. It was under a piece of rotting tree bark.
April 19, 2020: a very elegant male wasp, to be identified, near the Broadway Trailhead of Saguaro National Park East.
April 27, 2020: three lovely flies photographed at Molino Canyon Vista.
May 18, 2020: a very striking chrysalis found in Molino Basin. It appears to belong to some species of checkerspot butterfly.
May 22, 2020: a post-sunset walk along the Garwood Trail at Saguaro National Park East yielded at least a dozen of these velvet ants hurriedly wandering the desert floor. They appeared to have just emerged. I’m thinking it’s a male Dasymutilla sicheliana.
June 1, 2020: A very handsome Bombyliid on flowering beargrass (Nolina microcarpa) at the Bug Spring Trailhead along the Mount Lemmon Highway. There were several individuals of this species.
June 1, 2020: More activity on the flowering beargrass — there were clouds of these tiny wasps surrounding the flowers.
Sonoran Desert transplant from the North Coast. Photographer, plant and bug enthusiast, likes rocks and birds and mammals too.
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Bug Talk 
How refreshing! Thank you Jorie.
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I love your posts. I am fascinated with all things “bug.” 😊🦋🐛🐜🐝🐞🦗🕷🕸🦂
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