Mark Your Calendar....

Time for updates on upcoming events, point out a new feature to this blog, and solicit additional sponsors. It may not feel like spring everywhere, but don't let it sneak up on you and catch you unprepared. Here are some things to look forward to, in Colorado and elsewhere.

Tiger Beetle Hunt, Lake Pueblo State Park, April 14

April, 2018

• April 14 (Saturday), 9:45 AM - 3 PM (maximum): Second Annual Tiger Beetle Hunt at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado, USA, by the Mile High Bug Club. We can expect to see at least five species of colorful Cicindela tiger beetles.
• April 18 (Wednesday), 6:30-8:30 PM: "The Magic of Moths,", presented by yours truly at Bear Creek Nature Center for the Aiken Audubon Society, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
• April 21 (Saturday), 9 AM - 3 PM: Mile High Bug Club at Garden of the Gods Park for Earth Day, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
• April 22-24 (Sunday through Tuesday), various times: daytime insect walks and evening presentation by "Bug Eric" for the Austin Butterfly Forum, Austin, Texas, USA.

"The Magic of Moths," Bear Creek Nature Center, April 18

May, 2018

• May 12 (Saturday), 9 AM - Noon: "Tarantulas of Colorado" with the Mile High Bug Club for the Pikes Peak Birding & Nature Festival at Bear Creek Nature Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. Register now for field trips and other activities!
• May 14 (Monday), 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM: Mile High Bug Club membership meeting at the Gold Hill Division Police Station, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. Come learn more about our education and conservation organization and what we have planned.
• May 19 (Saturday), 11 AM - 3 PM: "Tarantulas of Colorado" with the Mile High Bug Club at the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, Woodland Park, Colorado, USA. We will have live examples of the three tarantula species found in Colorado, plus much more.

That's all for events as of now, but watch this blog for additions as the weather warms.

© Megan MillerTarantulas of Colorado, Bear Creek Nature Center, May 19

New! "How to Make an Insect Collection"

You may have noticed the new tab at the top of this page. Click on it and you will be taken to a comprehensive and highly organized text and graphic document on how to make an insect collection. This may prove useful to teachers, students, naturalists, and citizen scientists wishing to collect insects in a fashion that will enhance their historical and scientific value as preserved specimens. I recognize collecting is not for everyone. I know some people who only collect specimens they find already dead. Whatever your personal inclination, please understand that without specimen collections, our collective scientific understanding of the world would be non-existent. Thank you.

Sponsors and Advertisers Welcome

As always, I welcome sponsors and advertisers to support this blog. BioQuip and Tender Corporation are currently my only sponsors. I did apply recently for a grant, but am not assuming anything about the outcome. Long-term loyalty is what I am most looking for. Please contact me if your institution or business is compatible with the educational goals of this blog, and you would like advertising space.

Thank you, Donors!

I would like to publicly thank the many individuals who have contributed financially or in-kind to the endurance of this online publication. Your support is immeasurable and invaluable. I am considering adding another tab (page) to recognize donors by name. Please let me know if you think this is a good idea, an invasion of privacy, or whatever. I will not exercise this option without consent and consensus. Please comment below if you would be so kind. Thank you, and happy spring!

National Moth Week Recap for Colorado Springs

Sunset rains near Chico Basin Ranch

Better late than never, here is how National Moth Week in El Paso, County, Colorado, faired this year. Two events sponsored by Mile High Bug Club were scrubbed due to the record rainfall for the month of July. We did sneak in our kickoff at Chico Basin Ranch on Saturday, July 22, but the potential for dangerous lightning forced cancellation of the July 26 event at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, and the July 29 event in Rock Creek Canyon at the May Museum of Natural History. A misunderstanding with park staff created an "extra" event at Cheyenne Mountain on Tuesday, July 25.

Five-spotted Sphinx Moth at Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Chico Basin Ranch is a working cattle ranch that sprawls across the El Paso/Pueblo County line for 87,000 acres. Our lights were set up in El Paso County at "Bell Grove," a grove of cottonwoods with a nearby wetland, a true oasis in an otherwise heavily grazed prairie habitat. The chief obstacles between the three stations were cow patties and the odd fallen branch. Bell Mead, Tim Leppek, and Tim and Zach Vogel furnished the blacklights, white lights, and sheets that go into your average night of moth observation. Our club set-ups vary from "McGuyvered" to highly sophisticated.

Male Ten-lined June Beetle, with two tiny dung beetles behind it, and a variegated mud-loving beetle top right, at Chico Basin Ranch

We were initially inundated with hundreds of rove beetles, scarab beetles, click beetles, and variegated mud-loving beetles, plus water scavenger beetles and a lovely Nicrophorus sp. burying beetle.

Burying beetle at Chico Basin Ranch

Part of the fascination with "mothing" is seeing what other insects come in. Later in the evening we got predators: damsel bugs, assassin bugs, green lacewings, brown lacewings, a beaded lacewing, mantispids, a real mantis (European Mantis), and spiders.

Beaded lacewing, Lomamyia sp., Chico Basin Ranch

Some of the most attractive and diverse moths were small, like this Garden Tortrix, Clepsis peritana. A member of the leafroller moth family Tortricidae, its caterpillar stage rolls leaves to conceal itself from predators and parasites.

Garden Tortrix moth at Chico Basin Ranch

A good number of moths defy identification, but that takes nothing away from their beauty. This is probably another tortricid moth, in the genus Hystrichophora.

Hystrichophora sp. leafroller moth? Chico Basin Ranch

Some moths have shaggy legs, like this Gray Furcula, Furcula cinerea.

Gray Furcula moth, Chico Basin Ranch

Most moths are designed for camouflage, so away from their usual perches on tree trunks or amid grasses, their subtle beauty is better appreciated. This geometer moth in the genus Digrammia is a great example.

Digrammia sp. geometer moth, Chico Basin Ranch

So is this Pero sp., another type of geometer moth. The tiny red speck near its "shoulders" is a mite. We have noticed many moths are carrying a heavier load of mites this year, and wonder what the reason is. The mites feed on the blood (hemolymph) of the moth, much like ticks on a dog.

Pero sp. geometer moth, Chico Basin Ranch

Some moths use a startle defense tactic to complement their camouflage. They have brightly-colored hind wings, normally concealed, which they flash to startle an enemy before they take flight.

Purslane Moth, Chico Basin Ranch

The Purslane Moth, Euscirrhopterus gloveri, a kind of owlet moth, is one example. Another is Drasteria mirifica.

Drasteria mirifica owlet moth, Chico Basin Ranch

Our July 25 event at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, just south of Colorado Springs and across the street from Fort Carson, was plagued by intermittent rain, but that did not dampen the spirits of the human attendees. We drew several members from the Mile High Bug Club, plus one person who drove all the way from north of Denver. Once the precipitation subsided, moths came in good numbers to our two mercury vapor and blacklight stations, one under the picnic shelter and another under the eaves of a restroom building at the Limekiln trailhead.

Epiblema tripartitana, Cheyenne Mountain St. Pk.

One had to do a double take at some moths, like Epiblema triparitana, passing itself off as a bird turd. Meanwhile, the little Filbertworm moth, Cydia latiferreana, appeared to be drizzled in molten metal.

Filbertworm Moth, Cheyenne Mountain St. Pk.

The eutellid moth Paectes abrostolella tends to pose distinctively with its abdomen turned up in the air.

Eutelid moth, Paectes abrostolella, Cheyenne Mountain St. Pk.

Crashing the party and startling several of us were at least two species of underwing moths, genus Catocala. These giants often stay on the periphery of light stations and may go unnoticed, but these three made a real entrance, flying erratically around the area before settling down. Catocala verilliana was the smaller of the two and C. aholibah likely the larger species.

Aholibah Underwing, Catocala aholibah, Cheyenne Mountain St. Pk.

Most moths are maddeningly difficult to identify because of individual variation within the species and overlap in appearance with other species. Cutworm moths in the genus Apamea, family Noctuidae, are a prime example. We think this one is a Yellowheaded Cutowrm, Apamea amputatrix.

Yellowheaded Cutworm? Cheyenne Mountain St. Pk.

Maybe the most spectacular moth of the night was found resting on a window of the restroom building by Zach Vogel. The Straight-lined Looper moth, Pseudeva purpurigera, is certainly a stunning creature, complete with "mohawk" tufts of scales and hairs on its thorax and abdomen. The "horns" on its face are actually mouthparts called palps.

Straight-lined Looper moth

Among the non-moths were water scavenger beetles (family Hydrophilidae), weevils (family Curculionidae), brown lacewings (family Hemerobiidae), and lurking predators like the Masked Hunter, Reduvius personatus, a type of assassin bug.

Masked Hunter assassin bug, Cheyenne Mountain St. Pk.

The "after party" was once again rewarding as well, turning up some interesting organisms at the lights around the visitor center and the adjoining parking lot. The biggest surprise was a Plains Spadefoot, a type of toad, strategically huddled beneath a lamp post to catch falling insect prey.

Plains Spadefoot Toad, Cheyenne Mountain St. Pk.

On that post was a short-horned walkingstick, Parabacillus sp. Walkingsticks are not uncommon, but are seldom seen because they are so cryptic.

Shorth-horned walkingstick, Cheyenne Mountain St. Pk.

We made our way towards the exits a little after midnight, much like this Banded Sunflower Moth, Cochylis hospes. Here's hoping we can have a full complement of activities during next year's National Moth Week, maybe at some new locations.

The Great Grasshopper Hunt II

I am terribly behind in chronicling field experiences I have participated in this summer, including the second annual(?) "grasshopper hunt" co-sponsored by Mile High Bug Club and the Aiken Audubon Society. Our first one was held last year at Homestead Ranch Regional Park near Peyton, Colorado. This time we opted to head farther south and a little farther east to Chico Basin Ranch; and we were led by grasshopper expert Bill Maynard.

Our intrepid participants © Bell Mead

The ranch is a sprawling 87,000 acres that straddles the El Paso and Pueblo County line. Its wide array of habitats, from sandhills to artificial wetlands, makes for high biodiversity, especially among insects and grasshoppers in particular. In only a few hours our party of roughly ten people observed forty (40) species of grasshoppers, plus many other insects and arachnids.

Pink form of the Broad-banded Grasshopper, Trimerotropis latifasciata

Bill is rather new to the study of grasshoppers, but he quickly masters many aspects of natural history. He is already recognized as a leading authority on birds and dragonflies, with many state and county records to his credit. It is only a matter of time before the same can be said of his expertise in the order Orthoptera to which grasshoppers belong.

Rather than overwhelming you with images here, I will direct you to the Mile High Bug Club Flickr Group where you can peruse the image collection at your leisure.

Snakeweed Grasshopper, Hesperotettix viridis

We would be remiss if we did not also acknowledge the hospitality of the Chico Basin Ranch staff, especially Tess Leach and her family. Her two children were especially curious, and remarkably patient and gentle in their approach to the many grasshoppers we saw.

Three-banded Grasshopper, Hadrotettix triafasciatus (foreground), signaling to a Broad-banded Grasshopper (background) to get out of its territory

The intense heat of that August 6 day sent some members of our party packing by about noon, but who could blame them? The Plains Harvestfly, a type of cicada, made it seem hotter still with its loud, oppressive buzz. All in all, the "expedition" was a resounding success, and no vehicles or people were injured during the odyssey.

Plains Harvestfly, Neotibicen dealbatus

While plains and deserts are prime habitats for grasshoppers, you can find them nearly everywhere. You will be surprised by the number of species you can discover in your own backyard, neighborhood park, vacant lot, or any other patch of wildness. Even now, with the first frosts approaching, grasshoppers are among the few insects left in any abundance. Go take a look for them.