benarmstrong's Favorites

This observation is for the Luna Moth, #2 at light this night. Separate observations for the two smaller moths. The 2nd photo is the same moth the morning after, in the grass, where it blends in so well.

Lindneromyia flavicornis male. Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC, USA.

Keys to Platypeza flavicornis in Johnson 1923. The current valid name for this species is Lindneromyia flavicornis according to diptera.org.

This series shows Watshamiella alata watching Sycoscapter cornutus oviposit into a Ficus burkei syconium (fruiting body) for over seven minutes; after the Sycoscapter female departs, the Watshamiella female proceeds to oviposit into the same hole. Compton et al. (2009) described this behaviour for different species of Watshamiella in Uganda and Kenya on Ficus sycomorus and Ficus artocarpoides.
Compton, S.G., Van Noort, S., McLeish, M., Deeble, M. and Stone, V., 2009. Sneaky African fig wasps that oviposit through holes drilled by other species. African Natural History, 5, pp.9-15. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230580629

Say Hello to 'Bubba.' This magnificent, adult, male Mohave ground squirrel (MGS; Xerospermophilus mohavensis) was captured and released near Coso Junction, California, on June 6, 2019. It was a bit late in the year to capture an adult MGS, especially one so obviously well fed, above ground. That is because this species not only hibernates through the winter months, but it estivates through the hottest months of the summer; they hibernate or estivate for ~7 months of the year. Sadly, because of the pandemic, I could not return to my field site in 2020 and it does not look very promising either for 2021.

Also posted this observation to BugGuide: https://bugguide.net/node/view/2111532

See https://bugguide.net/node/view/601838 and in particular:

"native to Europe (widespread), adventive in NA (NS-ON & NH-NY; BC)(1)(BG data)"

full text of the citation on that page: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/environment/NHR/PDF/Introduced_Maritime_Staphs.pdf

Introduced Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) in the Maritime Provinces of Canada
By Majka C.G., Klimaszewski J.
The Canadian Entomologist 140: 48-72, 2008