shawnb2's Favorites

A very rare beetle. This is only the [edit] fourth specimen known in Canada. I hand collected this from a polypore (Ganoderma applanatum) on a high stump (snag) of Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). Known from leaf litter and polypores in California, north to the Brooks Peninsula (Vancouver Island, BC). 3.8 mm long. Diagnostic characters include the abrupt and compact antennal club, open procoxal cavities, truncate apex of the prosternal process, and the posterolateral depressions of pronotum connected by a transverse groove at the base. Other BC locations are all from Vancouver Island: Mt Tzouhalem, Pachena Bay (near Bamfield), and Cape Cook Lagoon (Brooks Peninsula).

Photo license and credit belong to the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH), the Hakai Institute, and MarineGEO | http://specifyportal.flmnh.ufl.edu/iz/ | Field Number: BHAK-0311 | This observation is a part of the collaborative work between FLMNH, the Smithsonian Institution's Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO) and Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and the Hakai Institute

Interesting new (to me @ least) syrphid fly, which I think may be a specimen of Oblique Stripetail (Allograpta obliqua), observed foraging on cultivated/cultivated red poppies (Papaver orientalis) in the backyard flower bed.

Found under a rotting log with ants adjacent to a small perennial wetland pond lined with Populus trichocarpa and Equisetum hyemale, within a more broadly arid region and Pinus ponderosa / Pseudotsuga menziesii forest type.

Gametophytes, previously reported from this stump. Far smaller than I realized!

Step 1: Consult the iNat app from Port Alberni to confirm the location in a last-second plan before driving to Kennedy Lake.
Step 2: Walk the access road, find a small trail in the right area, and walk until my location dot on the iNat map matches the middle of the cluster of sightings.
Step 3: Spend at least 10 minutes searching the nearby forest for a stump matching the ones in the photos.
Step 4: After finding the right stump, spend another solid 10 minutes in miniature world searching the stump for the ferns, including going back to the photos several times for every clue I could find!

I thought I was looking for something larger, but the biggest ones were only about 2mm in size. Even more fun than Botrychium searches ;-) And I must say, I only saw them through the iPhone lens/screen, as they were too small to really see unassisted.

Now that I've seen them once (with all this tech help), hopefully I can find more!

This may be the first reported record of this (locally) rare fly in BC/Canada since the 90s! (see Cannings 2006). This is one of around ten that was seen at this location. It was flying around, landing, and seemed to be feeling the sand with the end of it's abdomen.
The 3rd picture is of the habitat for reference.