Journal #3

USA, California, Alameda County, Lat: 37.863630 Long: -122.261120, Elev: 64m, 21 April 2020, Coll: E. Antunez

Method: Hand catching

Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm

I recently came back to the Bay Area and have not had much luck finding insects. There’s a big difference between my apartment on southside and my family home in a densely vegetated area. In my apartment, I noticed my cat looking at something that was high on the wall; it wasn’t moving so I got a bit closer and saw that it was a silverfish. My cat pawed at it before I could catch it or take a picture. I took that as a sign to go outside and look for some insects. I decided to take a walk around the block (wearing a mask of course) and noticed two flies mating on some dog poop. As I got closer, they flew away and landed on a nearby leaf, still attached. I was able to catch them in a vile and take a quick picture and then let them back out to continue their business. I kept walking and was not finding much until I noticed something red on a leaf I passed. It looked super cool but flew away when I got closer. Took me a while to see that it flew on a bag I was carrying. I took a very bad quality picture before it flew away again. If iNaturalist is correct, it is a downy leather-winged beetle, which is pretty cool. I sat down on a grassy patch and saw lots of tiny gnats flying around me. I was looking around and also saw a couple caterpillars munching on some grass. I had seen these exact same caterpillars before near my house in SoCal, but still didn’t know what they were. iNaturalist told me the closest resemblance was to a Checkerspot so I guess it was a Checkerspot.. I was kind of getting annoyed with my mask so I decided to go home. I need to get used to this new (temporary) reality...

Species list:
Silverfish
Unidentified flies
Downy leather-winged beetle (soldier bug)
Gnats
Checkerspot caterpillars

Species account:
I really wish I would have caught the soldier bug because it looked super cool! I had never seen wings on an insect that looked so shiny and leathery and the colors were interesting. I researched it and found that they are strong predators of aphids; they must be nice to have in your gardens. I also read that when disturbed, they fall to the ground which is a great way to avoid confrontation. In the bad photo I took, you could see the eyes spread on opposite sides of the head which I think makes it look super cute. I hope I get to see more of them as aphids become more abundant in the months to come.

Posted on 23 de abril de 2020, 01:16 AM by emily_antunez