This is another of the generous gift of specimens that Bill sent to me for focus stacking sessions.
I'm confident that Bill will identify it for me when he view's this post. I was surprised to find how fuzzy it was for to the normal eye it appeared to to have a smooth texture. An outstanding feature of this little beetle is that its antenna are much longer than its body.
As always, thanks in advance to all who view and for any comments, recommendations and critique.
Looks like he would make a nice dry fly for fishing, Gary.
sippyjug104 wrote:
This is another of the generous gift of specimens that Bill sent to me for focus stacking sessions.
I'm confident that Bill will identify it for me when he view's this post. I was surprised to find how fuzzy it was for to the normal eye it appeared to to have a smooth texture. An outstanding feature of this little beetle is that its antenna are much longer than its body.
As always, thanks in advance to all who view and for any comments, recommendations and critique.
Did I hear someone mention my name?
This is the milkweed stem boring Tetraopes tetropthalmus. A Cerambicid.
They are found on milkweed in the summer and fall.
There are a number of specimens sent to you that all share the warning colors. Many feed on milkweed. They all taste bad, make that BAD.
You can take my first hand word.
I had noticed the 'hair' thru a microscope years ago. They will get full of pollen. They feed in the flowers as adults, are stem borers as larva.
And a goodnight, Gary.
Bill
I had noticed they were 'hairy' from the way pollen zsticks to them
lovely job on a interesting critter (thanks Bill for the info) eyes separated by the antenna, the widely held (including me for a time) that all beetles are smooth,
I'm labeling the color pornge = pink-orange
Actually its color is what caught my eye which is why I chose it before some of the others. Bill preserves them in hand-sanitizer for transport which works very well. I swoosh them in alcohol when I'm ready to stage them for their sessions to clean it off. They appear to hold their color better the way Bill preserves them.
I keep my hard bodied preserved specimens dry in a sealed container with mothballs and the soft bodied specimens in denatured alcohol. I place the grub like insects in scalding hot water to kill the bacteria in their gut track before preserving them in alcohol which prevents them from turning black while stored.
Well done and thanks you and Bill both.
👍 They are hairier than I expected. Just saw some out there today.
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