Emerging all too slowly from the long winter, I was asked by a college textbook publisher if I would like to be flown out in April for an all expenses paid teaching conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Could I set the date to fly out several days early, where I paid for expenses over those extra days? Sure! People do that all the time! So of course I had to go! For several days I holed up in a cheap hotel, rented a cheap car, and carried the camera into various wilderness areas in the Phoenix area. The adventure starts out pretty humbly the first day since the first excursion had to be pretty short, but you shall see over the next several installments that I had a very good time in Phoenix!
During this first day it was already early afternoon by the time I was driving into wild country, and the light would be failing before long as the sun dipped below the mountains. I drove to the nearby Boyce Thompson Arboretum which is a large park area that combines the famous Sonoran desert habitat, with giant saguaro cacti and all that, and forest habitat. I am familiar with these environments after having lived in Arizona many years ago. Although it was very nice to drink it all in again, there was no time to sight-see. There were bugs to photograph!
I wanted desperately to find some scorpions (of course!), and so much precious time was spent turning over logs and lifting dead tree bark. I was not successful that day, but I did turn up several of these large darkling beetles (
Eleodea sp.). The posture is so they can emit a noxious chemical defense, although I think this species is pretty harmless to humans.
Darkling beetle by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Next, I came across a lovely emperor butterfly on a wooden bridge. We have a similar species back home, but this one is the Texas hackberry emperor (
Asterocampa celtis).
Texas hackberry emperor by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
This rather bedraggled butterfly is known as the Texan crescent (
Anthanassa tulcis). I should have gotten pictures of more pristine ones (they were common), but I was being distracted by the many lizards that scurried with every move.
Texan crescent by
Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
The lizard shown in the next photo is a long-tailed brush lizard (
Urosaurus graciosus), and the one after that I think is the ornate tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus).
Finally, emerging from the forested area into the open Sonoran desert, I did see an enormous tarantula hawk (our largest wasp), but she would not land. However I did find this large white velvet ant (
Dasymutilla sackenii). Velvet ants are actually parasitic wasps, and the females are wingless. This desert species is slightly larger than the famous ‘cow killer’ velvet ant, so I am sure that the sting would be similarly incapacitating. As is typical of her kind, she was on a constant run and so this picture was taken in great haste as she quickly disappeared into the abundant cholla cactus. I know from experience that cholla cactus is fearsomely protective and it should not be disturbed! And with that, it was time to find the motel and prepare for a full day.