2011 Entomological Society of America Insect Photographic Salon Results

Mesquitebug Nymph - Image taken using Marian's point and shoot camera during a day of hiking at El Charco del Ingenio Nature Reserve, just outside of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, June, 2011. Click image to enlarge.

Results from the 2011 ESA International Insect Photography Salon arrived this morning. I love this particular salon. It allows me to see how a subset of four of my images stack up to those of many of the world’s best arthropod photographers.

I diverged completely from my normal international nature photography strategy, entering a set of images four images that have never been entered in a PSA competition before.

Aren’t I reckless? No, I don’t think so either, but this is as reckless as I get…

I was pleased to see three images receive honors.

Results follow:

Mesquitebug Nymph 14/15 points (see above)

Sonoran Desert Ant 14/15 points

I photographed this ant in the Sonoran Desert (my VERY FAVORITE place) during the 2011 Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference (July, 2011). Click image to enlarge.

Pollinating Megachilid 13/15 points

This megachilid was thoughtful enough to pose for me at the University of Illinois Arboretum's Idea Garden, August, 2011. Click image to enlarge.

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Green-bordered fighting beetle (Pasimachus viridans)

Note the fused elytra of this flightless beetle. Click image to enlarge.

These green-bordered, flightless beetles are found in southeastern Arizona and throughout Mexico.

Though generalist feeders, a significant portion of their diet is made up of caterpillars.

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Damselfly Mating

Sexually dimorphic, males of this Sonoran Desert coenagrionid species are blue/violet, while females are a browner color. Click image to enlarge.

Unlike most insects, male damselflies deposit sperm in a secondary genitalia structure on the second and third abdominal segment by bending the abdomen forward.

Once the sperm has been transferred, the male courts females, eventually clasping a female behind the head with claspers on the tip of his abdomen.

The two fly in tandem for a period of time. Eventually the female loops her abdomen toward the male’s secondary genitalia, and fertilization occurs.

Males may carry the coupled female to emergent plants and floating vegetation or even dip them directly into the water for egglaying.

Eggs develop. The emerging aquatic naiads molt 10 to 12 times before the final instar crawls out of the water and up a vertical surface, where the adult emerges from its nymphal exoskeleton.

Typically damselflies produce a single generation per year, regardless of where they live. Adult damselflies live for a few weeks to a few months.

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Cryptic Sonoran Damselflies

They always pose better when eating... Click image to enlarge.

Even the cryptically colored Sonoran damselflies are stunning!

A face-on view can be seen at https://thingsbiological.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/even-the-damselflies-are-cryptically-colored/.

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Tailless whipscorpion

Tailless whipscorpion, photographed outside Tucson, AZ. Click to enlarge.

Of the 70 species of tailless whipscorpions, six occur in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas. The cephalothorax includes the fanglike chelicerae and spiny pedipalps. The forelegs function as antennae.

These nocturnal arthropods emerge from their shelters to eat a wide variety of different arthropods that they tear into pieces, which are then crushed and the body fluids consumed.

Females carry the young in a membrane beneath the abdomen. The offspring crawl up to the mother’s abdomen and will remain with her for the next several weeks to months, feeding on prey she captures during that time.

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Giant agave bug (Acanthocephala thomasi)

Giant agave bug (Acanthocephala thomasi). Click/double click image to enlarge.

Giant agave bugs (Acanthocephala thomasi), each almost the size of my thumb, were abundant in large numbers on many of the trees in the Rio Rico area last week. Males were clearly completing for females during the entire week of the conference. Nymphs were not apparent in large numbers yet.

The nymphs are delightfully aposematic.

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Fluorescing Scorpions

Bark scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus) reflecting blacklight-adapted flashlight beam. Click to magnify.

Scorpion exoskeletons reflect ultraviolet (uv) light. Using a blacklight-adapted flashlight, the eerie green-blue is obvious to all within flashlight beam range. No one has a firm answer as to why they reflect uv light, though some speculation regarding its evolutionary rationale can be found in an article entitled, “Glow-in-the-dark scorpions: Why do they do it?”

Eight of us stayed after the 2011 Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference. We went to a behind the scenes tour of the arthropod and herpetology areas at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Cathy Bartlett, the keeper who led our customized tour, allowed us to check out the impact of one of our handheld blacklights on a captive bark scorpion. Pretty amazing…

The same bark scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus) exposed to natural light. I wish I had centered before taking the picture... Click to magnify.

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Bark scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus)

My first wild bark scorpion! These scorpions possess the most potent venom of any North American scorpion. Stunning in every sense of the word... Double click to enlarge.

Bark scorpions are relatively small scorpions found throughout the Sonoran Desert. All are predaceous, eating large numbers of insects, centipedes, spiders and other arachnids including scorpions.

Bark scorpions prefer an upside down or head down orientation, and can often be found above ground on the underside of objects.

Females give birth to up to 40 young, which she carries on her back for the first 3 weeks after birth.

A sting can cause severe pain, often lasting between one and three days. Impacts vary. Some victims experience immobilization of a hand or arm. In other cases, the victim may experience convulsions. The sensation resulting from being stung been likened to experiencing jolts of electricity. Scorpion stings showing signs of anaphylactic shock, such as hives, wheezing, dizziness, chest pain or shortness of breath, require immediate emergency medical care.

This is the only scorpion species in Arizona considered life threatening. We encountered this individual on the side of the nature trail outside the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute in Tucson, AZ.

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Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference, Day 4

Horned lizard (Phrynosoma sp.) watching the field portion of the forensic entomology workshop from afar. Click to enlarge.

The fourth day of the conference (Saturday) was a day of new experiences, as well as an unexpected surprise.

The day began with great morning presentations regarding how various institutions involve teenagers in carrion beetle and butterfly conservation activities, an update regarding American burying beetle establishment and conservation efforts in the northeast, establishment of outdoor dragonfly ponds for education efforts, an extraordinarily enjoyable update regarding morphs and activities at the Audubon Nature Institute’s arthropod center, education activities focusing on carbon changes in the environment (as opposed to focusing on the more politically charged “global warming”), and enrichment of arthropod housing from both the arthropod and facility visitor perspectives.

I followed that immediately with David Faulkner’s outstanding five-hour forensic entomology training session, the same one offered to police and law audiences. It was spectacular from start to finish. I will devote an entire entry to it (including images!) later this week. A shower and good soaking of all of my clothing after the forensic session was VERY necessary.

Still without any significant break, the forensic entomology workshop was followed by the close of the silent auction and raffle (the two major fundraisers for the Terrestrial Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group) and the IECC closing banquet and evening activities. Because I REALLY needed a shower after the forensics session (more to come regarding that!), I missed the close of several tables of auction items.

The banquet was really enjoyable. Good food combined with great conversation with great colleagues. The banquet was followed by lots of community building announcements and good-natured ribbing. Zack and Jayme’s rap performance was great.

Photography contest results were presented and raffle award winners announced. For the first time, photographers could leave their photos out for others to buy, with the proceeds going to TITAG. I really like that. My toad bug image did well. It and three other images added additional funds to the TITAG coffers. Good thinking, TITAG folk!

My last minute raffle ticket was pulled out for first prize – free base registration for either the 2012 or 2013 Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference. Looks like I’ll be going back to Arizona!

At last year’s conference I continually heard about TITAG, but lacked any real knowledge of the organization. Erin Sullivan’s presentation, followed by the TITAG overview lunch meeting showcasing TITAG-supported invertebrate conservation efforts, made clear that I’d like to support their efforts in some way. I need to delve further.

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Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference, Day 3

Mequite girdler (Oncideres rhodosticta), one of the beetles found in large numbers during the evening. Click to enlarge.

The whirlwind of activities continued throughout the workshop. I meant to process and put up images daily but, despite my best intentions, there has been no break from activities. I’ll need to process images over the next few days.

The third day of the conference (Friday) began with some great, often entertaining presentations regarding captive breeding of one species of darkling beetles, tailless whip scorpions, and mantids. My afternoon workshop, “Beat Sheets and Catocala Cocktail: Techniques for the Savvy Entomologist,” began with discussion of making Catocala cocktail, a mixture of wine/beer, rotten fruit, brown sugar and yeast, as an attractant for a wide variety of insects. The cocktail is either painted on trees or rope soaked in the brew can be hung from branches. Various methods of light trapping, pan trapping, butterfly trapping and beetle trapping were discussed. This was followed by a discussion of nets, crayfish traps, etc.

Later that evening we were scheduled to go out and practice what we’d discussed, but the weather prevented us from doing so. Eight of us went to one of the local gas station to collect at the lights and on the periphery of the parking lot. Among my collecting buddies were John Rhodes (Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute), Eric Eaton (http://bugeric.blogspot.com/) and Margarethe Brummermann (http://arizonabeetlesbugsbirdsandmore.blogspot.com/). All are local, extraordinarily knowledgeable, and eager to share their knowledge and humor. It was really nice way to end the evening.

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