The previous two postings were creatures that we found on December 4, 2018 on our way hiking to and from the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument. So, today, let’s have a look at what we found when we actually got there.
This entire part of New Mexico was evidently a section of ocean floor that, during the Permian period, was gradually elevated to a shallow, swampy sea that was ultimately cut off from the ocean. It then dried up to form the local evaporite deposits during the Triassic period. As we hiked up the dry streambed to get to the trackways site, we were starting in older seabottom sediments, with characteristic oceanic fossils like these Brachiopod shells (not really clams, but similar),
While heading up the Permian Trackway on December 4, 2018, there were a few interesting creatures that I only managed to get single good shots of. The best one was probably this Cricket Hunter wasp, with the paralyzed cricket that it had just caught and was carrying home to lay eggs on:
On December 4, 2018, Dale took us to see the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, which is accessed by hiking a mile or so up a dry riverbed. While we were walking, Rosie and I had gotten quite a way ahead when we heard Sam yelling something faintly in the distance. So we turned around to see what was going on, until we could make out what Sam was saying: “I found a tarantula!”
One of the thing that struck us about New Mexico was the way that skeletons don’t disappear the way they do in Michigan. We are used to anything that dies being scarfed up immediately, with whatever remains after the scavengers finish being rapidly washed away by the rain or broken up by plant roots. But in the desert, once the food value has been extracted the bones are just left to bleach away in the sun.
For example, one of the first things we found while walking in the open area near Dale’s house was this skull, completely free of flesh. It appears to be a rabbit skull. I suppose that whatever ate it just didn’t want the head for some reason.
While we were looking for gypsum crystals on December 2, 2018, I first spotted this fairly large, thin, spindly-legged ant. It was about 60 degrees at the time, so the ant was moving reasonably slowly and I could get some decent pictures once I found a pose where I didn’t shade her from the sunlight.
Continuing down the slot canyon[1] in New Mexico on December 2, 2018, Sandy spotted something.
It was this great big nearly-wingless grasshopper, crawling up the canyon wall.
While we were visiting Dale in New Mexico, she introduced us to several of her favorite hiking spots. On December 2, 2018, she took us to a “slot canyon”, which is a deep, narrow canyon that is essentially a cave with no roof. Here is the entrance:
In the first week of December 2018[1], we took a family trip to visit a friend who moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico some years ago (Hi, Dale!) So, I would like to spend a few posts on the insects that we saw while there. We didn’t see a huge variety, but those we did see were quite different from what we are used to here in Michigan. Let’s start today on the various large black beetles that we saw, most of which were various types of Desert Stink Beetles.
This first one we found while looking for gypsum crystals, near Rincon, between Las Cruces and Hatch[2]. It was a big, slow-moving beetle, about an inch long and jet black.
Today, I wanted to talk a bit about (a) why ticks are such a festering mass of disease and pestilence, and (b) what you can do to avoid catching something from them.
To start with, ticks are obligate blood-feeders. The have to get a blood meal for every growth stage, and in the process they ingest whatever horrible disease their victims might happen to have. So far, this isn’t too unusual. Lots of things like to suck blood, and would therefore pick up disease organisms. The thing that spreads the disease is if the blood-sucker bites more than one victim, which means they can pick it up from one and transfer it to the next.
Barklice (family Psocidae) are possibly one of the most Christmassy of insects. Why do I say that? Well, because they frequently are found in the house over Christmas, but not at other times. And there is a very good reason for that: they live in the types of trees that people like for Christmas trees. Here are some examples from just before last Christmas, December 24, 2017. They came into our house on the Balsam Fir that Sam and Sandy cut and brought in from our back yard.
