Archivos de Diario para enero 2018

viernes, 05 de enero de 2018

2017 in review: new-to-me Hemiptera

One of my goals for 2017 was to photograph at least 100 new-to-me Hemipterans, with at least 30 of those being psyllids; somehow or other I was successful in that goal, with 150+ Hemipterans (31 being psyllids). Here's a collage of those species.

Goals for 2018? I'd love to push for another 100 Hemiptera (and 20 more psyllids?), and try to get my total species count on iNaturalist above 3000 (currently at about 2700). I'd like to take a page out of glmory's book and pay more attention to aphids this year, which is one Hemiptera group I can definitely improve on. And I'd like to continue to support and encourage the community in tracking down even more never-before-photographed psyllids and increase our knowledge of that group - but that's a post for another time.

Happy new year everyone!

Publicado el viernes, 05 de enero de 2018 a las 11:16 PM por psyllidhipster psyllidhipster | 4 comentarios | Deja un comentario

viernes, 12 de enero de 2018

Personal psyllid targets for 2018

Goals are good. To date I've photographed 51 psyllid species in the wild, and here are ~20 more species I'd like to add to that total this year, plus a few that I'd like to revisit for various reasons. I don't think these targets are entirely unreasonable and I feel like I can probably get most of them with enough persistence. These goals don't assume any major unplanned travel so as new destinations are planned I can certainly add to this list.

Never before photographed species
Leurolophus vittatus - on Rhus virens
Neophyllura arbuticola - on Arbutus arizonica
Aphalaroida rauca - on Prosopis juliflora / glandulosa
Freysuila phorodendri - on Phoradendron (never photographed as an adult)
Cacopsylla minuta - on Purshia sp.
Purshivora chelifera - on Purshia sp.
Levidea lineata - on Parthenium incanum (probably)

Species photographed prior, but not by me
Pseudophacopteron sp. n. - unknown host but would like to investigate Bursera microphylla as a potential lead
Calophya triozomima - on Rhus aromatica
Aphalaroida pithecolobia - on Senegalia greggii
Aphalaroida prosopis - on Prosopis juliflora
Aphalaroida spinifera - on Prosopis juliflora / velutina
Heteropsylla sp. - on Acacia angustissima - photographed prior incidentally by James Bailey
Euglyptoneura robusta - on Ceanothus
Pexopsylla cercocarpi - on Cercocarpus
Bactericera lobata - on Lycium
Calinda collaris - on Baccharis salicifolia / glutinosa
Calinda longicaudata - on Baccharis pteroniodes
Calinda longistylus - on Baccharis salicifolia / salicina / sarothroides
Leuronota maculata - on Celtis pallida
Trioza phoradendri - on Phoradendron

Species I'd like to encounter again
Pachypsylla venusta - Hackberry Petiole Gall Psyllid - galls photographed in 2017, would like to find/rear adults
Pachypsylla pallida - Hackberry Hairy Bud Gall Psyllid - *galls photographed in 2017, would like to find/rear adults
Tetragonocephala flava - Hackberry Lerp Psyllid - *lerps photographed in 2017, would like to find adults
Cacopsylla coryli - Purshia Psyllid - *adults and nymphs photographed in 2017 but would like to collect more and see if multiple species are involved on this host

Kuwayama medicaginis - found in 2017 but host remains unknown
Trioza ?sulcata - nymph found in 2017 on Amelanchier but adult is needed

Publicado el viernes, 12 de enero de 2018 a las 07:12 PM por psyllidhipster psyllidhipster | 2 comentarios | Deja un comentario

sábado, 13 de enero de 2018

On what basis are all of these Jerusalem Crickets able to be identified to species "Stenopelmatus fuscus"?

I was under the impression that Jerusalem Cricket identification was very complex with many undescribed species, but here on iNaturalist everybody seems to be a Jerusalem Cricket expert and we have 162 out of about 1000 individuals identified as the species Stenopelmatus fuscus. These individuals express a variety of different phenotypes, many of the photos are not that great, and most of the observations are research grade. What reference is everybody using to identify these? How does iNaturalist have hundreds of Stenopelmatus fuscus while BugGuide has zero? How is everybody ruling out similar species, especially in California where there are many species? I don't doubt that many of these observations are correctly identified, and looking through the top identifiers I do see names that I trust to make these sorts of designations. But I have to question many of the others, and the high number of research grade observations can only prompt the AI to determine that any Jerusalem Cricket must be Stenopelmatus fuscus, which is just not true.

So how are we able to recognize this species?

Publicado el sábado, 13 de enero de 2018 a las 07:47 PM por psyllidhipster psyllidhipster | 7 comentarios | Deja un comentario