Summary for the first month of observation.

June 1, 2020
The pool has now been set up for one month (May 1 to May 31, 2020). This is an above-ground 10 foot diameter pool. Arthropods were primarily sampled with a small fish tank net, and transferred to blotter paper for photography. Arthropods that were still alive were allowed to recover and leave. About 40% of photographed arthropods were dead. The overall proportion of dead arthropods removed from the pool was likely much higher, especially for small, softer-bodied arthropods.

During May, I recorded 243 arthropod observations, representing 14 different Arthropod Orders and 49 families to date. No other animals were found in the pool. There was definitely some sampling bias toward larger arthropods (> 5 mm), and while not every individual in this size class was photographed, it is not likely that any visually distinct species were skipped (as determined by my unaided eye). Very few Arthropods under 2 mm were photographed, this is about the limit of my photography equipment. Diptera were proportionally under-sampled, both due to small size, and poor quality specimens that were easily damaged between being scooped out of the pool with a net and transferred to blotter paper for photography. Leafhoppers (Cicadellidae) were also proportionally under-sampled because they tended to recover quickly and jump away. The majority of arthropods collected were adult winged insects (90%). I photographed an average of 8 observations a day, with a high of 14 and a low of 0 (2 days). I cannot even begin to estimate what proportion I observed out of the total arthropods that landed in the pool.

Hemiptera was most abundant (31% of observations) with an estimated 28 morphospecies (8 currently identified to genus, 4 further identified to species). Heteroptera comprised that majority of Hemiptera observed (56 of 76 observations), and Miridae (plant bugs) made up about 1/3 of all Heteroptera.

Coleoptera was second most abundant (26% of observations) with 28 morphospecies (13 currently identified to genus, 6 species). Scarabs were easily the most abundant beetles I collected. Especially during the first couple weeks of May, during the morning hours 2-4 dozen scarabs would get stuck in the pool.

Hymenoptera was third most abundant (21%) with 20 morphospecies (8 identified to genus, 3 species) bees (Anthophila) made up the majority of Hymenoptera. Apis mellifera was less common than various Halictidae.

Other groups present were Diptera comprising 8% of observations with 12 morphospecies (1 genus, 0 species). Spiders had 10 observations (4%). Collembola 2.5%, Thysanoptera 2.1%, mites 1.2%, Orthoptera 0.8% (2 obserations), Neuroptera 0.8%, Embiidina 0.8%, Lepidoptera 0.4% (1 observation), Dermaptera 0.4%, termites 0.4%.

Overall I estimate 108 morphospecies, with 18% currently identified to species. Currently, iNaturalist lists this project with 20 identified species, and 70 unique taxa. I added 28 new species/unique taxa to my life list from this project during May 2020. New species include 10 coleoptera, 7 Hemiptera, 6 Hymneoptera, and one each for Collembola, Diptera, Neuroptera, Thysanoptera, and spiders. My favorite new taxa was a crabronid wasp, Dryudella, with its dramatic coloring and huge eyes https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/46514112. My daughter's least favorite pool visitors were the scarabs.
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Posted on June 1, 2020 10:19 PM by beetle_mch beetle_mch

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