Backyard pool: Observations during June 2020

June 1- June 30 was the second month of arthropod collection from my backyard pool. As in May, nearly all arthropods species >5 mm were collected, but very few observations were recorded for arthropods <2 mm. During June, I collected and recorded observations for 144 arthropods, with an average of 4.8 observations per day, and a low of 0 and a high of 13 observations in a day. While there was still many arthropods in the pool throughout June, compared to May there were fewer large arthropods (>5mm). Since photographing the small specimens takes longer, this probably contributed to having fewer observations in June compared to May. Dead arthropods accounted for about 35% of my observations in June, not too different from the 40% of May. Winged adult insects made up 92% of the arthropods photographed. I added 15 new species to my iNaturalist life list from swimming pool observations in June, including 4 Coleoptera, 4 Hemiptera, 3 Hymenoptera, 2 Diptera and 2 spiders. To date (May and June), iNaturalist indicates I have 387 observations and 92 species from arthropods collected in my swimming pool. I have not estimated total morphospecies for May and June combined, or compared species occurrence between months. That is a project on my back burner, after (hopefully) more of my observations are identified.

Hemiptera was once again the most abundant order (38% of observations) with an estimated 24 morphospecies (25 observations currently identified to genus, 9 further identified to species). Heteroptera comprised that majority of Hemiptera observed (41 of 54 observations). Plant bugs (Miridae) contributed less this month, with about 10% of the total Heteroptera, compared to 30% in May. Seed bugs and allies were the most common Heteroptera, with about ½ the total. A couple species of Rhyparochromidae were particularly common. The Mediterranean Seed Bug, Xanthochilus saturnius, was a noticeable and frequent addition this month. I like the bold gold and black pattern (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/48409018).

Hymenoptera was second most abundant (23%) with 20 morphospecies (8 observations identified to genus, 5 species). Ants made up half of all Hymenoptera that were photographed in June, with at least 4 different species. The number of ants I photographed was only a small percentage of the ants fished out of the pool. The majority of the ants I saw were alates (90%).

Coleoptera was close behind Hymenoptera with 20% of all observations in June being beetles. I estimate 21 different species, with current identifications from 11 families, with 16 observations identified to genus, and 8 identified to species. The abundance of scarabs observed in the pool was significantly decreased from what I observed in May, when I would often scoop out a couple dozen scarabs in the morning, but only photograph a couple of them. This month I photographed the majority of scarabs I scooped from the pool. Mt favorite day of pool observation this month was Saturday June 13, when I came home from a morning walk to find 3 magnificent scarabs in the pool, a ten-lined June beetle, a masked chafer, and one beautiful scarab I haven’t identified yet (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/49531527), this was my favorite beetle for June.

Diptera comprised 10% of all observations (15 observations) with an estimated 8 different species. Currently 5 observations are identified to genus, and 1 to species. My favorite fly was a small fly with a very reflective silvery abdomen (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/48390249). I would love to have that one identified.

Other groups present were spiders comprising 3% of observations with 3 morphospecies (3 genus, 1 species). Thysanoptera had 3 observations (2%). Lepidoptera 1.4% (2 observations), Collembola 1 observation (0.7%), mites 0.7%, Orthoptera 0.7%, and Neuroptera 0.7%.

Posted on July 29, 2020 07:12 PM by beetle_mch