# Anza Borrego CA



## buthus (Dec 2, 2007)

combined post... org. here


I gave myself a few more than several goals for this trip ...when it comes to collecting.

1. Collect some interesting enclosure structure.

2. Haul home some nice rock for the yard. (we try and get at least one rock per adventure)

3. Observe L.hesperus in the wild ...not around town, close to man made structure or trash ...in the wild.  If it wasn't for mankind, they would be a much rarer spider. IMHO

4. Find and collect one darn scorpion! ...even if it is cold.

5. Find and collect Loxosceles!

........
OK!  Unpacked all the booty.  This includes a large number of nice rock, plant stuff and incredible (some huge) root/wood stuff (future enclosure structure).

First..black lighting... a big nothing. I gotta guess that its just to cold for scorps during the evenings because thats total scorp country out there.

Around the hotel I hunted both during the night and day.  Found a few of the usual suspects, but one nice surprise...
Scytodidae ...short legs made me wonder, but that head ..I dont think it can be anything but a spitter...  (?) Thing never stops moving. Gonna have to give it what it needs for it to be comfy enough to shoot it with this macro. Little creatures moving around like crazy require another lens ..guess I was too lazy.












Spent a good part of the first evening sitting around shootin the sh*t on the dry lake bed ...at least the rest of my party did.  I ended up making the famous but sly move ..starting with "i'm goin scorpion hunting along the base of them hills" proceeded by me wandering off into the night.  
Fullmoon.. Werewolves were out that night. 
I did spot a shiny pair and followed that cute little brown fox to my destination.  I'm not allowed to collect those though.  
Sorry no in situ shots (hopefully next time) ..just had no desire to pack my camera around on this trip.
Shot the moon coming up though...












Invert..pretty much all cold blooded activity was at a minimum. Not sure of the temps ..for me it was T-shirt, sweatshirt and jeans.  I bit too cold for that at times, but overall not THAT cold. Thought I'd run into a bit more action than I did.  One lonely Eleodes lumbering in the middle of nowhere trying to get someplace I guess. I added it to my growing stinky family.  A lot of ant activity ..late night mound maintenance.  These were all single entrance cone shaped hills with mid-sized bi-color ants.  Found this little devil borrowing into one like a kid playing in a sandbox...
Yep... wish I had my camera at that moment.






Figure those ants were the tastiest snack around that night. 
So first night... a stink bug, camel spider and a ripped out flood light from plowing through some sand dune. Oh... and the fox chase. 

Those crazy desert beetles...
During the entire trip, I collected what I'm fairly certain are 4 (wonderfully different) species of Eleodes.
These two were found under some dead Ocotillo thrown out back of the hotel.






Came across the usual slick shelled big ones just about everywhere except in overly rocky areas.
Some comparisons of the two...


















Another specie that I collected on the return trip right outside Temecula.  They got a stupid stop light there that fs up traffic back for miles.  I hit a point of insanity and turned off the road onto some crazy fun off-road trails ...A sudden lapse of reason, but it brought me to a pile of garbage... somebodies backyard junk.. a bunch of shutters, plywood, plastic kids play set.  Guess someone decided that was where that crap belonged. But garbage is good for us bug collectors.  I bet if it was warmer and wetter, there would be pedes and such under it. 
Found a bunch of these furry flavor Eleodes under the crap...







A handful of these turned my hand beet colored red... just like millipedes will.  In my studio I think I confirmed that they are Eleodes via observation of typical Eleodes defense strategies not to mention that lovely spring fresh aroma! 












In the garbage I also found a nice little ironclad...











This one plays dead WAY longer than the bigger ones I have collected near LA.  It takes like an hour for it to get moving again.  Brilliant design and defense strategy ..IMHO. 

I explored a canyon during the second day and went back to hike it that night. From what I saw Eleodes are a major source of food for many species.  In the canyon I found the big black ones and also a nice surprise of which I didn't realize what they actually where at first.  These are a 1/4 the size of the big ones...love the legs!  


















Eleodes and alike temp group storage...






.....
Saturday we 4x4d into a local canyon and did a little scenic hike.  I got about a hundred yards into the canyon, my party leaving me behind because i was to slow geeking around rock turning and peering into crevices and holes ..when I realized I found loxosceles!  Along the bottom of the canyon crevices in the "sandstone" (much looser) made for perfect hides for hunters.  Dead eleodes and some other prey lay strewn out next to the wall.  Where there were signs of this kill activity is mainly where I looked ...that and under any lift able rocks and other structure.  I spotted several spiders that looked like nothing else than reclusa, but they proved very aware and elusive...impossible to seperate them from their squeezably comfy crevice hides. Finally I found a spot where I could pull away a chunk of the sand wall exposing a perfect hide ...seems like most that I spotted came in pairs ...no exception here...got em both.  No doubt reclusa. Most likely either L.palma or L.deserta.  Im going to take an off the cuff guess and go with L.deserta.
That night I returned to the canyon concentrating my efforts to collecting some more.  I was able to collect 8, though one somehow escaped probably during that night in my bag and one mysteriously kicked the bucket a couple days ago. I think I have one...maybe two males.  While rehousing them, Ill have a better chance to sex the impatient buggers.   
































Latrodectus hesperus... 
Around the hotel ...as usual, tons of webs, pretty much the dominate spider specie.  30 ft away into the scrub, none.  Why?  I can only theorize that structure (such as an Ocotillo bush) in the "wild" gets far too many visitors which most likely knock out any attempts for a young widow to lay down sufficient webbing to sense prey.  The same Ocotillo in the hotels gravel parking lot is protected by human activity ...keeping the creatures away enough for the widow to establish herself and mature.  
The canyon is a niche that widows can thrive in.  Human movement through the canyon probably does factor in, but the solid structure of the canyon walls providing nooks and crannies up high enough for mammals and others to ignore is most likely the key reason widows are there.  
I ran across several well established huge females. One was between a large fallen chunk of the canyon wall and the wall itself ...probably a multi generation web with strands extending 6 ft to the bottom of the crevice. During my night hunt in the canyon, I was able to collect a couple of these big girls. 
One turned out to be a truly oddball hesp. Take a look at the width of her hourglass!





Thats the widest glass Ive ever seen on a hesperus.  If she produces a sac, I'm going to be tempted to raise a bunch of her slings just to see if shes a fluke or if she'll pass this feature on.   
Also, the adults I observed in the canyon were all VERY well fed compared to what you would find around the house.  These widows looked like they were cared for by hobbyists. The reason? ...I believe its because of a constant supply of big lumbering Eleodes. Eleodes carcasses were everywhere along the floor and canyon walls ..and in/under hesperus webs.  In smaller subs and juv webs, I also found Loxosceles which (aside from what i think are a Psilochorus sp.) are probably the most successful and abundant spider within the canyon.

A few other spiders found within the canyon...

Psilochorus sp. ??











I believe 90% of all that tiny, weak mystery webbing one finds in holes and whatnot in the desert out here is probably from this flavor of "cellar spider". Im curious to see if these can be as "communal" as their city dwelling cousins can be. 

ID?? Sort of a crab spider meets pirate spider meets something else.  
Found a few of these ..in hard to get to nooks. Was able to collect one and so far it has fed and looks "happy".
Killed one that was a decent amount larger than this one ...trying to dig it out of caved-in sand.  Bummer ..hate killing the critters that way.







Another small spider ..only ran into this one.
Dysdera crocota but without the big scary jaws...






A nice little wasp/velvet ant sort of deal...Waspman over on VL gave me this ID..


> It is a nocturnal male velvet ant (family Mutillidae: subfamily Sphaeropthalminae). There are a several genera that it could be; it's almost impossible to tell which one without the specimen in hand.
> Nice find! Velvet ants are my favorite insects.




















Unfortunately, it has expired already.  If I would have been with camera and was in that sort of mode, I would not have abducted the poor little guy. 

Next to finding the recluse, this made me happy go lucky...
Truly a beautiful scorp.  2" from Chelicercae to Telson.
One benefit of hunting with non-invert people is that when they spot something, they tell ya about it and its yours for the taking.  No finders keepers quarrels whatsoever. 
My advanced scouts spotted this beauty moving along the wall/floor of the canyon. Maybe attempting to switch sides for sun warmth. 


























 An update before it can even be considered an update ...I frickin killed it!  I checked up on it earlier today and it was chipper and it looked like it ate the cricket I provided.  Tonight while typing this I checked up on it and it was dead! Poison? No other deaths from this batch of crix ...not yet anyway.  damn it! damn it! damn it!
Jeeese... perhaps too much humidity?  The basic coconut substrate/chunk of bark setup. The substrait was moist, but not wet.  damn it, I wasn't planning on keeping it that way long...but I figured it was a safe bet for now.  damn it.  I should have just left it alone. 

Ruined my f'n evening. Stuff like this zaps all energy and enthusiasm right out of me. 

  So, you scorpion experts ..what do you think I killed?  




Anyway... I may have more to add to this, just don't give a shit right now. Gotta put my mind on something else.

Oh..yeah.. I have another possible significant find... a spider that I forgot to photograph. I THINK it may be Filistata sp.  Another canyon resident. It had a text-book crevice spider web.  Ill try and take some pics of "her" soon.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mamba151 (Jul 27, 2013)

*Scorpion*

I was wondering if you could get into more detail about the scorpion you caught. I live out here and on any given (moonless) night I can go out with my UV flashlight and spot 10-15 Borrego giant hairy scorpions, and I can catch them no problem, but I haven't seen one the likes of which you caught. I know my first one died due to too much humidity so I keep the lid off the terrarium and only put a small bowl of water in the sand buried almost entirely. It is most likely the humidity that killed yours but I would like to find one myself. Also the widow you showed is about average for what I have around the outside of the house, I have one that lives under the wheelbarrow that I check on regularly.


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## kellakk (Jul 30, 2013)

That's a beautiful scorpion! It's a shame it died, could be humidity but could just be stress from capture.  I would say it's a Vaejovis spp. but I'm not an expert and I'm sure others will weigh in soon.


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## kellakk (Aug 2, 2013)

Wow, didn't realize this was such an old thread. Whoops.


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