Heading to Arizona this weekend - any suggestions?

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I'll be heading to Arizona this weekend, visiting my brother in Phoenix on Friday night, then down to Tucson on Saturday, returning to California on Sunday. I'm planning on doing some hiking and collecting, and would especially love to find Scolopendra heros - though I'll have my eyes peeled for all sorts of cool inverts. This is primarily a collecting trip for my summer school classes, so I can have some cool new bugs to show the kids (and add to my "bug zoo"). If anyone has any tips for good spots to look, please PM me. I'd really appreciate it!

 

Yeah, I was really hoping for rain in the forecast toward the end of the week - but no such luck! From what I've heard, heros are not terribly common around Phoenix. I'll be looking for solifugids, Hadrurus arizonensis, and polymorpha around Phoenix, then hoping for heros down around Tucson. I'm also hoping for Paraphrynus carolynae in either area (I've found them both in Phoenix and in Tucson before). If I strike out on the heros this trip, I'll try again this fall when I head up to Payson to collect Dynastes grantii.

 

Maybe next time! I try to get to Arizona several times a year.

 

Pretty good, actually. I managed to acquire a couple of Paraphrynus carolynae, a wolf spider (Hogna sp.), a couple of Loxoscoles sp. (probably L. arizonica), and a kissing bug (Triatoma rubida). Also saw and photographed (but chose not to collect) several coreids (Thasus neocalifornicus, Chelinidea vittiger, Narnia femorata), some beetles (Brachinus sp., Galerita sp., a Buprestid, a Dynastinae - possibly Hemiphileurus illatus, Chlaenius sp.), assorted spiders, cicadas, scorpions, solifugids, ant lions, and moths. I didn't see any centipedes at all - but then, it was so hot and dry that I didn't really expect to. I'll be out there again in July, so maybe I'll have better luck then.

How about you? Were you able to find anything?

 

I went out hiking in Phoenix Friday night from around 10:30 p.m. until around 2:00 a.m., then I hiked a bit in Tucson on Saturday afternoon - maybe an hour or two - and went back out Saturday night from around 9:00 until close to 3:00 a.m., then one final hike on Sunday morning up on Mount Lemmon for maybe an hour or two.

I found two of the Loxosceles along a cut bank, with mesquite, cactus, and assorted shrubs. I also saw a third one near a dried-out creek, in dried grass, walking around underneath the web of some sort of Agelenid.

 

I usually go around the end of August/beginning of September. (Labor Day weekend or the weekend before.) This was my fourth trip out there. The first year I collected maybe 5 or 6 females and 2 males (Labor Day weekend), the second year I only got 2 or 3 females and I think 1 male? I really don't remember for sure, but not very many. This was also Labor Day weekend. Last year I went the weekend before Labor Day weekend, and they were quite plentiful - especially the males. This year I went again the weekend before Labor Day and they were pretty sparse. We only found one female on Friday night, but Saturday night I had better luck and picked up a couple of males and three additional females. One of the locals said I should come back in a couple of weeks because they hadn't really started to emerge in large numbers yet. It seems like everything is a bit later this year. The Xyloryctes have been super plentiful every year - hundreds of them (both dead and alive) all over the parking lots and sidewalks - but this year there were hardly any of them. I'm sure it just depends from year to year on the weather, temperatures, moisture, etc.

In addition to the D. grantii and a few Xyloryctes, we also found a couple of Chrysina gloriosa and a couple of Gibbifer californicus. There were also a lot of the big antlions, Vella fallax, some dobsonflies, and even some little mantidflies (Plega sp.) Even when the beetle hunting is less successful, there is some gorgeous hiking in the area, with plenty of birds and inverts to see. (I highly recommend the Horton Creek Trail! It follows a lovely creek and the majority of the trail is shaded by the trees.)

I would not recommend going on Labor Day weekend. While I did go that weekend the first couple of times because I liked having the extra day to the weekend, it gets SO crowded! The traffic is terrible getting into and out of town, the motel rates are higher, and getting a room can be a challenge.

It's a great place to go, if you have the opportunity! I highly recommend it.

 

Sorry - accidental duplicate post.

 

Well... it's not exactly a "natural habitat" - but the Home Depot parking lot is the best spot for beetle hunting. The big lights of the Home Depot and the adjacent gas station attract the bugs, so you can find the beetles just wandering around (or floundering upside-down) in the parking lot - and the antlions, dobsonflies, moths, and mantidflies on the exterior walls of the buildings. The big city park next to the library (and the library parking lot) are also good spots - but you need to clear out of the park by 10:30. I didn't realize that until this past weekend, when the local police paid a visit to make sure I wasn't up to no good. They were quite nice, but informed me that all of the parks close at 10:30.

As for the wild larvae, I've never bothered digging for those. I just bring back females and set them up in nice deep substrate so they can lay eggs. I've been very successful with the Dynastes (the eggs from the females I brought back three years ago have been maturing this summer), but have not yet had any luck with the Xyloryctes. I suppose something about my substrate or enclosures is not satisfactory because they don't seem to lay eggs for me.

What I usually do is come into Payson on a Friday night, check into the hotel, then go out for a few hours of beetle hunting, sleep in on Saturday, head out for some hiking, then more beetle hunting on Saturday night, starting shortly after dusk and usually going until 2 or 3 in the morning. On Sunday I head down the hill and visit my brother in Phoenix, then head back home.