Hills, Mountains, and Canyons of Azusa, California, USA

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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I can't think of anything clever or informative to put here. I just got back from this place, along with Warren and Paul (wburke17 and ronin).

Very beautiful. Game bugs are a bit scarcer, it seems... but there are some amazing views and very weird plant and animal life out there that we *have* found

enough words. the first thing i will post is a youtube of an angry little caterpillar

Angry Unidentified Caterpillar hifi

This fuzzy fellow is about 2.5-2.75"/6.5-7cm long. I did not pick it up (though i love playing with bugs) because i was worried that since it might have itching hairs/poison needles and i was all hot and sweaty from walking around in the mountains for the previous 4.5 hours that something bad might be able to happen =P

Also... this was one ANGRY caterpillar! Granted I *was* sort of giving him the the ol' dry grass tickle... but still... ANGRY!

This guy lives in the foothills above Azusa, Califorina, USA.


[UPLOADED FROM A 4.3MB WMV FILE]
[YOUTUBE]ASXdBeS2FfA[/YOUTUBE]

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[YOUTUBE]hJgS1DrurYw[/YOUTUBE]

Angry unidentified caterpillar Azusa California USA poison needles ATTACK!
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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May 26, 2007: Saturday

Nice place. newish mountains so there is still some good jaggediness to see


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though man has tainted even this location to some degree nature seems to have the situation well in hand

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Dr. Seuss called, he said he wants his plant back because Horton needs it.

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commie larva. commie larve? yeah, leftist *pinko* commie larva. think this is a glower

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i was kind of wondering why this guy was acting as calm as it was... now i see =P

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and just to make sure no one messes up the joint, we locked up after we were through



(i still have to redo and upload the pics i took yesterday (friday, may 25) when i was scouting)
 

twirl and kill

Arachnosquire
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May 18, 2006
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wow!,looks like i missed a good H&H,looks like a beautiful place.when is the next hunt again,ill clear my skedual*scedual*.:?
 

cacoseraph

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wow!,looks like i missed a good H&H,looks like a beautiful place.when is the next hunt again,ill clear my skedual*scedual*.:?
it was very pretty up there. both yesterday (when i "scouted" alone) and today i dropped or failed to catch giant blind centipedes. sheesh.

well, no body has really gotten back to me so i have been using June 9 (sat) and June 24 (sun) as like, planning dates
 
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cacoseraph

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May 25, 2007: Friday

May 25, 2007: Friday

Scenery

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Fauna (vertebrate)


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Fauna (invertebrate) (the good stuff)

this thing had big pointy jaws. i was a little hesitant to pick it up at first, but i did and it was nice.

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i found this guy wandering on my arm.

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these are common. i think Warren's boy said they are Pretty Lady (he might have been talkign about dif butterfly though)

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found a single wing under a rock

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this was a little bit more brightly colored in real life. i think i saw adults, they looked like box elder bugs kinda

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this has got to be the best camo i have ever taken a picture of, and probably the best i have seen in real life. these things are ghostly, like. i think they are like, non-man dependant "silverfish"

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didn't even see the baby (mate?) in real life. only saw it after i got home.

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this spider was quite small. only a couple mm bodylength and a few/4 mm legspan, i would say. and fast! Thomisidae crab spider?

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i thought this guy was pretty sharp looking. a small pic of it almost on my hand for size reference. i am a fairly big guy, i guess.



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This is probably my favorite spider find of the day. i am regretting not taking it... but i do believe i remember where the tree/rock i found it are. It spins cribellate web. i thought it was a black hole spider, Kukulcania sp. at first. Now i have no idea. Maybe it is some kind of Filistidae (or Gnaphosidae, are they cribellate?) or Segestriidae? Seg is cribellate, at least in part, it looks

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size reference. it is not a huge spider. but it is a looker!
 
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buthus

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Wow...pretty area indeed :cool:
Whats the river current like? How cold? Spot much aquatic life? Fish?
 

myrmecophile

Arachnolord
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Haven't been into that area for a long time. The ant is a "queen" looks like Liometopum. The butterfly is a checkerspot, forget which species. Your attack caterpillar may have been the larvae of the checkerspot, but the image is not clear enough to be sure. The larger orange spider in the tub looks rather like a Loxoceles sp. The orange beetle is a Cantharid, possible a Cantharis species. They can be very common at lights at night. The funny pink plant is miners lettuce pretty yummy salad plant when not past it's prime.
 
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cacoseraph

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Haven't been into that area for a long time. The ant is a "queen" looks like Liometopum. The butterfly is a checkerspot, forget which species. Your attack caterpillar may have been the larvae of the checkerspot, but the image is not clear enough to be sure. The larger orange spider in the tub looks rather like a Loxoceles sp. The orange beetle is a Cantharid, possible a Cantharis species. They can be very common at lights at night. The funny pink plant is miners lettuce pretty yummy salad plant when not past it's prime.
wow, good info!

i really hope you are wrong about the Loxo... i didn't keep it! i do remember where i caught and released it, though.

edit: i think i see eight eyes on that red fellow
 
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cacoseraph

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Wow...pretty area indeed :cool:
Whats the river current like? How cold? Spot much aquatic life? Fish?
i didn't touch the river, but it doesn't have *that* much flow to it as it constricts down to a ~30' cross section that isn't roaring. there are two kinds of fish, i think. a more bottom hugger that is shaped like a placostomas a bit and then a more "traditionally" shaped fish. the largest fish i saw was 12"/30cm+ bodylength, but most were in the 4-6"/10-15cm range. other than those fish and the frog thing, there was maybe 3-4 easily distinguishable plants, mosses, and er slimes in it. oh, and potentially Cryptosporidiam :evil:
 

cacoseraph

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The butterfly is a checkerspot, forget which species.
lol, i was going to see if i could google/web for the species... turns out there are kind of a lot of checkspot species. heh. even in CA there are a lot. and it seems like one is named "Variable checkerspot"... that can't be going to make things easier. i think i have to learn to speak butterfly to do any useful ID to species and it probably involves levels of detail just as freaky as in everything else. this might take a while, heh.


The funny pink plant is miners lettuce pretty yummy salad plant when not past it's prime.
the fact you can eat it makes it my new favorite plant! well, a new second favorite at any rate.



thanks again for pointing me in the right direction on that stuff. *kind of* a lot of bugs to ID stuff that you aren't versed in. heh.
 

buthus

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i didn't touch the river, but it doesn't have *that* much flow to it as it constricts down to a ~30' cross section that isn't roaring. there are two kinds of fish, i think. a more bottom hugger that is shaped like a placostomas a bit and then a more "traditionally" shaped fish. the largest fish i saw was 12"/30cm+ bodylength, but most were in the 4-6"/10-15cm range. other than those fish and the frog thing, there was maybe 3-4 easily distinguishable plants, mosses, and er slimes in it. oh, and potentially Cryptosporidiam :evil:
Oohh..fairly "big" fish.
I might have to get out there and turn some rocks too! :D

edit: I dont see any Loxos in any of these pics. From what i have read, all the loxos found in the US look almost exactly the same. Leg lengths and sex organs are pretty much the only real keys to ID.
 

myrmecophile

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Indeed I do believe variable checkerspot is correct. Here is a great site for Lepidoptera .

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/map?x=29&y=142&_fc=1


I do believe you are right about the spider, looking closer, it does indeed seem to be something else. Cool spider whatever it is. The bottom dwelling fish is interesting, just what we need another introduction.
 

wburke17

Arachnosquire
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May 22, 2006
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heres some of the pics that i took

heres some of the fish,bottom dwellers

and also some trout

this one is in the 12" range

dragon fly


the body shapeof this lizard reminded me of a moniter, it was well over 12" in total length




and a couple of our younger hikers Dylan

and Devhyn (this pic wasn't staged, shes always ready for a photo op.)
 

ronin

Arachnosquire
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Jan 2, 2007
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It was great going out there with all of you. A lot of fun and I learned a bunch too. I'll upload some of my pics when I figure how to do it. :)
 

What

Arachnoprince
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That looks to be a trout, anyone know the name of that creek?
 

julesaussies

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These are all just incredible photos. i can't wait to go this Saturday. My niece has already pulled out her hiking boots - hmmm... wonder if she's excited?? LOL

i know you said we meet at your house at 9am. i was just curious how long the group usually stays out. My dogs stay in the house so i can have a friend come by to let them out. i can give her a time to come over if i know about when you guys normally finish.

i'm really looking forward to meeting some people from AB. Everyone seems really nice. See everyone Saturday!!
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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These are all just incredible photos. i can't wait to go this Saturday. My niece has already pulled out her hiking boots - hmmm... wonder if she's excited?? LOL

i know you said we meet at your house at 9am. i was just curious how long the group usually stays out. My dogs stay in the house so i can have a friend come by to let them out. i can give her a time to come over if i know about when you guys normally finish.

i'm really looking forward to meeting some people from AB. Everyone seems really nice. See everyone Saturday!!
that is the kind of enthusiasm we like to see :D

return time is kind of variable. sometimes we have actually returned to the meeting house (mine, usually, so far) mid-day and drop off bugs we caught and then head out to another area. but i would say i can't really recall a time we were back at the meeting house before like 4-5. i can't really think of a time we got back after like 6-6:30. i think.
 

twirl and kill

Arachnosquire
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so..we are going in a new area? but near the same general area?.hopefully there is some fun offroad trails...;P
 
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