jwparker2's Journal
Craig's List of helpful links
A Beginner's Filed Guide to Identifying Bees
An annotated checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) of San Diego County, California
Exotic Bee ID
Bees! Diversity, Evolution, Conservation
Identification Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the northeastern Nearctic region
Field/Photo ID for Flies
Exporting Observations from iNat
Posted on April 22, 2024 07:43 PM by thumbwave thumbwave
My own difficulty in identifying specific Melilotus species was greatly assisted by csledge, an iNaturalist I have never met. She identified an observation I had posted, including an exhaustive botanical reference list that is amazingly handy!
Here's her ist of online resources as a starting place for identifying MN and N. American species: https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/csledge/55746-a-list-of-online-resources
Many thanks csledge!
Dactylopius
Cochineal Scale Bugs
Genus Dactylopius
Dactylopius coccus is not recorded in the US. There are four species of Dactylopius in California and they will typically need to be slide-mounted for species-level ID. True cochineal has a light dusting of wax and the female bodies are visible:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/71893623
I should have known this...
Also, with thistles, their relatives, and Asteraceae as a whole, please try to get a good photo of the phyllaries (which you can do with a side-view of the flower head)! The phyllaries are often one of the best features for ID.
These iNat folks are known as "efmer". They are a MOST EXCELLENT resource for flora of Anza-Borrego Desert.
Fred Melgert / Carla Hoegen
Joined: Jan 20, 2018 Last Active: Jul 24, 2020 Monthly Supporter since October 2019
Projects:
2017-now: Creating a voucher-based list of plants that occur in the San Felipe Valley region (San Felipe Wildlife Preserve).
2008-now: Making the best flower guide / plant list of the Anza-Borrego Desert and surrounding area.
2010-2019: Field work to map the range of the recently discovers Malacothamnus enigmaticus.
Our seasonal bloom report:
https://borregowildflowers.org/pages/blooming.html
Android and iOS flower app of the Anza Borrego Desert and surrounding areas.
https://borregowildflowers.org/pages/ios_app.html
https://borregowildflowers.org/pages/android_app.html
Flower (id) site:
https://borregowildflowers.org
Hiking site with detailed info and GPS.
https://borregohiking.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BorregoWildflowers
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/anza_borrego_wildflowers/
Fascinating discussion on complexities of identification.
San Diego Wirelettuce (Stephanomeria diegensis) from Flintkote Drive, Sorrento Valley, CA on December 02, 2015 at 12:54 PM by Jay L. Keller · iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2446794
ALWAYS something new!
This morning I read the following FASCINATING article from a friend of mine:
https://missiontimescourier.com/the-invasive-italian-white-snail/
I then went out to the park, photographed and posted an iNat obeservation of same.
I was quickly reminded (again) that there were MANY iNaturalists with far greater expertise than I have....
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52944752#activity_identification_116880130
And of course comes THIS little biological tidbit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_dart
Scientific name
Centaurea melitensis
Additional name information:
L.
Common name
tocolote, Maltese star thistle, Napa star thistle, Malta starthistle
Tocolote was brought to California during the Spanish mission period. The earliest record of its occurrence was seed found in adobe bricks of a building constructed in 1797 in San Fernando (Hendry 1931). It appears to have been a contaminant in wheat, barley, and oat seed and was widely distributed in dry-farmed grain fields. In one instance its seed was found embedded in an oat floret (Stanton and Boerner 1936). Seed is transported by humans, animals, or wind, similar to starthistle (Gerlach unpubl. data).
In the past I have received more than one spanking for misidentification of species. As of my last post of a Dasymutilla observation, I was able to ask an expert the following:
"What is the visual difference between aureola and magnifica?"
Many thanks to Kevin Williams, CURATOR.
Dasymutilla magnifica has a black head and thorax. It's hard to separate from D. klugii, and those are usually separated by distribution (D. magnifica mostly in California and Arizona hot deserts; D. klugii mostly in New Mexico and Texas).
Dasymutilla aureola is a Pacific species with a short thorax, thick head, and uniform white to red setae on the head, thorax, and abdomen.
Kevin
as well, there are MANY excellent and fascinating photos too be found on the following project:
Mutillids of the World
Many thanks to Curator silversea_starsong for providing this information in an earlier message stream.
How do I differentiate the identification between two Pepis species that apparently inhabit the same geographic area? In particular: Pepsis mildei and Pepsis thisbe here in San Diego. From the photos I see orange antennae on the iNat example pics for mieldei, and black on the thisbe. Is that the indicator? Many thanks.
Jim Parker
31 Oct 08:33
silversea_starsong silversea_starsong
Hi Jim,
Yes antennae is the quick and easy way to separate these two. In San Diego you probably get chrysothemis and mexicana too. Both of these also have black antennae like thisbe, but the former has very reddish wings (not orange) and the latter has black wings. There may be some non-Pepsis tarantula hawks in the area but I've not heard of them. They usually look like thisbe but are a bit smaller and have no iridescent blue.
James
31 Oct 08:49
silversea_starsong silversea_starsong
Oh and mildei does not have a pale wing tip. It just has the dark band there. Chrysothemis has the dark band with no tip also. If the wings are damaged you might not be able to tell. Then there is pallidolimbata which has no dark band, but no one talks about this one. I wonder if it is actually in southern CA.
31 Oct 08:53
jwparker2 jwparker2
Many thanks!
31 Oct 08:57
silversea_starsong silversea_starsong
So quick summary:
Pepsis thisbe: large, black antennae, orange wings with dark band, and then a pale wing tip.
Pepsis mildei: smaller, orange antennae, orange wings with dark band, no pale tip.
Pepsis chrysothemis: smaller, black antennae, if red wings, easy -- may be more orange at times? Dark band, no pale tip.
Pepsis pallidolimbata: orange wings, no dark band, but pale tip.
Pepsis mexicana: large, entirely dark, more likely to be mistaken for other wasps like Sphex pennsylvanicus.
Hemipepsis et al: supposed to be small, maybe not much smaller than mildei, but with no blue iridescence. Real ID feature is the wing vein pattern, so just get good wing shots if you suspect anything.
31 Oct 09:00
silversea_starsong silversea_starsong
Here's a Hemipepsis from Riverside County, very clearly black with no blue iridescence. Looks small. https://bugguide.net/node/view/1322492
