insects of grand canyon: an overview for hiking guides

insects of grand canyon: an overview for hiking guides

INSECTS OF GRAND CANYON:
AN OVERVIEW FOR HIKING GUIDES
Larry Stevens
Museum of Northern Arizona
larry@springstewardship.org
Giants on Whose Shoulders We Stand
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the lightof evolution
Theodore Dobzhansky
Basin and Range
Geologic Prov.
Rocky Mtn.
Geol. Prov.
Virgin R.
Rkm
0
Grand
Rkm
400
Rkm
300
Canyon
Rkm
200
Rkm
100
Basin and Range
Geologic Prov.
Grand Canyon Rims Map
(Billingsley and Hampton 1999)
Eastern
Basin
Western
Basin
Muav
Gorge
THE BIOGEOGRAPHY OF LARGE, DEEP CANYONS
(STEVENS 2012)
Barrier/Filter
Refugia
North Rim
Barrier/
Filter
Corridor
Flow Direction
South Rim
Barrier/Filter
Barrier/
Filter
ARTHROPODA:
Half a Billion Years
of World Dominance
Segmented worm ancestor
Chelicerata
Mites
Bark Scorpion
(Buthidae: Centruroides)
Scorpiones
Silurian (430 m.y. ago)
AZ Giant Hairy Scorpion
(Vaejovidae: Hadrurus)
Scolopendron viridis
Centipede
Hyallela Amphipod
Orthoporus ornatus
Millepede
AQUATIC AND RIPARIAN INSECTS
Belostoma ~fluminium
Mayflies:
Ephemeroptera
♂ Stoneflies: Plecoptera
Ranatra
Naucoridae
Masked Clubskimmer
(Brechmorhoga pertinax)
Rhagovelia
distincta
Aquarius remigis
Odonata – 89 spp, dominated by neotropical fauna, with ~equivalent
boreal, range-centered, and Pacific coast elements;
78% of fauna is exogenous
13
5
20
18
3
2 endemic
5
1
29
ANT LIONS: MYRMELEONTIDAE
Thermonectus
Chrysina
Dryopoid Beetles
Prionus
Tiger Beetles
Ground Beetles
DIPTERA
“Two Winged Insects”
Nematocera:
Ancestral flies with aquatic larvae
(e.g., Culicidae, Simuliidae,
Chironomidae)
Brachycera:
Tabanomorpha
Asilimorpha
Muscomorpha
Efferia
HYMENOPTERA: BEES, ANTS, WASPS
Origin in Triassic Period, with social wasps in Cretaceous
150,000 described, with many undescribed spp (e.g., parasitoids)
Apoidea
Vespoidea
Giant Cicada Killer wasp,
45 mm long
Chrysidoidea
Aculeate Apocrita Wasps
Mymarid wasp,
0.1 mm long
Vespoidea:
Formicidae (Ants)
Vespidae (Paper & Meat Wasps
Triassic Period >200,00 million years ago
Pompilidae (Spider Wasps)
Sphecidae (Thread-waisted Wasps)
HYMENOPTERA: Bees, Ants, and Wasps
Membrane -winged Insects
Formicidae: Ants
175 species on southern Colorado Plateau
Desert diurnal S is low
Reduced by California Harvester Ant?
Large Aculeate Wasps:
Paper/Hornet, Spider,
and Thread-waisted Wasps
Vespidae
Pompilidae
Sphecidae
Apoidea - Bees:
Six families, mostly solitary
Honey Bee is only “kamakazi” bee
Melittidae
Apidae
Megachilidae
Honey Bee
Andrenidae
Halictidae
Colletidae
The Hymenopteran Stinger: A Girl’s Best Weapon
Many Uses of Stinger and Venom
* Oviposition – egg laying
* Self defense
* Kill or paralyze prey
* Hive defense
* Self-protection by coating their bodies to deter attackers
* Sterilization of pathogens
* Alarm pheromones
* Sex-attractant pheromones
JUSTIN SCHMIDT
HYMENOPTERA STING PAIN
SCALE:
* Pogonomyrmex barbatus Harvester Ant “Bold and
unrelenting. Somebody using a drill to excavate your ingrown
toenail”
* Paper Wasp – “Caustic and burning. Distinctly bitter
aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on
a paper cut”
Justin Schmidt
* Fire Ant “Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like
walking across a shag carpet and reaching for the light
switch.” Highest level of anaphylactic response.
http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2012/08/schmidt-sting-pain-index-categorising.html
Tarantula Hawks
(Pompilidae: Pepsis and Hemipepsis
Schmidt Scale Sting Pain: Taratula Hawk - Blinding, fierce, shockingly
electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath.”
The most painful sting in the Southwest, but short duration pain.
Grand Canyon Region Butterflies: >140 Species in Six Families
Sleepy Dogface
Black Swallowtail
Mourning Cloak
Queen
Great Purple Hairstreak
Dainty Sulfur
Painted Lady
American Snout
Many-tailed
Swallowtail
Buckeye
AZ Sister
Common White
Orange Sulfur
Western Swallowtail
Acastus Patch
Grand Canyon Brown
Pygmy Blue
Red-spotted Purple
Monarch
Common Hairstreak
© L.E. Stevens 2004
Arizona State Butterfly
Many-tailed Swallowtail (Papilio multicaudata)
Plant Defenses:
Hairy leaves
Latex compounds in sap
Cardenolides (~digitalis) in sap.
Fast growth
Larvae Eat Leaves
Cope with hairy leaves
Store toxins in skin
Shed skin 5 times
Store toxins in pupal
integument
Adults - wings contain stored plant
toxins
APOSEMATIC
COLORATION
+ apo
sēmat-, sēma
(above, highest)
(sign)
Oncopeltus
Tetraopes
J. Friedrich Müller
Mullerian Mimicry:
Bad Guys Look Alike
Danaus plexippus
VELVET ANTS (MUTILLIDAE):
BEING BAD, LOOKING BAD - TOGETHER
(Wilson et al. 2012 – Females only!)
Wilson, J.S., K.A. Williams, M.L. Forister, C.D. von Dohlen, and J.P. Pitts. 2012. Repeated evolution in overlapping mimicry rings among
North American velvet ants. Nature Communications 3:1272, UAES 8399.
Batesian Mimicry:
Cheaters That Look Bad, but Aren’t
Viceroy (Limintis archippus)
Faking It - No Bad Taste
“Batesian Mimic”
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Bad Taste, Poisonous
“Model”
Henry Bates
Grand Canyon region invertebrates are diverse (~20K spp)
Requiring lifetimes to learn them
Many new species, many grand processes
Each species we encounter has a remarkable story to tell,
if we can listen carefully and ask the right questions
ENDEMIC, SMALL POPULATIONS, NO MONITORING,
MANY RARE SPECIES, STATUS UNCERTAIN
“Masked Clubskimmer
(LIBELLULIDAE:Brechmorhoga pertinax)”
Wetsalts Tiger Beetle
(CICINDELIDAE:
Cicindela haemorrhagica arizonae)
Viceroy Butterfly
Vulcans Well Giant Waterbug
(Belostoma nr. flumineum )
Limenitis archippus
OUT HERE IT’S SO HOT THAT….