Well, there will be no official collection entries until I return to San Diego where my pinning and identifying equipment is, but here are some teaser live photos of insects and other animals spotted during the trip to Santa Cruz and Monterey. Those pictured below include a moth, a stone fly, two ants (I am 99% certain that that second ant is a winged reproductive individual, not a wasp), a beetle (fairly certain), and two bees, in addition to a banana slug and a salamander/newt - I'll wait for Phil to respond with an identification since he is the amphibian expert. Also, contrary to the popular myth, the underside of a banana slug does NOT numb the tongue. I very thoroughly tested this. The two bees are not common bumble bees or honey bees, so I look forward to keying them.
It ended up being quite a productive trip, since we found a caddisfly and a stonefly, both new ORDERS, not just new families. The stonefly, of family Plecoptera, is one of the older insect orders. They start their lives as aquatic nymphs, as do dragonflies. I will elaborate more on this order once I key the specimen to family - it will probably be one of my first entries after this hiatus!
It ended up being quite a productive trip, since we found a caddisfly and a stonefly, both new ORDERS, not just new families. The stonefly, of family Plecoptera, is one of the older insect orders. They start their lives as aquatic nymphs, as do dragonflies. I will elaborate more on this order once I key the specimen to family - it will probably be one of my first entries after this hiatus!
I posted an entry about it, actually. On the short end of things, it is Ensatina eschscholtzii eschscholztii, or the "Monterey Salamander". Oh common names, so boring.
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