Trip to Yellowstone #1

[scitch]

Here are a few images that I took on my way to Yellowstone. Unfortunately, I did not keep track of exactly where each image was taken. These were all taken with a Casio Exilim EX-F1 with a Raynox snap-on. The Exilim is only 6 MP, so the crispness is not there, but there are some interesting subjects none the less. I'll post some later taken with the Sony Alpha and a macro lens. They are all single images, no stacking. I haven't a clue how some people get 30-140 images to stack in nature with just a camera in the wind with natural light. Amazes me.

I believe that this butterfly image was captured near the Grand Tetons. I would have stuck around for better images, but the biting flies were KILLING me! (I got some not-so-good images of the biting flies and will probably not post them)


There were a lot of these insects in this flower patch. Most of the flowers had dozens of the small, striped insect seen in the lower, right corner.


Here's a grasshopper beautifully camouflaged on a rock just outside the Tetons.


Here's what I guess is a hoverfly doing a hand-stand on a flower right on the border of the Elk Preserve in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.


Mike

[rjlittlefield]

Welcome back, Mike. Glad to see you had a good trip! Pictures look good too.

I haven't a clue how some people get 30-140 images to stack in nature with just a camera in the wind with natural light. Amazes me.

That would amaze everybody, especially the parts about "just a camera" and "in the wind". Deep stacks shot in the field are generally done when there is little or no wind (or the subject is rigid or protected from it). Focusing assistance is also used, typically a tripod and rail though sometimes other tools are pressed into surface.

About your subjects...

The first image shows some "little brown skipper", family Hesperiidae. Skippers in general are separated from other butterflies by the form of their antennae (sharp and recurved in skippers, versus bluntly knobbed in butterflies) and by the form of the abdomen (relatively broad in skippers, relatively skinny in butterflies). I put quotes around "little brown skipper" not because that's an official name but because there are so many different skippers matching that description. There may be a specialist somewhere who could identify this one to species at a glance, but I have no idea who that would be.

In the second image, the big yellow insect is a beetle, I believe one of the "long-horned wood borers" in family Cerambycidae. It is their larvae who bore in wood. The adults are often found on flowers as shown here. The small striped insect appears to be another beetle but I don't recognize that one.

--Rik

[NikonUser]

Please, post the images of the biting flies if they were tabanids.

The butterfly is a "Common Branded Skipper" Hesperia comma; widespread all across northern and western North America.

[scitch]

NikonUser;

I don't know anything except that they are flies and the bite REALLY hurts. I'll post the best picture that I have here. Not a great picture, but should be good enough to identify. They have very pretty eyes. You can see the background of this picture is my shorts. It was trying to bite me right through them!

Thanks, Rik. I'll see if I have a better picture of the small, striped creatures. I honestly didn't notice them in the field, only later when I looked at the pictures.

Mike

[NikonUser]

Yes, it's a horsefly. Genus is Hybomitra. If they are that common there I must try and pay a visit (I collect these beasts).
My Avatar is also a horsefly, but in this case it's a Tabanus

[scitch]

NU;

I could try to figure out exactly where we were. We were near a wildlife preserve in Wyoming. I got out to take pictures of some white-tailed deer and got attacked like killer bees! I had to run back to the car against the wind to keep them from biting. The moment the car stopped, the windows and mirrors immediately had the flies land on them. I don't know what seasons they are active, but this was about 10 days ago.

Mike

[rjlittlefield]

The butterfly is a "Common Branded Skipper" Hesperia comma; widespread all across northern and western North America.

Could be. But in support of uncertainty, let me note that Butterflies of Cascadia comments as follows (page 74):

The array of skippers formerly included under Hesperia comma may represent one "superspecies" or several closely related species. Layberry et al separated out ten subspecies into H. colorado, the Western Branded Skipper; Guppy and Shepard maintain H. comma as an umbrella species. In Cascadia, the paler populations from lowland habitats represent H. colorado, while high alpine populations are H. comma. McCorkle and Warren point out that H. colorado oregonia from Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island closely resemble the H. comma hulbirti from the nearby Olympics, but this probably represents a case of habitat convergence.

Ranges are listed for H. comma as "circumpolar, ranging across Canada and southward into the Lakes states, MT, ID, and WA", while for H. colorado it is "western states into S. BC and Alberta".

From what I read, it seems that even the biological status of these things is not completely understood --- which groups are reproductively isolated and thus ought to be considered true "species". Add to that, even these two named groups have ranges that overlap in just about the area the photograph was taken.

Maybe I'm being overly tentative here, but if so I blame corruption by ill chosen companions. It was just a few weeks ago that I attended the Lepidopterists' Society annual meeting and watched gurus talk about these general issues and debate the identity of various bugs they had in hand to examine at leisure.

I doubt that anybody would disagree with seeing "Hesperia comma" as a label on this photo. But I also harbor some doubts that it would serve as voucher material in a careful study.

--Rik

[scitch]

Rik;

Here's a slightly better image of the small, striped beetles.



Mike

[NikonUser]

I would love to find a location where the biting flies are that bad (to me that would be 'good).
Re: small beetles, a good place to start would be with the Rove Beetles (Staphylinidae). They have that rove beetle look.

[scitch]

I'll work with my wife to see if we can come up with precisely where it was. I have the world's worst memory, but I remember that we found an Osprey nest not far from there and took a picture of the restaurant across the street in case we wanted to come back. If we can locate that restaurant, we can get you close.

Mike

[rjlittlefield]

Small beetles, could also be a "tumbling flower beetle", family Mordellidae, something like THIS.

--Rik

[NikonUser]

Small beetles, could also be a "tumbling flower beetle", family Mordellidae, something like THIS.
--Rik

Agreed, a better candidate than a Rove Beetle. My batting average is quite low recently; I can only hope someone posts an image of a tabanid from eastern Canada that needs an ID

[scitch]

NU, I was going through the photos from my trip and found another picture of a fly. It is way out of focus so I didn't post it before, but since it was taken at the same location as the biting fly pictures, I thought you might be interested.

This one didn't try to bite me, so maybe it's not one that you study.

Mike

[NikonUser]

No, that's not one of mine. Horse flies have a certain look about them that is hard to explain. Also, see the tip of the wing in your horse fly photo and notice that a wing vein splits into a Y near the tip which is characteristic for horse fly wings.

[scitch]

Hey NU;

We looked at a map and figured out that we were on the US 89 North in Wyoming. We were driving along a wilderness preserve but could not find the name of it. We have a couple of pictures of the scenery, but no signs that would help find it precisely. But this whole area seemed to be just filled with them.

Mike