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Post by livingplanet3 on May 7, 2021 8:47:29 GMT -8
Short video of a Bumelia longhorn ( Plinthocoelium suaveolens), found in my backyard. Both sexes are iridescent metallic green, with red and black legs. At certain angles however, these beetles can appear dark blue. Males (like this one) have extremely long antennae. Although their host tree (Sideroxylon lanuginosum) is common in my area, I've only ever found a few of these beetles, possibly because I've relied mostly on just finding them by chance, on the trunks of the trees. I've heard that they will definitely come to fermenting fruit bait traps though, and hope to have some success in collecting them with this method, in the coming weeks. Like many other longhorns, they'll come to sap flows on various other, non-host tree species, such as red oaks (Quercus buckleyi, Q. shumardii) - And several photos of a female -     |
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Post by 58chevy on May 7, 2021 14:47:56 GMT -8
Great video & pictures. One of my favorite longhorns. I have caught those in hanging bait traps (brown sugar & water, with a few banana slices thrown in). In fact, I plan to put out some more traps next week. One tree in particular was productive last year. P. schwarzi, an almost identical species found in the lower Rio Grande valley of TX, has all-black legs. When it dies, the metallic green turns to metallic blue. Unfortunately I've never caught one. It's on my bucket list. Also, over the past few weeks I've gotten a bunch of Phanaeus vindex, P. triangularis & Deltochilum gibbosum in pitfall traps.
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Post by livingplanet3 on May 7, 2021 15:44:45 GMT -8
Great video & pictures. One of my favorite longhorns. I have caught those in hanging bait traps (brown sugar & water, with a few banana slices thrown in). In fact, I plan to put out some more traps next week. One tree in particular was productive last year. P. schwarzi, an almost identical species found in the lower Rio Grande valley of TX, has all-black legs. When it dies, the metallic green turns to metallic blue. Unfortunately I've never caught one. It's on my bucket list. Also, over the past few weeks I've gotten a bunch of Phanaeus vindex, P. triangularis & Deltochilum gibbosum in pitfall traps. Every one of my specimens of Plinthocoelium suaveolens has also turned from metallic green to metallic blue when dried. I've seen dried green specimens of this species, but how the green was preserved after death, I have no idea. P. vindex and also difformis are common in my area, but I've never seen a single triangularis, even though there are apparently records of it having been found in my county. As for Deltochilum gibbosum, I think I'm just a bit too far west for that species. I've seen some specimens collected in East TX. |
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Post by bandrow on May 7, 2021 17:14:16 GMT -8
livingplanet3 - where in Texas are you located? I may be able to give you some specific localities for P. triangularis. They seem to be more common along water courses or in river bottoms...
Cheers!
Bandrow
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Post by livingplanet3 on May 8, 2021 7:41:56 GMT -8
livingplanet3 - where in Texas are you located? I may be able to give you some specific localities for P. triangularis. They seem to be more common along water courses or in river bottoms... Cheers! Bandrow Just to the NW of DFW; no shortage of river bottoms and lakes here. |
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Post by 58chevy on May 8, 2021 8:30:21 GMT -8
livingplanet3, it's very interesting that your dried P suaveolens turned blue. I've never heard of that, except in P schwarzi. Were they exposed to sunlight or UV for a long time, or dried in an oven? That has never happened with my specimens. They all stayed green.
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Post by livingplanet3 on May 8, 2021 9:43:32 GMT -8
livingplanet3, it's very interesting that your dried P suaveolens turned blue. I've never heard of that, except in P schwarzi. Were they exposed to sunlight or UV for a long time, or dried in an oven? That has never happened with my specimens. They all stayed green. I've used several methods to dry them: simply drying at room temperature, and in a dehydrator, and even with silica gel, but the result was always the same - they turned from green to blue soon after they dried. No sunlight or UV exposure. |
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Post by bandrow on May 8, 2021 10:22:47 GMT -8
livingplanet3 - where in Texas are you located? I may be able to give you some specific localities for P. triangularis. They seem to be more common along water courses or in river bottoms... Cheers! Bandrow Just to the NW of DFW; no shortage of river bottoms and lakes here. Greetings, Probably not helpful then... one is down west of Corpus Christi and the other is in the Davis Mountains. Texas is just too darned big!! Cheers! Bandrow |
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