A great time with Arunah Hill (https://arunahhill.org/). Some absolutely amazing starwatching on the 17 inch Dobsonian telescope. The highlight was a astonishingly clear view of the Veil Nebula using the nebula filter, plus great views of the Andromeda Galaxy, M33, M101, and many many more.
Next morning, lots of dew, as is expected after a nice clear night, and bright sun. Here are some of the highlights. I cranked open the aperture quite a bit because the camera dynamic range can’t really catch the sparkle, unless you translate brightness into size with bokeh. Rather like photos of neon lights.
This turned out to be a beetle larva in the ground beetles, Carabidae, perhaps genus Scarites (“big headed ground beetles”). But my initial thoughts were that it was a pupa of the dobsonfly, fishfly, alderfly, snakefly cohort. Fascinating creature, always moving, and an unexpected blessing to see on our driveway!
I think this is the great black wasp, Sphex ichneumoneous
Halictinae, perhaps Lasioglossum
I think a Hylaeus masked bee
And another one. This one was crawling into one nock in the rock after another, clearly looking for something. I believe she was looking for a nesting hole. Here’s what Wikipedia says:
Nesting Biology
Hylaeus nests in premade holes and prefers to nest in wood, but will nest in dead stems, rocks, and earthworm burrows.
When a suitable premade hole is found, it is then divided by transverse partitions of clear cellophane-like material. The inner most cell is the one farthest from the nest entrance, and is characterised by a round distal end in order to fit the hole. Cell volumes are more or less constant. Lateral burrows are not constructed in this genus, but cells are placed end to end in the main nest.[24]
Hylaeus lines their nest with a waterproof and contaminant proof clear cellophane substance that does not melt or dissolve with strong chemicals. They also secrete a substance that protects the nest from fungi and bacteria. This substance is secreted from the mandibles.[25]
A Crabronid:
Lepidoptera
A skipper butterfly, probably silver-spotted skipper, ,Epargyreus clarus
What an absolutely stunning gorgeous beautiful Great Golden Digger Wasp, Sphex ichneumoneous.
Lepidoptera
Monarch, Danaus plexippus
Talking of stunning, this Eremnophila aureonotata, gold-marked thread-waisted wasp, Sphecidae.
And this Ceropales maculata, a kleptoparasitic spider wasp in Pompilidae:
My first sighting of this Aphilanthops in Philanthidae, which is apparently now a family. Aphilanthops captures queen ants, which to me seems a weird kind of speciality.
Apparently this is Philanthus.
And this Philanthus bee-wolf. Confusing iNaturalist puts this in Crabronidae –> Philanthinae. To be investigated further. P. gibbosus, according to people who know.
Velvet ant female in Daymutilla, I think
I think Ectemnius in Crabronidae:
EDIT: Crabro suggested
Apparently Tachytes.
I initially thought this was an ant alate, but the antennae don’t look like that now. Need to dive in a bit.
Hemiptera
Phymata pensylvanica ambush bug, one of many species that have lost the extra ‘n’ in “Pennsylvania”.
One with prey:
Diptera
I had never heard of this Mallota bautius, “bare-eyed mimic fly”, in Syrphidae.
Odonata
Pachydiplax longipennis (blue dasher)
Sympetrum vicinum, autumn meadowhawk, apparently.
Coleoptera
Calopteron in Lycidae
Broad-nosed weevil
Diptera
The oddly named genus Dialysis in Xylophagidae. Note that they were all over the place in yesterday’s moth lighting, too.
Rainiera antennaepes in Micropezidae. Wasp mimic, which is why it usually keeps its front legs ahead of it, to mimic antennae. I guess I photographed it in a moment when it was tired.
So many moths, so many. So many that adding all the identifications took too much time, but I will be adding identifications to this post as and when I get time. In any case, you should be able to find the correct identifications here: https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/gaurav1729/2026/7/25
I’ve never been on these trails before! What a great place to preserve.
Some views of the ensign wasp (Evaniidae) that I found. They are parasitoids on cockroach eggs — except, we know almost nothing about nearly every species in this family, so maybe a lot of them are not?
I almost never see multiple Evaniids hanging out for such a long time on a bush. Frustratingly, I only realized later that my camera was set on f/3 or so, which is why my photos were so tough to take and turned out so bad.
a little wild 