There were no other cars at the trailhead, so I was happy to be able to visit my favorite insect hunting grounds.
But first a beautiful beetle found at home. Arrhenodes minutus, a kind of weevil.
EDIT: Identified by iNaturalist as Limonius basilaris.
I have been warned that most Elaterids really can’t be identified very well. Still a beautiful creature. *Could* be Sylvanelater cylindriformis. But could be Hemicrepidius nemnonius. The hind angles of the pronotum seem more like the latter; not sure about the “hairiness”. And could be Cardiophorus gagates
My first Psocoptera!!! Polypsocus corruptus.
A Geometrid, Hollow-spotted Plagodis, I think.
Exciting! This belongs to Coniopterygidae! A relative of lacewings and ant-lions, but much smaller.
Will probably never know which Diptera this is
Cicindella sexguttata, Six spotted tiger beetle.
Ichneumonoidae
What a beautiful, beautiful lady (with a long ovipositor). Odontocolon, in Xoridinae. Wikipedia mentions that these have a tooth on the femur of the hind leg, which you can see in the photo. It was suggested that these may be used to clean and comb the ovipositor.
Leucauge venusta. I just like getting to see the hairs on on the femurs of the IV leg.
Tiphiinae, Tiphia sp.
Ichneumonidae, Ichneumoninae.
Oak leaf rolling beetle, Synolabus bipustulatus
Philodromidae, Philodromus. Beautiful shiny abdomen. I turned off the flash for some of the shots to try to get the shininess better. Two different individuals here, not adjacent to each other.
Shiny!
This beetle was dead. Tenebrionidae, I think. Tarpela micans. Just enjoying the colors:
Weevil, Curculinidae, Piazorhinus scutellaris
Geometridae, Macaria bisignata.
Hadrobunus sp. suggested by iNaturalist.
These belong to Eulophus, a wasp in Chalcidoidea:
A fascinating scene. The big fuzzy mass, plus the brown bit at the end, are a Cottony Maple Scale. The ant is a Tapinoma sessile, which has a mutualistic relation with the scale, taking care of it and taking the sugary secretions back to the nest.
Sarcophagidae
Blattodean (okay, a cockroach):
Podabrus brevicollis?
Ampedus collaris, red-headed click beetle.
a little wild 