אוקטובר 3, 2023

Finding All Three US Elephant Beeltes In 365 Days

A, not so brief, story about finding some of the rarest beetles in the US in 365 days!

There are three known species of elephant beetle in the United States. One from Texas, the Texas Elephant beetle (Megasoma vogti), another from Arizona, Megasoma punctulatum, and the last with a sporadic range from California, Arizona, and even Nevada, Sleeper’s elephant beetle (Megasoma sleeperi). Many consider these species to be some of the rarest beetles in the US; however, there is a good reason. All three species are poorly studied meaning very little information is known about their life history. It is especially difficult in Texas, as the lack of public land further restricts our access to study them in their habitat.

The journey began last August when I finally found my first Texas elephant beetle (M. vogti ). This was after trying for a good 2 years prior with no luck! It was quite a relief to finally find it. I had always wanted to find the fabled elusive species, and my determination (and repeated trips to South Texas) finally paid off. The difficulty I faced when trying to locate my somewhat local species just goes to show how hard it can be to find.

Circumstances arose that would put me somewhat close (close enough for an entomologist) to a known locality for Sleeper’s elephant beetle (M. sleeperi) in California. I thought it would be neat if I could get to see two of our Megasoma species in the same year so I wasn’t going to waste my opportunity to give finding it a shot! I luckily was there during the “peak” month for them too so my odds were “good”. This is considered the rarest species of the three so I didn’t set my expectations very high. Over the two nights I tried looking, I was able to find two females making my detour worth it! That was a fun experience and slightly anxiety-inducing experience being all by myself, but dang those stars were pretty at night.

After discussing my success with @alex_cicindela_guy, he threw out the idea of trying for the last species, M. punctulatum, in Southeast Arizona the following July potentially seeing all 3 in 365 days. I thought the idea was awesome so we planned a week-long Arizona trip. I was pretty confident I could do it since this species is considered the “most common” of the three. We traveled to Arizona last July, and we arrived to news that the monsoon rains were about a week or so overdue. This did not bode well for the elephant beetle or general bugging overall. As we started on our journey the weather began to turn in our favor. Monsoon rains began to fall and with it rose our chances. We had one night to find it on our trip itinerary so I was a little anxious, but, luckily, we were able to find the final species!

It was a wild, fun, and sometimes stressful journey, and I’m happy it all paid off. It is definitely an accomplishment I’m proud of!

Apparently, I'm the first person on iNat to post all three US elephant beetle species too! I think that's a pretty neat achievement as well!

Not only was it awesome getting to accomplish a feat like this, but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of the different places and other species that called those areas home. It was the first time I had ever visited Arizona for the express purpose of bugging, and my first time ever to California!

הועלה ב-אוקטובר 3, 2023 03:18 לפנה"צ על ידי bugman422 bugman422 | 3 תצפיות | 0 תגובות | הוספת תגובה

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