Sunday afternoon was warm and sunny, but when Catherine and I went out to Crother’s Woods, the forest was sodden and mucky. Nonetheless, we set out for a short stroll, looking under bark of fallen trees and in the leaf litter for creatures…
So have a gander at what we found!
![IMG_1732](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1732.jpg)
We found a bunch of Bassaniana (now Coriarachne) bark crab spiders overwintering in bark crevices. These are extremely cryptic on bark, and are probably very abundant all up a tree.
![IMG_1828](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1828.jpg)
Catherine managed to find a sac spider (Clubionidae, likely genus Clubiona) in a sac, also under bark.
![IMG_1804](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1804.jpg)
Catherine found this eastern yellowjacket queen under some bark as well. She is overwintering, and we took good care to replace her in an equivalent crevice.
![IMG_1817](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1817.jpg)
She was completely motionless, with wings held in a protective posture typical of overwintering yellowjackets. I was interested to see that her wings tuck under the spines on the hind tibiae.
![IMG_1857](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1857.jpg)
One of our coolest finds was this minute tree-fungus beetle on a bracket fungus on a birch tree. (family Ciidae, maybe Ceracis thoracicornis? OK, this is not even a ciid at all! Gil Wizen has informed me this is a tenebrionid, Neomida bicornis!)
![IMG_1858](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1858.jpg)
These beetles tunnel through the tough fungus, and I cannot understand how these forward-facing pronotal spines are helping!
![IMG_1784](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1784.jpg)
This looks like the larva of a flat bark beetle (Cucujidae) (but wait! It is not! Again, Gil Wizen to the rescue! This is a fire-colored beetle, Neophryochroa femoralis)
![mag view](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/mag-view.jpg)
A closer crop reveals that the water droplets act as magnifiers, bringing into view structures such as the tracheae, visible through the translucent cuticle (click picture for larger view).
![IMG_1785](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1785.jpg)
Like most of the under-bark fauna, these beetles are very flat! Even adult cucujids are very dorso-ventrally flattened.
![IMG_1771](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1771.jpg)
Although much of what we saw was above freezing, wood in contact with the soil was still partially frozen, and these isopods were in the midst of ice. Ice-o-pods. Get it? Anyway, we are due for more freezing weather in Toronto, so I hope you have enjoyed these pics…It is not likely we will get any more this week!
Great that you managed to get out and find subjects. The tree-fungus beetle is new to me–very cool!
They are pretty cool! I am not convinced they are Ceracis thoracicornis now…
It is odd we don’t have a similar species out west. All the ciids I have seen from BC are way less ornate
Hi Sean, Great finds! I believe your horned beetle is Neomida bicornis, actually a tenebrionid. Also the cucujid larva looks more like Neopyrochroa femoralis, which is common in this area.
Thanks Gil! I never considered this litte guy could be a teneb! And thanks for the corrections on the larva as well.
Nature through Sean’s lens
(good name for something!)
good idea!
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