3/5/09 Herping trip for mike

[MikeM]

decided to go herping and had not bad luck, just not what i was looking for.

There were a few Taricha torosa torosa - Coast Range Newt in the pond that i found but most of the turnout for today was Batrachoseps attenuatus - California Slender Salamander.

Sorry for poor pic quality.

Friggin stink beetle shot at me

Another friggin stinker

Turned up this piece of wood and had 5 stinky butts staring back at me pointed in the air.

This was a fungus growing on some bark, it was BRIGHT orange, pic doesnt do it justice.

This is my little pond with the newts, tried to get a pic of one, but the sun was not co-operating.

 

[Otterwoman]

What are those creepy bugs?

I'm moving this to the field herping section.

 

[KennyDB]

these are Pinacate beetles "clown beetle" or "stinkbug"

btw: I love batrachoseps!

 

[Azhael]

xDD that pic with the group of beetles is scary.
We have our european version of those beetles and yes...they stink like hell. Plus the foul liquid leaves stains on your skin for several days.....horrible thing xD

 

[aramcheck]

xDD that pic with the group of beetles is scary.
We have our european version of those beetles and yes...they stink like hell. Plus the foul liquid leaves stains on your skin for several days.....horrible thing xD

They are called Churchyard Beetle (Blaps sp.) in the UK.

Last year a putrid smell started develloping in our broom cupboard at work. Since we have rat poison we thought that a mouse had died in there, so I emptied it all to try to find the dead mouse. nothing.

The next day, my colleague come to find me to tell me the smell was stronger than ever. So I get a very good look at everything and found one of those guys clinging to a mop head... The dead mouse stench was the bug showing its displeasure at us disturbing it everytime we were taking/putting away our mops and brooms :lol:

 

[MikeM]

ya having 5 large stinky butts staring back at me was not fun, the beetles are about 1.5 inches long so they are not tiny beetles.

If you like the California Slender Salamanders have you thought about keeping and breeding them?

 

[bewilderbeast]

In california we call them Darkling beetles (family, Tenebrionidae). It is really hard to get good photos of Batrachoseps, they are extremely small and delitcate and they tend to blend in with the background. They can also move very quickly... ususally right as you try and snap a shot.