We are striking out in our quest to ID several of these insectoid-type-guys(/gals?) They were encountered along the trail near the wonderful Drakesbad Guest Ranch in the Warner Valley and Manzanita Lake areas of LVNP.
We know we have a pair of Humping California Sisters, a Spotted Tussock Moth caterpillar, and a bristletail. The others have yet to be classified: one looks like a rolly polly on steroids, one is clearly some kind of beetle, and the other might just be a grub. If there are any entomologists out there, TSG welcomes your input!
6 comments:
Huh? What are you talking about? These are all BUGS.
I suppose some people might go further. But one might ask, why? The Japanese, for example, had only one word that meant both a crocodile and an alligator. It simply wasn't worth the effort to create more words and names to delineate further.
Taken to an extreme, of course, there is the old Far Side cartoon where the scientific literature gets down to providing an individual name (like Dave or Steve or maybe even Fudd) to each and every bug in the world.
Then again, there is the old adage, "If you can name it, you can know it."
Funny you should mention it, but all of the bugs in the slideshow happened to be named Steve. Well, maybe all but one.
See, that's what I'm talking about. How helpful is that??? "Steve, come here. There's a human I want you to crawl on."
Or as a famous guy with three heads once said, "A point in every direction is the same as no point at all."
Wait, there's a bug crawling on my floor . . . .
By the by, late last night we watched the 1958 (or so) classic, Earth vs. the Spider. Speaking of "bugs," I guess. In fact, it wasn't really so much "Earth" as it was this one tiny little town. Who happened to be lucky enough to have a sharp high school science teacher who could help the hapless sheriff defend the town from the menacing arachnid.
Ah yes, Earth Vs The Spider. I recall seeing it on a sleepless night a few years ago while on vacation--the Quality Inn and Suites in Goldendale WA it was. It was a sleepless night because the air conditioning went on the fritz and it was 80 degrees at 4AM. Pretty damn miserable, not to mention that it was a smoking room (couldn't afford to be picky when there was only one room available at the end of a 100 degree, 9-hour day on the road)
I seem to remember that the spider was roused from it's tranquilizer-enhanced nap by rock 'n' roll music from a school dance of some sort in the room next door.
Your memory serves you well, Grasshopper, only the dance was in the same room as the snoozing spider (who was shaking off a heck of a DDT-induced coma).
Mr. Wilkins would be proud.
As for that funky hotel room . . . ugh.
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