INSECTS OF GRAND CANYON: AN OVERVIEW FOR HIKING GUIDES Larry Stevens Museum of Northern Arizona [email protected] Giants on Whose Shoulders We Stand Nothing in biology makes sense except in the lightof evolution Theodore Dobzhansky Basin and Range Rocky Mtn. Geologic Prov. Geol. Prov. Virgin R. Rkm 0 Grand Canyon Rkm Rkm 400 Rkm 100 Rkm 200 300 Basin and Range Geologic Prov. Grand Canyon Rims Map (Billingsley and Hampton 1999) Eastern Basin Western Basin Muav Gorge THE BIOGEOGRAPHY OF LARGE, DEEP CANYONS (STEVENS 2012) Barrier/Filter Refugia North Rim Barrier/ Corridor Barrier/ Filter Flow Direction Filter South Rim Barrier/Filter ARTHROPODA: Half a Billion Years of World Dominance Segmented worm ancestor Chelicerata Mites Bark Scorpion (Buthidae: Centruroides) Scorpiones Silurian (430 m.y. ago) AZ Giant Hairy Scorpion (Vaejovidae: Hadrurus) Scolopendron viridis Centipede Hyallela Amphipod Orthoporus ornatus Millepede AQUATIC AND RIPARIAN INSECTS Belostoma ~fluminium Mayflies: ♂ Stoneflies: Plecoptera Ephemeroptera Naucoridae Ranatra Masked Clubskimmer Rhagovelia (Brechmorhoga pertinax) distincta Aquarius remigis Odonata – 89 spp, dominated by neotropical fauna, with ~equivalent boreal, range-centered, and Pacific coast elements; 78% of fauna is exogenous 13 5 18 20 3 25 endemic 1 29 ANT LIONS: MYRMELEONTIDAE Thermonectus Chrysina Dryopoid Beetles Prionus Tiger Beetles Ground Beetles DIPTERA Nematocera: “Two Winged Insects” Ancestral flies with aquatic larvae (e.g., Culicidae, Simuliidae, Chironomidae) Brachycera: Tabanomorpha Asilimorpha Muscomorpha Efferia HYMENOPTERA: BEES, ANTS, WASPS Origin in Triassic Period, with social wasps in Cretaceous 150,000 described, with many undescribed spp (e.g., parasitoids) Aculeate Apocrita Wasps Mymarid wasp, Giant Cicada Killer wasp, 0.1 mm long 45 mm long Vespoidea Apoidea Chrysidoidea Vespoidea: Formicidae (Ants) Vespidae (Paper & Meat Wasps Triassic Period >200,00 million years agoPompilidae (Spider Wasps) Sphecidae (Thread-waisted Wasps) HYMENOPTERA: Bees, Ants, and Wasps Membrane -winged Insects Formicidae: Ants 175 species on southern Colorado Plateau Desert diurnal S is low Reduced by California Harvester Ant? Large Aculeate Wasps: Paper/Hornet, Spider, Pompilidae and Thread-waisted Wasps Vespidae Sphecidae Apoidea - Bees: Six families, mostly solitary Honey Bee is only “kamakazi” bee Melittidae Apidae Megachilidae Honey Bee Andrenidae Halictidae Colletidae The Hymenopteran Stinger: A Girl’s Best Weapon Many Uses of Stinger and Venom * Oviposition – egg laying * Self defense * Kill or paralyze prey * Hive defense * Self-protection by coating their bodies to deter attackers * Sterilization of pathogens * Alarm pheromones * Sex-attractant pheromones JUSTIN SCHMIDT HYMENOPTERA STING PAIN SCALE: * Pogonomyrmex barbatus Harvester Ant “Bold and unrelenting. Somebody using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail” * Paper Wasp – “Caustic and burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut” Justin Schmidt * Fire Ant “Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet and reaching for the light switch.” Highest level of anaphylactic response. http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2012/08/schmidt-sting-pain-index-categorising.html Tarantula Hawks (Pompilidae: Pepsis and Hemipepsis Schmidt Scale Sting Pain: Taratula Hawk - Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath.” The most painful sting in the Southwest, but short duration pain. Grand Canyon Region Butterflies: >140 Species in Six Families Sleepy Dogface Orange Sulfur Black Swallowtail Many-tailed Swallowtail Western Swallowtail Dainty Sulfur Mourning Cloak Buckeye Acastus Patch Red-spotted Purple Queen Painted Lady AZ Sister Grand Canyon Brown Monarch Great Purple Hairstreak American Snout Common White Pygmy Blue Common Hairstreak © L.E. Stevens 2004 Arizona State Butterfly Many-tailed Swallowtail (Papilio multicaudata) Plant Defenses: Larvae Eat Leaves Hairy leaves Cope with hairy leaves Latex compounds in sap Store toxins in skin Cardenolides (~digitalis) in sap. Shed skin 5 times Fast growth Store toxins in pupal integument Adults - wings contain stored plant toxins deter predators APOSEMATIC COLORATION + apo sēmat-, sēma (above, highest) (sign) Oncopeltus Tetraopes J. Friedrich Müller Mullerian Mimicry: Bad Guys Look Alike Danaus plexippus VELVET ANTS (MUTILLIDAE): BEING BAD, LOOKING BAD - TOGETHER (Wilson et al. 2012 – Females only!) Wilson, J.S., K.A. Williams, M.L. Forister, C.D. von Dohlen, and J.P. Pitts. 2012. Repeated evolution in overlapping mimicry rings among North American velvet ants. Nature Communications 3:1272, UAES 8399. Batesian Mimicry: Cheaters That Look Bad, but Aren’t Monarch (Danaus plexippus) Viceroy (Limintis archippus) Bad Taste, Poisonous Faking It - No Bad Taste “Model” “Batesian Mimic” Henry Bates Grand Canyon region invertebrates are diverse (~20K spp) Requiring lifetimes to learn them Many new species, many grand processes Each species we encounter has a remarkable story to tell, if we can listen carefully and ask the right questions ENDEMIC, SMALL POPULATIONS, NO MONITORING, MANY RARE SPECIES, STATUS UNCERTAIN “Masked Clubskimmer Wetsalts Tiger Beetle (LIBELLULIDAE:Brechmorhoga pertinax)” (CICINDELIDAE: Cicindela haemorrhagica arizonae) Viceroy Butterfly Vulcans Well Giant Waterbug Limenitis archippus (Belostoma nr. flumineum ) OUT HERE IT’S SO HOT THAT…..