She paid us a visit in January and came back through now munching as she went on her way. We feel very fortunate when we see one as they are a threatened species. I blogged about one in an earlier blog. She was getting a drink of rain water that had pooled on our patio. You can determine the sex by looking at the plastron. If it is concave ...it will be a male. April to September is when they lay their eggs. They can grow to 8 and one half inches. They get most of their water from prickly pear cactus. They can live up to 60 years. Males will battle and try to overturn the other...thus leading to their death if they can't right themselves.
I had never encountered this little insect before. It is a Chrysanthrax species. I can't find out anything about it though. I really do want to know more!!! Have you seen one?
This is a Six-lined Racerunner. Do you see that little caterpillar? Well, it really isn't that little to the whiptail.
After beating it and slinging it around for a very long time. He started devouring it.
Look at that cute little face...eyes, nose, and mouth. I don't know what kind of caterpillar it is. Maybe it isn't even a caterpillar. Any ideas? Predator and prey. The lizard can run at 18mph. They are insectivorous.
Down the hatch. Look how healthy he is!! I have been observing the lizards comings and goings as he lives under our concrete pad.
Until next time......
What a great post! Neat you saw so many critters at your site. And great photos.
ReplyDeleteHi Carolyn-
ReplyDeleteTeri and I visited the NABA gardens last week, and saw two different species of these "Bee Flies". They both had the obvious long, stiff proboscis for sipping nectar. I think that they are in the genus Bombylius, and I think that yours may be as well.
One of ours was Bombylius comanche (Orange Fuzzy Bug) and was pretty distinctive. The other was similar to yours is tougher to ID to species.
Mark
From what I can gather, it is Bombylius Mexicanus.
ReplyDelete