Saturday, October 11, 2008

A surprise from the freezer

Strange (and wondrous) events follow in the footsteps of one's Sson, when he is an ecologist. As an example, today I decided that I should thin out those freezer containers that have been sitting around as the contents dessicate. This particular container held only a small rattle, which clued me that it was, indeed, a very small dab from a long-forgotten meal. So I lifted the red lid to empty the contents into the waste bin...

...and here's what I found! At which point I recalled the night Sson caught the fellow; he followed his standard procedure for preserving insects and popped him into the freezer. In one of my standard portion containers.

Here's another view of the critter. No, I didn't save it for the Sson's next visit, though perhaps that would have been the right thing to do.

11 comments:

Kim said...

Oh, Palo verde boarer beetles are so cool. I think that's what it is from the pictures, anyway. Do you know for sure?

Granny J said...

kim -- isn't the borer an even more ferocious critter than thiw beetle? As I recall, my LH and I called the borers Darth Vader bugs because they were so lethal looking.

Granny J said...

Besides -- we're at 5400 ft., which, I suspect, is out of his range. Here's a good picture, BTW.

Anonymous said...

I don't think my wife would appreciate it if I did that, grin.

Anonymous said...

This is off-topic, but since I'm too lazy to log into my email at home, here you go...
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/sattrack/index.html

Follow a link to one of the species, then the maps. Found this since I've become rather smitten with cranes.

SIL, aka Omegadad

Catalyst said...

You could mail it to him. ;->

meggie said...

Whatever it is, I got a nasty start when I first saw it! Not very keen on beetles, though they are fascinating.

Granny J said...

steve -- I don't have a problem with most insects, tho there are a few...

OD -- I take it that these are not the AZ sandhills? Have you visited them in Homer?

cat-A -- for heavens' sake, that's work. Right now, I'm sweating issues trying to buy & print out a priority mail label for a flat-rate box. This for a gift that's really important.

meggie -- I have to admit that he's not a very pretty beetle, as beetles go.

Kim said...

Yeah, you are probably right about being too far north for a Palo Verde Boarer. He looked kind of like one at first glance, but I am by far no beetle expert. I love his antennae though.

Anonymous said...

I think Darth Vadar was based on the P.V. borer beetle as it came first!

~Anon in AV.

Granny J said...

kim -- I especially admire the beetle antennae that fan out to look like fern fronds.

anon av -- wouldn't surprise me; of course the PV borer came first.

 
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