A yellow lichen has died

This one turned crumbly before falling off its tree:

Its orange neighbors (see my featured post) seem fine though.

EDIT: all members of its morphospecies have apparently vanished from areas where I have been watering the branches, but one thallus I kept dry as an experimental control appears fine.

Placatory feeding: an overview

Cotinis mutabilis being placated

Welcome to part 1 of the Advanced Entomological Techniques series! More may or may not be coming soon.



Introduction

Unlike many vertebrates, insects and other arthropods often fail to react strongly or at all when they perceive danger. This can result in surreal scenarios; aphids can often be seen right next to sleeping coccinellids, and may even attempt to climb onto their shells! Furthermore, even normally wary taxa may calm down instantly after encountering food, and then become quite oblivious. This is often useful during photography, as feeding specimens generally cease to move.



Chart legends

Placatability:

H = highly placatable; specimens lose nearly all fear when they are fed

OH = often highly placatable; specimens lose nearly all fear when successfully fed, but sometimes may refuse food

S = somewhat placatable; specimens will refuse food when extremely alarmed, and lose some/most fear after successful feeding

F = placatable when force-fed; alarmed specimens will ignore food if they can flee; if they cannot flee, they will feed and calm down. Note that some highly placatable taxa refuse food only when force-fed, and some highly non-placatable taxa always accept it when force-fed.

R = rarely placatable; specimens normally do not accept food when alarmed. However, slightly moribund specimens may sometimes feed (note that heavily moribund insects usually refuse all food, even if normally highly placatable)

N = not placatable


Primary tasting organs:

These elicit strong feeding responses when the insect contacts a food source with them, if it is not sufficiently frightened. Note that many insects are poor at locating food and will only notice it if their primary tasting organs accidentally collide with a food source.

A = antennae

P = palps

L = legs




Placation chart, arranged by taxon

Note that I am unfamiliar with the behaviors of certain taxa, and these may be excluded or contain less accurate ratings. I have based this on local species; your results may vary. Morphologically anomalous species are excluded for convenience. Assume only adults/adultlike young are being discussed, unless otherwise indicated.


ORDER Coleoptera
- Tenebrionidae (adults/larvae): S or OH, A, P
- Elateridae: H, A?, P?
- Carabidae: OH, P; nocturnal spp. may eat in daylight
- Coccinellidae (all): OH, sometimes F, either or both A, P
- Scarabaeidae, Melolonthinae: R, P
- Scarabaeidae, Cotinis mutabilis: OH, P
- Chrysomelidae (adults/larvae): R?
- Melyridae, Collops quadrimaculatus(?): H?, P, A?
- Staphylinidae: R?

ORDER Hymenoptera
OH, A, P, sometimes S, F

ORDER Lepidoptera
- Larvae: either OH or S; primary taste-organs unclear but around mouthparts
- Adult moths, if not mouthless: H, A?, L
- Adult butterflies: OH if F, A? L

ORDER Hemiptera
- Hoppers: N
- Aphids: OH?
- Heteropterans: R, L, A?; however sometimes herbivorous spp. attempt to probe skin

ORDER Zygentoma
- Synanthropic silverfishes: R, A? P?

ORDER Embiidina
S, A?, P? Adult males cease feeding after eating the final molt.

ORDER Blattodea
- Roaches: am unfamiliar, but based on reliable reports from others: OH (at least some), A, P
- Termites: apparently N

ORDER Orthoptera
Highly variable between species; possibilities include OH when F, N, A?, P

ORDER Diptera
- "Classic" (large-eye) flies: OH when F, L
- Gnat/mosquito/midge-shaped: H when F, L, P
- Crane flies: OH when F, P
- "Classic" maggots: OH? Apparently almost completely fearless.

ORDER Neuroptera
- Green lacewings: H when F, P, A?

ORDER Araneae
Salticidae: S? Some species appear completely fearless, H for these
Other free-living spiders: possibly S/R
Obligate web-hunting spiders: N, but Gasteracantha and several others known to OH even when webless

ORDER Isopoda
S/R, A

Diaperis season ends

The Diaperis rufipes fungus has increased the thickness of its unchewed dorsal areas quite rapidly over the past few days. Unfortunately, I saw what appears to be a small vertebrate dropping sitting on top of it! Why do vertebrates always insist on defecating on all the best places?

Diaperis success

A brief reintroduction

Diaperis rufipes is a relatively small and severely understudied fungus tenebrionid, roughly the size, shape, and color of a stereotypical coccinellid beetle. Because it is preferentially nocturnal and its hosts' fruiting bodies are often quite distant from each other, its populations appear highly localized, clustered, and cryptic (probably why it is both understudied and very common near good hosts). Those of you who have been reading the old Splendid Unknowns (before spambot issues put it on perma-lockdown) may be familiar with it from two summers ago; it swarmed in vast numbers on a squishy polypore, eventually fleeing en masse once the host sufficiently rotted (a few did stay behind longer, though). Unfortunately, at the time my phone camera was even worse than it is now and I could not effectively document any science on them. The current fruiting is from the same tree, and I am scrambling to maximize science absorption before it dies again.




So what actually happened tonight?

I found two Diaperis rufipes specimens! Just as well, because the fungal fruitbody probably has not much longer to live (we appear to be in the stage when most of the beetles have fled). In an effort to photograph them, I accidentally launched the first one some distance off its host! D. rufipes appears to clamp tightly onto objects as a major defense mechanism (unlike classic tenebrionids such as Zophobas/Eleodes, which often accidentally fall off tall objects). Ironically, its other two major defenses are deliberately falling off tall objects and producing repellent secretions which smell exactly like those of Zophobas! Fortunately the second beetle was successfully prodded off the fungus and posed well while I fumbled angrily with the lighting.

Bonus video: when flipped, it will spread its elytra and flight wings in an attempt to right itself ("tenebrionids are flightless" is not a completely true statement)

Fun minor observation

Recently even flies have not been visiting the fungus much, but I've noticed that its unchewed meat is pale each morning and slowly darkens during the day; compare this pic with the one in the previous post:

Diaperis rufipes returns

The puffy shelf fungus is back! I found a Diaperis rufipes specimen last night. It cooperated quite nicely for the photoshoot, but my phone camera insisted on all sorts of nonsense (in several instances its AI firmly insisted that kitchen paper was in fact red!) so I don't have any pics worth sharing. At least my small-insect photographs are no longer blurry! In the meantime enjoy some closeups of the fungi and a visiting fly; I plan to do a live or semi-live timelapse video soon.

(the droplets are jelly secretions, not water)

giant lauxaniid, apparently