Male Pseudomasaris from northeast CA - Pseudomasaris zonalis

Moved

… Aaron Schusteff, 18 August, 2011 - 9:13pm

Hi Aaron,

Congratulations! This male, as well as your photos of the female, are P. zonalis.
I can elaborate later, have other work to do right now.

… Hartmut Wisch, 18 August, 2011 - 5:52pm

Thanks Hartmut, I was hoping you'd be able to ID these :-)

Glad the images were sufficient for you to recognize them as P. zonalis. I'd love to study Richards' Pseudomasaris papers, but I haven't yet gotten to UC Berkeley Library to look for them. Thankfully, it appears you've included a lot of details from those works on the species Info Page...although I had difficulty making out some of the characters mentioned there in my images. I guess this sighting somewhat extends the CA range given on the info page...as Sierra County is "four counties to the north" of Alpine County.

… Aaron Schusteff, 18 August, 2011 - 9:11pm

Sorry, Aaron - I've corrected the entry

dealing with known distribution. More later.

… Hartmut Wisch, 18 August, 2011 - 11:05pm

Okie Doke - No Rush

Well, at least we now have some P. zonalis posts from a locale other than (and fairly distant from) the San Gabriel Mountains.

I'll look forward to further comments, if and when you get the chance. In the meantime...Viva Pseudomasaris! :-)

… Aaron Schusteff, 19 August, 2011 - 12:32am

The male's antennae are distinctive -

Antennal segments VI-VII in P. coquilletti are gradually widened to form a less well-defined club.

Aside from being a smaller species, zonalis males have a better defined club with antennal segments VI-VII being less widened.
The other species I'd expect in the general area where you photographed this male are P. vespoides, P. edwardsii, P. coquilletti, possibly P. mcneilli. Very little known about the latter species, though known to use Hydrophyllum as pollen source.

… Hartmut Wisch, 21 August, 2011 - 7:20pm

"Like"

I am so used to the "Like" button on Facebook that I was looking for it here :)

… Beatriz Moisset, 20 August, 2011 - 6:33pm