CERRILLOS HILLS HISTORIC PARK

Please note that many different insects produce venoms in various forms and toxicities. Although most humans may not be seriously affected by most insect venoms, YOU may be sensitive or even allergic. A severe allergic reaction to the smallest bite can be life-threatening. Therefore, you should exercise care whenever handling "harmless" or unknown insects, and exercise extreme care when dealing with those whose venom is known to be potent.

The larval form of the Ant Lion lives at the bottom of those small ½-inch to 1-inch diameter) conical depressions seen in protected areas of fine, soft soil. If you look carefully at the deepest part of the pit you can sometimes see the head and jaws of this insect. When a small insect (yes, ants too) fall into its pit it paralyzes them with venom, and then slowly sucks out the body fluids. The larval form is known in many regions as a "doodle bug".

The adult form of the ant lion resembles a flying ant, but with a long, narrow abdomen. The 2 pairs of veined, transparent wings are large for its body and fragile. Adult ant lions are common around lights during warm nights. It never bites nor stings humans.

Bumblebees live in annual colonies, with a queen and workers, and, except during winter, are frequently seen in the Cerrillos Hills. They inhabit primarily the northern temperate regions, though there are a few native South American species and they have been introduced elsewhere as a pollinator (such as New Zealand). They range much further north than honey bees, and colonies can be found in far northern Canada.

In the fall a young queen will mate with a male. The male dies shortly thereafter. The young queen alone will survive the winter. With the arrival of spring the queen starts a new colony in a ground cavity, often using the disused hollow nest of some other bee. She lines the nest with plant material, and an egg cell is prepared with a supply of pollen for the developing larvae. With wax she constructs a honey-pot, which is her food supply as she guards the nest and waits for the larvae to mature.

On some flowers bees perform vibration pollination. The bee vibrates its abdomen and thorax at high frequencies (between 320 and 410 Hz), which causes the anthers of several different types of flower to shed pollen, dusting the bee's body. Apoidea have characteristic plumose (long and dense) hairs for carrying pollen on their bodies, and you may also note loads of yellow pollen on their hind legs.

The Centipede is normally active at night, spending the daytime hours beneath a rock, a log, or other cover. If exposed during the day it will rapidly and sinuously seek new cover. Centipedes are voracious predators and subsist on a variety of insects, spiders and arthropods. Adults, commonly 4-inches long, molt once a year, and can live well over 5 years.

The bite of a centipede can be painful, but rarely results in human death.

How may legs does a centipede have? Not 100! (Trick question.) It has 22 segments to its body, and 21 of them (the head excepted) have a pair of legs each. Forty-two legs in all.

The adult form of this flightless black beetle is identified by its long, wand-like horns (segmented antennae) and its very hard exoskeleton (shell). It has a protective resemblance to the Penacate stink Beetle.

The Cholla beetle larva, a grub with a brown head, feeds on cholla stems and roots. The adult beetles may be found feeding on the fleshy parts of cholla, prickly pear, and other cacti.

Adult Cicadas are usually most noticed for their long loud buzzing calls. In the summer in the Cerrillos Hills there may be so many cicadas calling from their perches in trees that it may be difficult to hear anything else. When disturbed, you will see a 2-inch long bulbous green insect fly quickly to safety in a nearby tree. If you're very good at it you can identify different species by their calls.

The adult female cicada makes a slit in the bark of the tree or shrub into which it deposits its eggs. The nymphs (the form that emerges from the egg) hatch out and fall to the ground where they burrow in.

Cicadas are capable of living beneath the soil for many years, feeding mostly on tree roots. One species is known to spend 17 years underground! Finally, one warm evening, they emerge, climbing up onto the plant, and there they shed and become adults. The adult form occurs at the end of the life cycle; once an adult, cicadas rarely survive more than a month.

Earwigs are long (¾-inch to 1-inch) brown insects with a set of "pincers" at the end of their abdomen. They prey on other insects, and if provoked are capable of producing an offensive odor.

There are many species, but the common one, the Riparian Earwig, was introduced to New Mexico from Europe.

Grasshoppers are oviparous (egg-laying) herbivores (plant-eaters). The female Pallid-Winged Grasshopper may deposit up to 20 masses of 200 eggs each into the soil, where they remain over the winter. Nymphs become adults in early summer. There is one life cycle per year. The Pallid-Winged ranges from Canada to central Mexico.

Gray or grayish-brown, these insects are about 1½-inches long, and may be seen in great numbers as you walk across a vegetated area

This black beetle is a common sight in the Cerrillos Hills as it wanders fearlessly about in broad daylight. If disturbed it will raise its rear end into the air and excrete a foul-smelling substance, hence the name " stink bug". Pinacatl is the Nahuatl (central Mexican Indian) word for "black beetle". The larvae live in the soil where they feed on dead plant material.

Most animals avoid contact with this beetle because of its ability to produce a stinky secretion. Grasshopper mice, however, get around this inconvenience by seizing the beetle, jamming its rear end into the sand, and eating it head first. Other predators include some owls, shrikes and skunks (another well-known stinker).

The Praying Mantis, which may be brown, tan or green depending on species and surroundings, gets its name from its characteristic stance -- partially upright with forelegs together in front -- as it waits to pounce on its next meal. Mantises are solitary, slow moving, completely harmless to humans, and are extremely beneficial because they eat so many other insects. And, very unusual for an insect, they can actually turn their heads!

Nymphs are dispersed by wind or eat one another. Mantises matures in late summer or early autumn and live for one season. At night, Praying Mantises are sometimes seen near artificial lights, attracted by the swarming food supply.

These large black wasps can be 3-inches long, and are most distinctive when in flight for their display of deep-hued orange or red-orange wings.

Female Tarantula wasps first dig a burrow into the ground up to 24-inches deep. Then they cruise about until they locate a tarantula, which they paralyze with venom from their stinger. The paralyzed tarantula is dragged back to the burrow, an activity which can take many hours. Once in the burrow, the wasp lays a single egg on the spider, and then plugs the entrance to the burrow. The carcass of the immobilized tarantula soon becomes the new wasp larva's food supply. The male wasp has no stinger, and relies upon warning coloration and an unpleasant smell for protection from predators.

This insect is the answer to the often-asked question, "What is the state insect of New Mexico?"

The Velvet Ant is not an ant, it is a wasp, but it looks like a largish, fuzzy, bright-red ant. There are many different species and they come in many colors; red is common in the Cerrillos, but orange or yellow or gold, or even white are possible. Males are winged; females are wingless.

The stinging female Velvet Ant captures the nest of another wasp species and lays its eggs on the immobilized previous occupant. You should not try to handle this insect as the sting can be quite painful.

Walking Sticks are usually found by accident, because they so resemble a bush twig that you can look right at one and not see it on the plant. Walking Sticks rely on invisibility to survive. They are slow moving plant feeders. Some varieties live on one specific plant.

Males are thinner than females. Walking Sticks are sometimes capable of regenerating a missing leg.

The glossy-black hairless female spider with the bright red hourglass design on the underside of her abdomen spins loosely-connected webs around wood piles, rocky areas, rodent holes, and in the darker recesses of houses, in which web she catches other insects. The female's normal resting position is upside down. The much smaller and drabber male is born only to mate and die, and has such a short moment upon the stage that it doesn't require a single meal. Male Black Widow spiders do not eat. On occasion, after mating, the female will consume the smaller, now useless male.

The cottony-white egg sack may contain around 200 eggs, and several eggs sacks may be produced in a year. The Black Widow's venom is quite potent, and they should not be handled.

The range of the (in)famous brown recluse spider L. reclusa does not normally extend as far west as New Mexico, except for the southeast corner of our state. Other Loxosceles species, such as L. apachea have been reported as far north as Sandoval County.

Recluse spiders are small, dark brown or tan, and have the outline of a fiddle (or violin) on top. They prefer to stay in dark areas beneath decaying vegetation, old wood or other debris.

The bite of the Recluse spider normally causes a welt that may develop into a small ulcer. Recluse venom is not as potent as that of the Black Widow, but, like the Black Widow, it should not be handled.

Everyone knows these large hairy spiders. During mating season, September and October, it is not uncommon to find male tarantulas moving across open ground, day or night, in search of a female. Tarantulas live in web-lined burrows, and they subsist mostly on insects. They can bite if handled, but their venom is weak and is superficial (it is not injected).

Tarantulas are the prey of many creatures, but especially of the tarantula wasp.

Female tarantulas may live 20 years.