Hobbies And Interests
Order Orthoptera
The horse lubber is a large grasshopper, 1.5 to 2.5 inches long, with a black body with yellow markings and red hind wings with black borders. It eats plants along the roadside in the deserts of Arizona and Mexico and might become a pest in gardens. The mesquite katydid is a 1.1- to 1.81-inch-long insect with a light green body and dark green wings with white bands. It eats the leaves of mesquite trees, creosote bushes and other desert plants in the southwestern United States and can occasionally damage ornamental plants and forage crops. It usually feeds at night. During the day it hides, well camouflaged by its green coloration, under vegetation.
Order Coleoptera
The agave weevil is a shiny black weevil, 0.47 to 0.6 inches long, that feeds on the agave plant in the southwestern United States. It's closely related to the destructive cotton boll weevil. The green June beetle is a scarab from 0.94 to 1.12 inches long. It's a shiny metallic or deep green insect that eats ripe fruit. It lives in the deserts of Texas and Arizona, though related species are found in the southern United States. It's also related to the Goliath beetle, the largest beetle on Earth.
Chrysomelidae Family
Wickham's calligrapha is a 0.28- to 0.32-inch-long insect that lives in the deserts of Texas and feeds on numerous shrubs there. It's an oval beetle with patterns of tan and reddish brown on its carapace. The Arizona gold beetle has a pitted carapace that seems gilded. From 0.43 to 0.51 inches long, it's found in the southwestern deserts of the United States and feeds on the flowers of burr sage and gentians. Other species in the genera eat the leaves and flowers of morning glory and sweet potato.
Cerambycidae Family
The black cactus longhorn is from 0.5 to 1.3 inches long. It's an elongated shiny black beetle that eats cactus. The female lays her eggs on the cactus and the larvae burrow into the plant and pupate there. The black cactus longhorn is found in the deserts of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.