Content warning: impaled insects
Today, I wanted to escape the city after working long night shifts. After I heard that butterfly swarms have been seen over part of West and South Jordan the previous day, I got inspired to get cracking at my bug collecting hobby.
I remember Bells Canyon for its clearings among forested areas that, during the middle and later parts of summer, hosts patches of wildflowers; a pollinator's utopia.
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| From the first time I visited Bells Canyon, on the way towards the lower falls. |
The first bug I caught was a wasp. I couldn't figure out exactly what species it could be, but I've narrowed it down to probably the Tryphoninae tribe of parasitic wasps. The closest genus I could identify would be the eponymous genus Tryphon, which ostensibly has orange on the tips of its legs rather than white, but matches the reddish abdomen and long antennae.
I didn't want to mess with any wasps in my beginning collection, so I let this one go while I waited patiently for more charismatic bugs to come my way, and my waiting paid off when I caught this butterfly.
Happy with this catch alone, I started making my way back to the trailhead before I then caught another butterfly. I couldn't take pictures of it because I had to keep it caught within my butterfly net before I euthanized them, but based on the picture I took of my pinned results, the Facebook group helped me narrow down the genus (Anthocharis) and possible species (A. cethura; A. sara thoosa; or A. stella).
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| I'm still working on my pinning technique. I'm gonna need more styrofoam to add more specimens. |
