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Hi All, Aug 8, 2012
While clearing some windfalls from a road on July 31 and loading
firewood cut from one of these, a large dead spruce, I came across an
unusually placid beetle.
While I pried loose bark from an 8" diameter stick with a handaxe over a
period of several minutes, it remain steadfast on a branch stub while my
left hand or the axe was at times within inches of its perch.
This was a Cerambicid with quite prominent coloration such that I have
learned to recognize it from yards away at a glance (Stictoleptura c.
canadensis). And this species, to judge from the many times we have seen it
in the yard, tends to be placid.
A few minutes later I picked up a stick of green Fir and a well
camoflaged beetle (pale sploches on dark; female Monochamus s. scutellatus),
also a Cerambicid, dropped off at once. It would have escaped without my
having a good look at it if it had not fallen onto a large patch of
litter-free moss.
This leads me to wonder if the bright placid beetle has an unpleasant
taste as opposed to the perhaps delicious nervous beetle (for animals who
like most beetles).
Yt, DW, Kentville
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