I just got back from a week long trip to Miami. Unfortunately it was for work and not a collecting trip……that didn’t stop me from collecting when I could though.

One of my favorite finds (as I only see them when I travel to the southeast) was the eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea microptera). There was a large group of nymphs and adults at one of the collecting site for work so I grabbed a few.

Another awesome find were large number of click beetles that do something that most people probably would never think click beetles do….glow. I believe all the ones I saw and collected are Ignelater havaniensis which are only found in southern Florida (in the US at least).

Check out that glow!

I didn’t get a whole bunch of pictures of the live insects (work and all) but I did manage to collect a decent number of specimens considering how little time I had.

I was able to get a decent number of butterflies (thanks in part for the pocket net now bring on trips)….my favorite that I collected this trip is Heliconius charithonia (zebra longwing)..these are the first specimens I’ve been able to collect and I’m super happy to finally have netted a few. The Anartia jatrophae (white peacock) you see is a bit beat up but I didn’t have that species in the collection yet either so I decided to keep it.

Here is everything else I collected

In the picture below you can see a white colored weevil which I have never seen before, I can’t to figure out the species on all of these!

In this next picture you have see the lubbers as well as the click beetles as they were all collected at the same site.

This last picture is all the small insects that I have left which all require points. I started already and actually just finished everything before I wrote this post. Most of it is ants and small wasps.

I’m quite thrilled with the insects I managed to collect on this trip and since I’m going to Miami quite a few times this year I should be able to get some more awesome additions to the collection.