Rough Groove

Not too good a collecting trip

I was raring to go on a collecting trip in Banaue last weekend but a check with the weather forecast seemed not good: Rains until Tuesday. I opted instead to go back to Quezon last Sunday with my friend Ryan hoping to find Pachyrrhynchini. I should confess that the trip with brothers Paul and Jean Siraudeau in North Luzon about 3 weeks ago (haven’t yet blogged about that one) and a visit to Ismael to check his papers and collection made a great impression on me and the realization that there really is a great need to know the extent of this great curculionid tribe in the Philippines.

We started out at around 0400H but arrived at ER in Atimonan about 0930H. While we passed by another way, not the park entrance, it proved to be very difficult and a guide was necessary as we traversed the side of the mountain leading to Pinagbanderahan. This meant trekking on a steep slope and passing over sharp (razor sharp by the way) and slippery rocks, humid, hot and dark jungle but, thank god, no mosquitos bit me. When we reached the peak, we were only able to collect a few species of Metapocyrtus and one Pseudapocyrtus and nothing else. There were buprestids flying but were just hard to reach. Around 15 minutes of reaching that area, it just started to drizzle then rained and rained and rained very hard. We had no option but to go down and hiked the trail and road until we reached the park’s entrance.

Except for a few specimens as consolation, this trip was just tiring, kind of difficult and very wet. No Pachyrrnynchus at all.

Specimens that I got that I prepared last night for drying:

A beautiful Tricondyla sp. with a bluish sheen (will be sent to Fabio Cassola for identification but will be returned to me), Oberea sp. and Euryphagus sp.

Metapocyrtus sp. 1 (female and male), Pseudapocyrtus sp., Metapocyrtus sp. 2 and 3

Metapocyrtus sp. 4 (female and male) and 5 (female and male) and Curculionid species 1 & 2.

While there was no Pachyrrhynchus sp. found, 5 different but almost similar Metapocyrtus sp. was quite interesting. One other thing, these were killed in ethyl acetate, a recommended procedure which makes these very soft and pliable. I was quite suprised that these beetles were not difficult to mount unlike those fixed in alcohol that makes it sclerotized and difficult to position.