HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Greetings from Willcox, Arizona. I’m 72 miles or so northeast of my usual home in the Chiricahua Mountains camped at Lifestyle RV Resort for November. Before I left Cave Creek Canyon, I was joined by Chad Campbell (Minneapolis, MN) and Tom Patterson (Long Island, NY) as Wheelhouse-guests, and Drs. Brent Hendrixson (Millsaps College) and Chris Hamilton (University of Idaho) for some tarantula hunting. Chad & Tom arrived in Tucson on Friday morning, and I met them here in Willcox for grocery shopping before escorting them down to my homestead outside of Portal, Arizona. Saturday, Brent and Chris joined us and camped at Sunny Flat Campground, a little over a mile up canyon from where I live most of the year.
I mentioned in previous blog entries that I had decided to take a break from life at the Visitor Information Center and the Canyon. I would camp here in Willcox for some rest & relaxation during November. I also mentioned that the location coincided with Brent & Chris coming to lead adventures in Arizona’s Sky Islands in search of montane tarantulas and the possibility of new species. Chad and Tom were eager to join us and high in the Chiricahua Mountains we were also joined by Wyatt Mendez, who grew up in Cave Creek Canyon and now attends the University of Arizona.
The little montane tarantula I found on October 14, 2019. Aphonopelma sp. nov.
On Friday, Chad, Tom, and I explored a couple of high desert grassland fields along the Arizona and New Mexico border in search of the dwarf tarantula Aphonopelma parvum, but all we found was wolf spiders and centipedes, etc. That night we had dinner at Portal Cafe and later that night enjoyed watching the nectar-feeding bats come into my hummingbird feeders despite the autumn chill after sunset. On Saturday, we ascended the mountains to look for the new tarantula species Brent and I had found on Halloween last year. I had found another specimen where we found our first in 2018 on October 14, and subsequent visits hadn’t yielded any more. We had initially planned to wait for Brent & Chris, but flight changes and rerouted baggage had delayed Brent’s arrival in Arizona and Brent and Chris’ ability to depart Tucson. So, my Wheelhouse guests and I set out on Saturday without them.
After searching the area for some time, we moved up to an area above 8000 feet in elevation (locations are secret for now). It had been a chilly morning, but the sun had made it more comfortable by 10 a.m., and shortly after that, Chad spotted a mature male wandering across the rock and wood strewn grasses on an exposed mixed conifer forest hillside. Before I had even made it over to see Chad’s find, Tom saw a Twin-spotted Rattlesnake (Crotalus pricei) moving over the ground. The day was already a great success!
Aphonopelma sp., mature male, found by Chad Campbell on October 26, 2019 at 8154 feet in elevation.
Crotalus pricei #1, spotted by Tom Patterson on Saturday, October 26, 2019. We were over 8000 feet in elevation and the temperature was in the low 50s, but this mountain dweller was enjoying the warmth of the rising sun.
We didn’t find any more spiders high up the mountain on Saturday, and when Brent and Chris finally made it to Cave Creek Canyon Chad, Tom, and I headed back down the mountain to meet up with them. We found them at Sunny Flat Campground to say hello, and then we all decided to search an area above the Southwestern Research Station a couple of miles up the canyon where I had found a female Aphonopelma chiricahua in June 2018. Brent would end up finding a subadult beneath a roadside rock. That night Chad, Tom, and I had dinner at Sky Island Grill and were joined at my homestead by Brent and Chris later that evening for drinks and discussion.
On Sunday morning Brent and Chris headed up the mountain, and Chad, Tom, and I followed a little later. We had no luck again in the vicinity of the site where Brent and I found our four spiders on Halloween 2018 and I found one more on October 14 of this year. However, nearby Chris found a Folding Trapdoor Spider (Antrodiateus apacheus) and Chad found another Twin-spotted Rattlesnake!
Antrodiateus apacheus (Folding Trapdoor Spider)
Twin-spotted Rattlesnake #2 (Crotalus pricei)
Our group of five spider hunters then decided to meet for lunch and then search where Chad had found the male (and Tom had found our first Twin-spotted Rattlesnake) the day before. While we were having our break, Wyatt Mendez arrived to join us. Now, with six people searching the area, we found several more specimens of this new dwarf montane tarantula in burrows beneath cover. The day turned celebratory quickly, and Tom also found our third Twin-spot in two days!
Group photo taken near our success site at about 8150 feet elevation. (L. to R.) Chad Campbell, Dr. Chris Hamilton, Michael Jacobi, Dr. Brent Hendrixson, Tom Patterson, and Wyatt Mendez.
Twin-spotted Rattlesnake #3 (Crotalus pricei)
Later that afternoon, we decided to search a different site at an appropriate elevation for Aphonopelma chiricahua. The six of us worked a hillside near the Southwestern Research Station, and a couple of tarantulas were found. Afterward, we all visited Wyatt’s nearby home to see his vast centipede collection, which is almost exclusively comprised of American species. Then Chad, Tom, and I again had dinner at the Portal Cafe before Brent, Chris, and Wyatt joined us at my camp for another evening celebration.
Aphonopelma chiricahua, Cave Creek Canyon
Monday morning, I began breaking camp. After more than eight months at my corral homestead, it was time to move to Lifestyle in Willcox. Tom said his goodbyes as he was headed to meet a friend in the San Tan Valley for the rest of his week. Chad helped me with the Wheelhouse while Brent and Chris headed toward the Pinaleño Mountains, where we would meet them later. As some of you will recall, I do my grocery shopping in Willcox while living outside of Portal. I can make the 70-plus mile drive in not much more than an hour by using a direct route that uses dirt road primarily as it travels 25 miles from Portal to San Simon, where it meets the interstate. However, with my 32 foot, 8000-pound Wheelhouse in tow, Chad and I took the much longer paved route. After I checked in at Lifestyle and we did a quick setup of my RV, Chad and I headed another hour northeast to find Brent and Chris.
The rig on Cave Creek Canyon road just outside the gate of my corral homestead
Chad and I found Brent and Chris at Upper Twilight Campground in the Pinaleño Mountains on Monday afternoon. Our foursome had no luck finding spiders, but it was nice to show Chad another Sky Island range. For those reading this that don’t understand the “sky islands” concept, below in an excerpt from my most recent article on the Sky Island tarantulas, which was published in the Journal of the British Tarantula Society. As always, my articles may be downloaded from the Publications page of my website.
“The Madrean Sky Islands of southern Arizona and nearby southwestern New Mexico comprise a series of isolated mountain ranges (‘islands’) that provide changing forested habitats with elevation surrounded by and separated from each other by expanses of lowland desert and grasslands (the ‘sea’). Only a handful of organisms that are adapted to these diverse montane habitats have the physiological tools to also survive in the arid lowlands. As a consequence, closely related populations of organisms located on isolated mountaintops are often subject to genetic diversification and speciation (Hendrixson et al., 2015). ”
Chad and I left Brent and Chris in the Pinaleños and headed back to Willcox, where we had dinner at a BBQ place in town. Tuesday morning we messaged with Brent and made arrangements to meet he and Chris in the Dragoon Mountains west of Willcox. This range hasn’t been explored much for tarantulas and it was the first visit for all of us. It is the location of Cochise Stronghold where the Apache warrior Chief Cochise was buried by his followers in a secret grave. We met at the campground and hiked the Cochise Indian Trail. The four of us split up, but Chad and I ended up together about one-half mile up the trail. I was flipping rocks when I noticed a the mouth of a burrow beneath one rock. I shined my flashlight beam inside and saw a tarantula! After calling Chad over, I began about thirty minutes of excavation with his assistance. The tiny tarantula’s tunnel ran between two subterranean rocks of some size, and the careful digging took some time. But it was worth it in the end!
Aphonopelma sp., Dragoon Mountains, found by Michael Jacobi, October 29, 2019
We started farther up the trail and ran into Brent who had marched ahead a couple of miles looking for wandering mature males. I showed him our prize and he began to flip every rock in the vicinity, successfully locating two more of these dwarf tarantulas in similar rock-covered burrows, and also an Aphonopelma chalcodes. Then, just before we left, Chris found a small (yet much larger than our three “dwarves”) female beside a large ornamental rock in the campground lot. As I held up the rock and Chris extracted the female, we noticed three spiderlings. As far as all these species go, that will require DNA sequencing and other work by Brent and Chris. I’m just a naturalist.
Aphonopelma sp., Dragoon Mountains, found by Chris Hamilton, October 29, 2019
Chad and I left Brent and Chris in the Dragoons and stopped at the Cochise Cemetery on our way back to Willcox. Why? To hunt for tarantulas, of course. Don’t you do it in a cemetery?!?! Brent’s field biology course had flushed an interesting tarantula out of a burrow there in the past, and it was suggested that we give it a try. Chad and I only found wolf spiders and black widows, though. However, Chad was happy that two Harris Hawks came nearby, and he was able to photograph them. Later that night, Chad and I had our last dinner together of his trip, celebrating the adventures at Double S Steakhouse in Willcox. The next morning I took him back to Tucson to fly home.
Yesterday when I returned to my new camp at Lifestyle in Willcox, I decided to swim. I chose the location because they had an indoor pool, hot tub, and gym. Unfortunately, when I arrived, I learned that the hot tub was out of service and may be for most of my stay. But the pool looked great, and I was told it was heated to 82ºF. When I climbed into it yesterday afternoon, I discovered that it was much warmer! Later, a maintenance guy would tell me it is overheating right now, but I enjoyed the giant hot tub very much and hope he doesn’t fix it. I don’t usually do swimming pools, but it will be a big part of my leisure over this next month. I also hope to use the impressive gym and TV room.
I had hoped to meet Brent & Chris today to explore the Pinal Mountains, but an electrical meltdown of my surge protector and power cable yesterday has forced me to stay here and wait for the delivery of replacements. Tomorrow is their last day in the Sky Islands of Arizona, and they plan to be in the northern Catalina Mountains near Tucson. Hopefully, I will be able to hook up with them there. Saturday, my month of hibernation begins.