The indestructible insect: Velvet ants from across the United States avoid predation by representatives from all major tetrapod clades.

Velvet ants are a group of parasitic wasps that are well known for a suite of defensive adaptations including bright coloration and a formidable sting. While these adaptations are presumed to function in antipredator defense, observations between potential predators and this group are lacking. We conducted a series of experiments to determine the risk of velvet ants to a host of potential predators including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals.

Unique Strain of Rickettsia parkeri Associated with the Hard Tick Dermacentor parumapertus Neumann in the Western United States.

In 1953, investigators at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, MT, described the isolation of a spotted fever group (SFGR) species from ticks collected from black-tailed jackrabbits () in northern Nevada. Several decades later, investigators characterized this SFGR (designated the parumapertus agent) by using mouse serotyping methods and determined that it represented a distinct rickettsial serotype closely related to ; nonetheless, the parumapertus agent was not further characterized or studied. To our knowledge, no isolates of the parumapertus agent remain in any rickettsial culture collection, which precludes contemporary phylogenetic placement of this enigmatic SFGR.

Relationship of stand characteristics to drought-induced mortality in three southwestern piñion-juniper woodlands.

Extreme drought conditions accompanied by rising temperatures have characterized the American Southwest during the past decade, causing widespread tree mortality in piñion-juniper woodlands. Piñon pine (Pinus edulis Engelm.) mortality is linked primarily to outbreaks of the pinyon ips (Ips confusus (Leconte)) precipitated by drought conditions.