Looking for help from naturalists in southern California

General
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Hi all,

I’m looking for people who would be willing to help find and collect specimens of a new pentatomid arrival to southern California.

I have seen a handful of photo observations of a stink bug in the genus Pellaea around San Diego and southern parts of Los Angeles on this site. Previously, the only US records of this genus are from south Texas. I contacted an expert to see if they knew of any other US records and they said that were not aware of any but that California would be a very interesting one.

The photo observations are nice, but if we could pair that with physical specimens that are submitted to a museum and can be expert-examined, those photo records will be even more useful. According to the species page for P. stictica on Bugguide, these bugs may be associated with glossy privet, Ligustrum lucidum .

You can view a map on iNaturalist that includes locations for the photo records here

I would love to be able to help report this new state record and to be able to illustrate the extreme utility of citizen science in tracking biodiversity, so if you are able and willing to help out, please let me know!

If you can’t personally help out, but know of someone who might be in a position to help, please pass this request along to them as well!

Thank you!

3 Likes
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Cool! I’ll keep my eyes peeled when I get back home. I’m familiar with collecting/pinning insects in general but is there any special process that would be helpful? I also have museum entomologist connections that I donate specimens to but if there’s anyone in particular to contact let us know. But perhaps that’s something to be dealt with when there are specimens in hand. :)

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Awesome, thanks!

If we are able to get a physical specimen, I’ll probably get back in touch with the expert that I was talking to and see what his preference would be. He may prefer to have it sent directly to him for examination (in which case shipping materials would be provided). If it were me and I found a specimen, I would probably just stick it in the freezer until we heard back and formed a plan.

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I’ll keep on the lookout whenever I see a glossy privet!

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Sounds great, thanks!

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