Bugs of the Day

Exciting start of the day when one of our campers brought a huge beetle he had caught to the breakfast table.  At first, it looked to me like a slightly smaller version of a very large beetle that another camper caught last week and which I've already posted here.  Turns out they were both Cerambycids, the family of longhorn beetles.
The top photo is of this morning's beetle, the California Prionus, technically Prionus californicus.
As for common names, besides California Prionus, it is known as the California Root Borer, Pine Sawyer, and Ponderous Borer, among others.  It can grow to nearly 2" long.  Click on the photo for a look at the details. 
Last week's Cerambycid (2nd photo) was the Spined Wood Borer, Ergates spiculatus.  It is the largest beetle in western North America, often exceeding 2" in length.  Note, both of these beauties have impressive jaws and can bore through wood.  However, they don't move very fast and are not difficult to handle safely.
While they look similar, their habits are quite different.  The Prionus lives on hardwoods and can bore into Oak, Maple, Madrone, and other live hardwoods.  On the other hand, Ergates bores into dead and dying pine and fir, especially after a fire.  While it doesn't harm healthy live trees, it can quickly reduce the value of burned timber that might otherwise be available for salvage.  I'm for letting the beetles have it!
ANother exciting find of the day was a shiny metallic blue beetle, around 1/3" long, I found an a leaf of Spreading Dogbane.  Since Dogbane is a kind of milkweed, it wasn't too surprising to find this was a Blue Milkweed Beetle, Chrysochus cobaltinus.  
Today's fourth photo is of a Red-shouldered Ctenucha moth, Ctenucha rubroscapus.  I've posted photos of this beauty recently.  I'm repeating it here because I took this oe without a telephoto lens.  It was only afoot away from my face when I turned toward the bush it was on.  I haven't identified the bush, although it looks a lot like an Elderberry.  When I first discovered this moth a few summers ago, I saw it only on Pennyroyal.  This summer, besides seeing it on the aforementioned shrub, I'me still seeing it on Pennyroyal, but also Brewer's Angelica and Spreading Dogbane.  Now I'm wondering if it is feeding and/or laying eggs on all these plants.  They're plentiful this summer, so I'll keep on watching.