Everything's in fruit this time of year.
Male mutilid. I saw a couple of these but couldn't get a decent photo. First time seeing the males. Plenty of Dasymutilla females in Briones, so I assume these are consorts.
Hope I've got this ID right, I don't know anything about ants, but the giant spines on the thorax seem pretty distinct. Maybe 7 mm tops.
These tiny crickets live inside ant colonies, feeding on… ant excrement. Well, not poop, I don't think, but some other form ant secretion. Gross AND awesome. And small, about 5 mm long. I'm basing this ID on the range descriptions in this paper (entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/s391lh20.pdf), which describes M. manni as not occurring west of the Cascades / Sierras / Tehachapis, except at San Diego. Not sure if they should be considered current or not.
Hoping the red-cornered chelicerae are helpful in ID...
Not sure why its eyes appear blue. Contrast and saturation are bumped, but they were blueish. I'm calling this M. religiosa due to the dark marks on the inner surfaces of the first femurs.
Still flowering in shady patches.
First time I've seen this is huckleberry, I think.
