At least, I think they were beetles, and I think they were mating.  It
certainly seemed like a good day for it.

I saw them today in Henry Cowell State Park, a redwoods park in
Northern California, not far from San Jose and Santa Cruz.  They were
brownish in color, perhaps with black markings, and their bodies were
about 5/8" long.  They were engaged rear to rear, with one of them
moving forward and the other (the female, I presumed) rather
unceremoniously being hauled backward.  The hindquarters of the one
being dragged backward flashed bright red at intervals, as if a spot
of brilliant crimson at the business end were being exposed by wing or
tail parts that moved aside for brief instants.  Apart from that
phenomenon, I could not get close enough and they did not hold still
enough for me to notice any difference between the two or to get a
good look at their topside characteristics.

I suppose the one moving backward could have been pushing instead of
being pulled, but it did not look that way to me, given the inevitable
tendency to anthropomorphize.

Two pairs were going at it more or less side by side.

So what were they, and what was the red color?

Thank you,
Apteryx

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 02 May 2004 06:51 PDT

Regarding the identification of the insects, my best guess is that
they may have been boxelder bugs.

Boxelder bugs are brownish-black, with veinings of red on their top
surfaces, and their abdomens are bright red under their wings. When
they "buzz" their wings, a bright red flash shows. They aren't
beetles, but might easily be mistaken for beetles.

Here's a photo:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/houseplants/ort040e/boxelbu2.jpg

Does this resemble your critter?

---

Clarification of Question by apteryx-ga on 02 May 2004 21:15 PDT

Hi, Pink--

Thanks for tackling this one!  I freely admit to possessing vast
ignorance when it comes to bugs.  These fellows just seemed more
beetlelike than otherwise, but I can't particularly say why, and maybe
they weren't.

They didn't look like this, though.  The brown was quite light, almost
tan.  There might have been black markings on top, or the pattern I
saw might just have been wings.  The pattern looked to me (from a
couple of feet away and without my strongest glasses) like fairly
ornate pen and ink work--that is, lines and not areas of solid color,
black on tan.  There were no red markings.  The red coloring appeared
only in the flashes and gave the impression of being a round red spot,
possibly with a white outline, right close to the tail end.

Apteryx

I've seen quite a few beetles mating (not because I was out looking
for this sort of thing, but when you spend time in your yard, it's
hard not to look). The mating beetles that I have seen were always
doing it... um... doggie-style, as in the photo on this page:

http://askabiologist.asu.edu/research/beetles/mating.html

Tryxie

I am surprised!

Why didn't you close your eyes?

Really, what will you be getting up to next?

A Concerned Commentator

Hi, Pink--

Thanks for the photo.  These little guys were definitely not doing
anything doggie-style.  They were butt to butt with their feet (all of
them) on the ground.  And they were moving pretty fast, too.  The one
that was pedaling backward really had to be coordinated with the one
that could see where he or she was going.  At first it looked like one
elogated bug, but on closer inspection they were like two trolley cars
hitched together with a control panel at each end.

Apteryx

Hey, Bryan--

Thank you for your efforts to safeguard my innocence.  It's been tried
before, actually, and without too much success, I'm pleased to say.

Tryxie

Hi, Tryxie

Great to hear from you again but where are the fantastic photos for
which you are famous?

Did you forget to buy a film for your Digital Camera?

Still Concerned

Bryan

Perhaps the beetle being dragged backwards had experienced engine
failure and was being towed to a repair facility. Happened to me once
with my 1968 Beetle. ;-)

Hi, Pinky

I recall that many lady drivers of the Beetle experienced what they
believed were 'engine failures' that resulted in their car being towed
to a repair facility.

This usually only happened once because, after they had discovered
that the engine was in the back, they stopped messing around with the
wires and things, to make room for their shopping.

It was known as 'learning the hard way'.

All the Best

Bryan

Hey, Bryan--

Sorry, no photos this time.  Those great pix were my son's work, and
he was not along on this trip.  I use a camera with real film, but I
didn't have it with me.  If I'd known I was still going to be curious
six hours later, I'd have asked my husband to snap the shot with his
digital camera.  Guess I should *always* assume I'm going to be
curious.

Tryxie

Hi, Tryxie

Yes ... In future, please take your camera EVERYWHERE.

Who knows you might get lucky and snap a piccy of Pinky with her army of cats?

Bestest

Bryan

This is hilarious!  Be sure to read 'the explanation'.  

Best regards,
tlspiegel

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Denmark/photo56289.htm

Hey, tlspiegel, thank you for the marvelous contribution!  The
explanation was great.

By now I'm feeling pretty certain that I wasn't looking at beetles. 
But they were definitely buggy beings of some sort.  When we go back
to Henry Cowell again in the spring, I will definitely take Bryan's
advice and have my camera with me.

Apteryx

I looked for insects in and around California... but I couldn't find
anything with markings exactly like those you described.  I came up
with something similar to what pinkfreud found.

The guys I found are actually called Milkweed bugs.  Hope this helps :)

General info at 
http://insected.arizona.edu/milkinfo.htm

More info at
http://lhsfoss.org/fossweb/teachers/materials/plantanimal/milkweedbugs.html

and picture here..
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/milkweed.html

Ooh, very good, rcubed!  They were hitched exactly like that.  And
they also had essentially the same silhoutte.

But they did not have this coloring:  no red markings showed except in
the flashes, and the black tracings were more like filigree than
anything else, black on light brown or tan.

So this is progress.  But I may just be stuck for this one until I
manage to capture these little guys with a camera.

Apteryx

Hi Apteryx.

I think your bugs might be Box Elder bugs.  Box Elders mate exactly as
you described.  It's the female that moves forward pulling the male
behind her.

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/dane/hort/images/boxelderbugs.jpg

http://www.bug-guy.com/boxelder.jpg

Just type in "Box Elder Bugs" into Google and click on images to see
if it is what you saw.

Thanks, unschooler, but that's the same suggestion offered by
PinkFreud shortly after I posted the question (see Request for
Clarification, above), and my answer is still the same, although my
name has changed since then.

Archae0pteryx
(formerly Apteryx)

Tney sure look like Ortolan to moi.

Donnez une masque & have a gout

??ÇÐѱ?ÕþæÔ?¥

(formerly Preposterosis)