Boreidae are a small and intriguing family of insects in the order Mecoptera. Also called snow scorpionfiies, adults are active in the winter months and thus rarely collected. They are associated with mosses and other bryophytes on which they feed, plants that are prominent components of the biological soil crusts common in shrub-steppe environments. Large series of Boreus californicus, B.nix, and B. reductus were collected in pitfall traps and by hand during surveys conducted from 1998-2002, at what is now the Hanford Reach National Monument. Eleven collecting sites were pitfall trapped in winter during the study, with specimens collected at only three of the locations. All but one of the pitfall-trapped specimens came from two adjacent collecting sites. Specimens were also hand-collected from Rattlesnake Ridge, within 5km of the productive pitfall trap sites. Adults were collected from November through April but were most abundant in December and January. Sex ratios for all species and both collecting methods were generally male dominated. The continuous sampling during this project provides a rare look at the phenology and community composition of shrub-steppe Boreus but does little to elucidate Boreus spp. habitat selection.

Farallonophilus cavernicolus (Rentz, 1972) is a member of the family Rhaphidophoridae (camel crickets) endemic to the Farallon Islands. Rentz (1972) hypothesized that F. cavernicolus had characteristics between those of the genera Pristoceuthophilus Rehn, 1903 and Ceuthophilus Scudder, 1862 but closest to the genus Pristoceuthophilus. Currently Pristoceuthophilus is placed in the tribe Pristoceuthophilini and Ceuthophilus in the tribe Ceuthophilini. Farallonophilus cavernicolus is currently placed within the Pristoceuthophilini (Cigliano et al. 2018). We tested this hypothesis and classification by performing mtDNA phylogenetic analysis using collected samples and GenBank sequences. Our results indicate general agreement with current subfamily Ceuthophilinae (which contains the tribes Pristoceuthophilini and Ceuthophilini) relationships except that F. cavernicolus appears to be outside both the Pristoceuthophilini and the Ceuthophilini. Our results suggest that the F. cavernicolus lineage diverged from the Pristoceuthophilini and Ceuthophilini roughly 8.9MYA, roughly 1.6 million years before the Pristoceuthophilini and Ceuthophilini diverged from each other.

Selection of tools for monitoring epigeal arthropods may be limited by site characteristics and the need to reduce risk of vertebrate bycatch. We designed a ramp trap for sampling surface-active arthropod diversity and compared its effectiveness with pitfall traps. Paired transects of ten ramp and ten pitfall traps were laid out in five sites at the Hopland Research and Extension Center in California. We identified and enumerated the ground-dwelling arthropods in the samples, with an emphasis on beetles and spiders, and compared trap types using t-tests and NMDS. There was no significant difference in abundance and diversity between ramp and pitfall traps for beetles or spiders; however, there were significantly more millipedes caught by pitfall traps. The NMDS analysis of beetle assemblages distinguished between trap types; however, differences were not significant for spider assemblages. The ramp traps were more difficult to fabricate and transport because of their complexity and bulk, but they were easier and faster to setup, more resistant to disturbance, and resulted in less vertebrate bycatch. Ramp traps are a useful tool to be used alongside or as an alternative to pitfall traps.

Expansion of native junipers, Juniperus Linnaeus (Cupressaceae), is altering landscapes in the western U.S., prompting extensive management efforts to counter this spread and the negative effects on impacted ecosystems. Our studies investigating sources of seed mortality in western juniper, Juniperus occidentalis Hooker; Utah juniper, Juniperus osteosperma (Torrey) Little); and California juniper, Juniperus californica Carrière, have revealed a number of previously unreported seed-attacking arthropods. One of the most commonly encountered insects at collection sites in California and Nevada are cone-boring cosmet moths (Cosmopterigidae) in the genus Periploca Braun, 1919. DNA analysis of insect adults and immatures both reared and dissected from juniper berries definitively associated Periploca adults with their immature stages and with seed damage while also screening for parasitoid DNA to reveal parasitoid-host relationships. Sequence data for Periploca adults and larvae revealed the presence of three species of Periploca attacking juniper berries at our survey locations. These have been identified as P. atrataHodges, 1962, commonly referred to as the juniper cone moth, along with P. juniperiHodges, 1978, and P. serrulataHodges, 1978. Previously unreported details regarding the life histories of these three species of Periploca, all of which were encountered in western, Utah, and California juniper, were revealed. In addition, berry dissections, rearing efforts, and DNA sequence data have linked numerous parasitoids to juniper berry-infesting Periploca. These findings develop a more refined understanding of the genus Periploca and the arthropod community infiuencing juniper seed production, which can provide potentially valuable tools for the ongoing management of juniper expansion.