FOR A BEETLE LOVER, BUSINESS AND PLEASURE CONVERGE RESEARCHER TO SIFT MEXICAN JUNGLES FOR NEW SPECIES.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- The kid who 20 years ago loved turning over rocks, picking bugs off flowers and catching frogs in a creek now does it for a living.

Placerita Canyon Nature Center's director will leave Santa Clarita's warm embrace this weekend for the jungles of Mexico to collect unknown beetle species for a university research study.

Memories of last year's tug of war with a 6-inch combatant linger.

``You're sitting out there in the rain forest in the middle of nowhere in the South American jungle ... you have to wait until the middle of the night, and this beetle just comes flying in like a B-2 bomber,'' said Ian Swift, 28, the center's director. ``It gets your adrenaline going. It's about the size of the bottom of your shoe.''

Swift's specialty is longhorn beetles, which have long antenna and prefer feeding on dead or dying trees and shrubs -- though this stealth bug settled for the hefty wooden ruler Swift tried to measure it with.

``They have huge jaws on them. ... It got a hold of the ruler and accidentally grabbed it. It snapped the ruler with its jaws,'' he said. ``It can probably slice your finger right off with the jaws.''

Swift's mission, under the aegis of the Essig Museum of Entomology at the University of California at Berkeley, is studying biodiversity of insects in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. He majored in biology at California State University, Northridge. Research endeavors with colleagues nationwide have landed him in Mexico six times, and in South and Central America.

The entomologists seek out new species and have no trouble finding up to 50 new species each time out.

They may collect up to 1,000 specimens, with two or three individuals plucked from up to 400 never-before-seen species. They venture into research stations in protected forested areas to study insect groups, comparing species from various habitats.

The scientists name their discoveries, publishing the research findings in scientific journals. Colleagues have named about six after Swift, including an inch-long longhorn that John Chemsak, curator emeritus at the Essig museum, called strangalia ianswifti.

Swift was tapped for a jaunt to South America to collect the dull brown razor-jawed titanus giganteus -- the largest insect on earth -- and other specimens for David Attenborough's award-winning 2005 documentary ``Life in the Undergrowth,'' shown on the Discovery Channel.

``What it lacks in color it makes up for in size,'' Swift said of the critter that grabbed the ruler.

Beetles that travel by day tend to be more colorful than nightfliers and often try to mimic something poisonous. A black one Swift collected in the southwest, with an iridescent bluish sheen and bright orange wings, is a wannabe potent pepsis wasp, but it is harmless.

Swift's quest has no end.

``The tremendous diversity of life on earth, particularly with insects, will keep a curious person like myself busy for several lifetimes to come,'' he said.

In the meantime, he has no time for a personal life and little for shut-eye, clocking four to five hours a night. Swift divides his time between running the nature center, serving as superintendent of the 350-acre ecological Placerita park reserve, serving on the Junior Chamber of Commerce government affairs committee and on the executive committee of the nonprofit Leaders Council, attending Sierra Club meetings and participating in the California Wild Heritage Campaign.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich and the director of the county's regional planning department appointed him last month to serve on the Significant Ecological Areas Technical Advisory Committee, which reviews developments proposed in environmentally sensitive areas.

In his spare time, Swift runs 20 to 25 miles a week, training for November's Santa Clarita marathon.

Colleague Annie Ray, a University of Illinois doctorate student in entomology, who has joined Swift collecting specimens stateside, is looking forward to participating in the Mexico expedition.

``He's funny,'' she said. ``When we were collecting, he is quiet and serious. He's still funny, but it's about work when we're working.''

Ray is investigating communication between beetles. She values the communication between the small group of dedicated beetle experts and says Swift is well-respected among them.

``There are very few young guys out there,'' she said.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Ian Swift of the Placerita Canyon Nature Center will be leaving soon for a short research expedition to Mexico in affiliation with UC Berkeley.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer