Friday, July 15, 2016

Some Insects and Arachnids

Hey Everybody!
I caught these cool inverts a couple weeks ago and just haven't posted about them yet, but now that time has come!
1. Castianeira cingulata(Two-banded ant mimic spider)
I found one of these guys about 2 weeks ago at Woodhaven Lakes( where I find most of my coolest WC inverts) under some leaf litter. I housed it in the plastic container that I housed my katydid nymphs( which I will also include in this post)in before I let them go, I used coconut fiber as the substrate and also had a couple pieces of egg-crate in there. I believe it was an adult female.
Here's picture of it!
Adult female C.cingulata
It must have been at the end of it's lifespan when I caught it because it only lived two weeks or so with me, but while I was turning over some rocks in my yard I found another of these! I believe it was a sub-adult when I caught it, but I ended up loosing it in my house and then finding it again a couple days later to see that it had molted to adulthood! I am currently keeping it in a small deli cup but may transfer it to the other one's old container. I believe it's also a female, but I'm not sure.
Here's a picture of it and its current enclosure!
Adult C.cingulata

C.cingulata enclosure

2. Scutigera coleoptrata(House centipede)
I found one of these under a slide in my yard while hunting at night for insects with my headlamp. I was really excited when I found it because they're my favorite centipede that I can find locally and I've really been wanting to keep one. I had been keeping it in a medium sized deli cup with a cloth lid, but I recently let go of my adult Scarites vicinus, so I am now keeping it in their old enclosure, which is a plastic Ziploc container with ventilation holes in the lid. I have some coconut fiber in there as the substrate and couple pieces of cork bark as the hides.
Here's some pictures of it and its enclosure!

S.coleoptrata
 3. Maevia inclemens(Dimorphic jumper)
So I found an adult male( which has been dead for a while) about two months ago on some rocks near the bank of a large river, but I also remembered seeing the beautiful adult females. So the next time I was able to return to that river, I searched the bank high and low for a female, and just when I though I wouldn't find one, I lifted up a large rock to find an adult female clinging to the bottom! This time I came prepared with a net to catch these speedy little jumping spiders, so I was able to swipe it up and into a deli cup! I have it housed in a plastic container with some ventilation holes in the lid, I am using coconut fiber once again as the substrate, and have 3 pieces of egg crate in there. A couple days ago I noticed that I hadn't seen it walking around in the container for a couple days, so I opened the container to see what was going on and ended up noticing that it was inside a small, thick web with a freshly laid clutch of eggs!
Here's some pictures!

Adult female M.inclemens

Adult female M.inclemens with eggs

M.inclemens enclosure

4. Pterostichus permundus(Woodland ground beetles)
I found two of these under a rock while at Woodhaven Lakes. They were very beautiful with their glossy, colorful sheen! I housed them with my D.elongatus and C.tricolor. I initially thought that they were Dicaelus politus, but ended up finding out that they were indeed Pterostichus permundus which look almost identical to the aforementioned species, but has a colorful sheen.
Here's some photos!


2 P.permundus
Sadly, the smaller one was eaten a couple days ago by the other beetles in the enclosure, I'm not certain if they killed him or scavenged his body after he has already died. :(   The other one is doing just fine though.
5. Microcentrum retinerve(Lesser angle-winged katydid)
My mom called me outside at night about three weeks ago to tell me that she had found a couple katydid nymphs on a branch that she had cut off of a tree. So once I got the couple that she had found in deli cups, I got my headlamp and went to see if there was any more in the area where the previous ones came from. We ended up finding a couple more and ended up with four of these guys. I'm not usually one for keeping orthopterans but I decided I'd keep them for a little while since they were colorful and cute. I kept them in a plastic container with some ventilation holes in the lid. I had some clippings in the container from the tree that they cam from and were eating, and I used coconut fiber as the substrate.
Here's some photos!
M.retinerve nymph

M.retinerve enclosure
 I ended up keeping them for about a week and in that time they ate about half of the leaves that I had in there, they were truly little eating machines! I let them go on the same tree that they were found on.
6.Xylopinus saperdioides(Darkling beetle)
I was looking around with my headlamp at night over at Woodhaven Lalkes( again) and I noticed this small beetle on an old, rotten stump. I initially thought it was a ground beetle, but knew that it was an odd place to find a ground beetle, but as I picked it up I realized that I had found my first native darkling beetle! It is relatively small and normal looking but I still thought it was pretty cool, so I decided to bring it back home. I have it in a smallish-medium sized deli cup with a couple ventilation holes in the lid. I am using a mix of coconut fiber, sand, small chunks of rotten hardwood, and dead leaves as the substrate, I also have a piece of egg crate in there for it to hide under.
Here's a couple pics!

X.saperdioides


X.saperdioides enclosure

 I also found an adult male Platydracus praetermissus(which I didn't get pictures of) which immediately mated with my female when I put them together, a pregnant female Armadillidium nasatum which is a new species to add to my mixed colony. Unfortunately, I stumbled upon a cool looking beetle, I believe it was a Anchonoderus quadrinotatus, and a very small, beige cockroach nymph, but while I was trying to carry a bunch of deli cups( admittedly probably more than I should have) up some stars I dropped the container(which was the only one I didn't have a lid for) with the beetle and roach in it and they escaped. :(
I still ended up collecting some pretty awesome inverts though so I'm happy, but it really would have been cool to bring those guys back with me too.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I'll be sure to make some more soon, to everyone goodbye! :)

2 comments:

  1. Lots of very nice finds, especially that Xylopinus saperdioides! If it's a gravid female or if you find more and want to breed them, I'd move them to a container filled with primarily rotten wood and maybe some dead leaves as the substrate, as I doubt the female would lay eggs in a substrate that has large amounts of coconut fiber or sand in it, and the resulting larva would not do well in such a setup either. Make sure the container is well ventilated, as even though they are forest dwelling Tenebrionids that prefer a moist enclosure, humid stagnant air will most likely kill them in a few weeks.

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    1. Thanks!
      I don't think I'll be keeping the darkling for very much longer, I plan on letting it go the next time we go back to where I found it.

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