A quick feild herp in the back lot

[whitewolf]

Well Toast and I went out yesterday when he came to get some extra vials I have no use for and this is what we found. Sorry I didn't take the camera out there but did snap some pics today with the old camera of what I kept.

We now have centipedes. Not sure what kind yet and trust me this doesn't even put a dent in the population in my yard. We collected 7 or 8 each around the barn under some sender-blocks. These were found in fairly large groups of anywhere from 2 to 4 each all really close together. The largest ones were about 2 maybe 2 1/2 inches.
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This he caught and it is so cute. I love it's color. Anyone know a possible sex or proper ID? Our guess was a wolf spider of some type? I am really bad with true spiders. In spring these are everywhere in the yard but they are cute.
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We did find a ton off moss growing too and decided to collect a bit to see if it will grow in some tanks. I added it to my frog tank and it looks neat now. I put a little in the centipede tank but may take it back out. The isopods love it. We found hundreds of Isopods in the yard too. Snatch a few for maintaining a few humid tanks but wow they were everywhere.
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Ok so I didn't collect these but he did bring me some baby Avic Avics. and I had the kids and even finally got granny to handle one. My daughter would hold anything I give her but the boy and granny not so much. Here they are going hand over arm taking turns.
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[whitewolf]

Here is a better one Toast sent me of his.
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[TheHolyToast]

To bad the mole got away, lol.

[whitewolf]

Originally Posted by TheHolyToast

To bad the mole got away, lol.

Yeah I forgot to mention the mole. Been nice to at least get a picture of it. If hadn't been for the centipede we might have caught it while it was sitting on my shoe. For future note moles are faster than they look. lol.

[***Beth***]

Awwww nice finds! I really need to get out and about more often! It sounds like you had a lot of fun

[RichardA]

The little pedes are Theatops sp. they max at around 3 inches and are pretty cool. They dry out extremely easily in my experience.

The wolf is probably Hogna carolinensis.

Nice finds by the way!

[whitewolf]

Theatops posticus was on the list of natives to what we had and it did look like the images I googled but I have learned not to trust google images either or judge by color alone. Thanks Richard. I did put the ID post somewhere else but guess I didn't need to now lol. The wolf has already made herself at home in a KK too.

I put them in a bigger container with some deeper peat and laird the peat and flower pot pieces to mimic the area I found them in a few minutes ago. I was digging threw the remaining pieces of moss and found one that looks long like a milli. Sorry I didn't get a picture I took it back out where I found it since I only saw the one. If I had seen more I might have kept one.

Maybe go out when it warms back up and get some nicer shots.

Just thought I'd update and let everyone know what the centipedes are for sure in the picture. The person who helped me said (in case you can't see the other post it isn't on here.) it is Lithobiomorpha. Not sure of concrete genus but it is Lithobiomorpha. There reason behind it was it has 15 segments. According to this site to help back that up there are 15 segments and they alternate between larger and smaller segments. http://www.myriapoda.org/chilopoda/c...eral_info.html (took me forever to stumble on this)

The Lithobiomorpha comprise short-bodied forms with 15 pairs of legs and segments in adults, and 7 (rarely 6 or 8) in hatchlings. They exhibit strong tergite heteronomy, as tergites 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 14 are much longer than those of the other segments. Lithobiomorphs typically possess ocelli, but a few, mostly cavernicolous species, have lost them. The order occurs globally and comprises two families that are distinguished by the presence of setae alone on the legs (Henicopidae) or spines/spurs plus setae (Lithobiidae). There are 95 genera, and ca. 1,500 species have been described from an estimated global fauna of >2,000 species (Adis & Harvey 2000).

[TheVez2]

Originally Posted by RichardA

The wolf is probably Hogna carolinensis.

Concur, looks exactly like the ones I used to find in my yard in Nebraska. Looks female too.

[Down71]

nice centis
is that all u found or did u not mention stuff u didnt catch

[whitewolf]

Other than a hornet, or something like it, and a really cute (faster than us) mole that's all we found but it is still cool out. The mole outsmarted us. Hopefully come March stuff will start coming out as it warms up more. Got my snake guards ready and waiting in the garage. Oh yeah and some scat. Apparently something is bedding down at night in the back lot. Explains why the dog is barking every night while she is out. I have yet to see anything and whatever it is (I suspect stay dog) is as big as a dog. Mom suspects bobcat since there was scat off the ground on a fallen tree about 2 foot from the ground. I doubt bobcat though but have had some wildlife come up pretty close since the 2 fields are grown up pretty high. I have a few spots planed, not to say we will find anything but will defiantly go looking. Be ok as long as we don't stumble across any hogs.

[RichardA]

Nice catch on that Wolf......Theatops have much larger "tail" legs. I agree looks like you narrowed that down well.

[whitewolf]

Originally Posted by RichardA

Nice catch on that Wolf......Theatops have much larger "tail" legs. I agree looks like you narrowed that down well.

LOL. I asked someone to ID it for me and that's what they said after I said well how about Theatops. So not really my catch at all. Umm one thing I didn't understand is the "tail" are those a pair of legs to count too? I don't think I get the counting part. In the pic from toast ya I count 15 segments but the smaller one no. So I guess I am asking do you count legs as in every appendage that sticks out and do they get segments as they grow or are they supposed to have them. Sorry I can't find any good material to read on them.