So for the last few days ive been reading up on Bothriocyrtum californicum. What a delightful creature! I often find them when im digging around here so i decided today that id go out and do some digging out on the property and check some of the pit traps ive set in the hopes of finding some wandering individuals (of any species) I took the camera out and snapped a bunch of photos! No luck on the Bothriocyrtum. Thats just about how it always goes though. when your not looking for them they are everywhere, and when you go specifically to find them they are no where to be found. but i did find some other interesting organisms and here are some pics.
This little guy crawled into the hole i was digging. Im pretty sure its a male lycosidae (probably Pordosa sp.) what do you guys think?
I was using a flash on the camera so hes not as dark looking as he is to the naked eye but this guy is very dark. the abdominal dots and the leg mottling are the give awaY for me. very tiny. I often see these guys lugging around there egg cases behind them. (A trait common to lycosidae.)
Heres one of the four traps that i was checking. the animals that i caught in the traps over night where either very small (money spider small) or not worth photographing. the traps caught very little over night. they are just a deep tuperware style container dug into the earth and flush with the ground.
I ran into this cluster of mushrooms! they look a little like chantrells but they are not. some sort of look alike i have to do a little research before i make a guess. Its a little difficult in the pac nw becasue we have such a diverse selection of genus and species without a spore print and i dichotomous key!
The next two critters i found during the dig were tiny little hatchling centipedes. I dont know which kind they could be without further research. they were really really small! ill make a guess later. you know on further inspection it could be a millipede as well, maybe one of you guys knows a little better than i do.
This next set of photos is of a little guy i found just under the surface chilling out in the root bed of a clump of grass. I believe this is a representative of the genus Carabus. (possibly nemoralis) Its hard to say which species for certain! Im not an expert on coleopterans and there are thirteen species of Carabus in the states most of which look fairly similar to each other. This is a beautiful animal though! commonly known as the European ground beetle:
The next two photos are of grubs and i have to do some research before i make any guesses. Im thinking they turn out to be lepidopteran but thats just speculation at the moment:
Thats all the pics i took, but my beloved Bothriocyrtum remained elusive today! But i will find you california trapdoor spider! You will be mine!
