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The thread of Creepy Crawlies

Apologies for the un-great photos. A breeze was swaying the bushes, and the caterpillars themselves were twitching, so the photos were destined for mediocrity. These are the best of the lot.


Nuttall's Sheep Moth Caterpillars





No matter how I configured the search for caterpillars, Google kept showing me large yellow track loaders. While I find those fascinating, i still have no idea what these are.




...and a common gopher snake that tried, for a couple of seconds, to look tough.
 
ShortcutToHell said:
Apologies for the un-great photos. A breeze was swaying the bushes, and the caterpillars themselves were twitching, so the photos were destined to mediocrity. These are the best of the lot.

Nuttall's Sheep Moth Caterpillars
 
What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?
 
Those photos are great! The black caterpillars on that ghostly green foliage make them seeem really creepy and evil IMO.
 
ShortcutToHell said:
No matter how I configured the search for caterpillars, Google kept showing me large yellow track loaders. While I find those fascinating, i still have no idea what these are.
 
They look like one of the 'tent caterpillars' to me.
Probably the forest tent caterpillar.
 
nuclearDays said:
What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?
 
Those photos are great! The black caterpillars on that ghostly green foliage make them seeem really creepy and evil IMO.
 
 
They look like one of the 'tent caterpillars' to me.
Probably the forest tent caterpillar.
Thanks, ND. Agree, the black ones were a total, evil looking, creep-out. Somehow, those are the ones that are most compelling to get shots of, right?!

The "ghostly" green foliage belongs to a species of Artemisia tridentata, which is native to the Intermountain West of North America. The scent of it is like a drug for me - a deep, earthy sage scent that hits like a tranquilizer. Walking through it and brushing up against it after a rain is heavenly.

Nice work, ND! Good to know their identity, and btw, you're better than Google. I tried fifty different ways to search for caterpillars in this area, and Google kept handing me these:


I like them, but not what I was after. :D
 
ShortcutToHell said:
It rather looks like one, now that you mention it. Surprisingly, It's a caterpillar: Nuttall's Sheep Moth Caterpillar
Can see why it's easy to think that.
I think you missed the sarcasm a little bit. But yeah, Sheep moth are some interesting little buggers.
 
cruzzfish said:
I think you missed the sarcasm a little bit. But yeah, Sheep moth are some interesting little buggers.
..just wasnt't sure, so I erred on the side of caution. . Good one though. Yeah, I could have spent half a day out there looking for more and taking pics. First time I'd seen them.
 
Redback Spider.
20150517_130343-1.jpg

 
Another angle. 
20150517_130120-1.jpg

 
One of the best looking spiders IMO.
 
 
 
SR.
 
Shorerider said:
Redback Spider.
20150517_130343-1.jpg

 
 
One of the best looking spiders IMO.
 
 
 
SR.
She's a beauty, SR. Widows are in a tie with jumpers as my favorite spiders. Had an L. mactans hanging out on the patio a few days ago and tried to get a clear shot of her.

No success but I may go ahead and post her up. She'll be no competition to this beauty though!

STH
 
Thanks STH, Those pics were quite easy to get as she was relatively inactive. 
 
Latrodectus mactans look very similar, I look forward to seeing yours.
 
 
SR.
 
They have killed people, but not since the 50's when the antivenom was released. A very painful bite none the less.


SR.
 
Shorerider said:
Thanks STH, Those pics were quite easy to get as she was relatively inactive. 
 
Latrodectus mactans look very similar, I look forward to seeing yours.
 
 
SR.
Pulled up the L. mactans pic, and it's even worse than I remembered. Won't subject you all to it. I did find a bee pic that isn't nearly so bad so I'll post it when photobucket quits acting up.

Shorerider said:
They have killed people, but not since the 50's when the antivenom was released. A very painful bite none the less.
SR.
My friend, Jeff, was bitten by a widow and wound up with great difficulty breathing. He said that the body-wide pain was excruciating and was the worst pain he's experienced. He was hospitalized and monitored closely, but they held off giving him the antivenom. Supposedly it shouldn't be given but once in a lifetime. Since he wasn't going to die, they opted to save the shot for next time he's bitten. :D
 
Shorerider said:
 
Redback Spider.
Another angle.
One of the best looking spiders IMO.
 
SR.
 
Nicely captured, m8!
 
 
Yellowfin2na said:
Found this interesting anomaly today. I'm not for sure but it looks like aphids on its back. Every once in a while it seemed to turn around and feed them.

Nvm looked it up. Not aphids. Parasitic wasp larva.
 
Good shots, Yellowfin2na, that caterpillar won't be doing much more damage in the garden!
 
A couple more 'jumpers with prey' from me.
 
No idea what it is eating but there isn't much left:
M5krhdC.jpg

 
Common house fly for dinner
oVoaHT5.jpg

 
Small jumper eating an even smaller jumping spider
UUMVTH4.jpg
 
Those guys really do have personalities
These goofy looking things were inside one of my hydriponic reservoirs. I searched the internet and couldn't figure out what they were. They are actually quite large, about a quarter inch. Way bigger than the mosquito larva next to them.





So as I'm searching trying to figure out what they are I come back to find one shedding. I guess moving all around for pics got the process going. It's some sort of fly. Kinda looks like a masque to but it's not. Its about twice the size of a lady bug. Still don't know what they are though.



 
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