Here is the crazy critter I mentioned in an earlier email. I noticed something very tiny (~3mm) crawling near the blacklight. When I zoomed in on it with my macro lens I couldn't believe my eyes ... it had little pinchers like a scorpion! I snapped some photos and enlarged them on the LCD screen so I could count the legs. It had 8 legs like a scorpion, but no stinger on the "tail". I figured the only thing it could be was a pseudoscorpion, so I ran in and typed that into the search box on Bugguide. Sure enough, that's what it was. I had seen them in books, but I didn't know they were so small. They don't have wings, so I had wondered how it got on the sheet. I was amazed to read that they hitch a ride on larger insects, especially longhorn beetles. There had been one of them on the sheet earlier, so I guess that was its "taxi" . And I thought the mantisfly I saw last year was strange! My sheet has 20 threads per inch, so that will give a bit of scale to this little creature. I'm hoping to get some more "moth converts" when I do the Moth-er's Night Out at the UT Arboretum in Oak Ridge on May 21 at 7:30 PM. That was how Diana got hooked last year! For those of you in the Oak Ridge / Knoxville area, tell your friends about it. I'd also love to have any of you who could come with a sheet, blacklight, extension cord and moth ID knowledge! :) We found approximately 30 different species last year, I hope to see more this year. Yesterday I was at Frozen Head SP in Morgan Co. on an elementary school field trip. The kids were delighted to see a couple of Luna moths and what I think is 6838 B – Probole amicaria – Friendly Probole Moth 5-9-11 I'm attaching a photo, it is a lousy shot, but maybe good enough to ID it. So, that will be a couple of moths to add to Morgan Co. Mother's Day turned out to be a great Moth-er's Night! I need to tabulate my sightings from that night, I saw lots of different moths. Kris Light Oak Ridge, TN Anderson Co.
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6838 B – Probole amicaria – Friendly Probole Moth_maybe_FH_5-9-11 copy.jpg
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