[tn-moths] Re: Kris' crazy critter!
- From: Hugh McGuinness <hdmcguinness@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 14:10:42 -0400
That's a Pseudoscorpion. They are phoretic and often ride around under the
elytra of large beetles. I have never actualy seen a free-living one before.
Very cool find!!!
Hugh
On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 1:56 PM, <klight10@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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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