Anything but insects and spiders

I am guessing that this is about the most venomous of the european scorpions? Not that it is exactly dangerous but if the id of Buthus occitanus is right then the african variant has been known to be fatal.



Sorry it also looks horribly over sharpened or something, it was good before the resize though.

tim

Hi chthoniid, thanks, no that thing is still in the wild.

I have a mate that is pcr typing them so sometimes I capture them and send them to him.

He has found that there were many more species in europe than previously thought, but this one didn't get collected so is probably still roaming around free.

It is quite funny how their personality differs, the less dangerous ones seem to be much more active, and run away more often, not trying to sting when you prod them, but this thing was very stolid, it wouldnt move at all at first, then when it did all it did was stick its tail over its head and threaten (frightningly quickly though), then crawl off very slowly.

tim

Three shots of a woodlouse in my (spring) garden.
My wife noticed it for it's clear blue color. Is that a season thing or is it a blue species?








(shot with T90, that I mounted in the garden, gathering lots of dust on the sensor . It's all clean again

Native Harvestmen (Opilionid) Series

#1


#2


#3

Thanks- he (or she) is very cryptic- just trying to be as inconspicuous as possible . The eyes are tiny I'm afraid, as is typical for a creature that prefers the dark.

I noticed after I posted the shot that #1 has a bonus beetle in it as well.

Hi Dopol

Opilionids are a class of arachnids, like spiders. Not all arachnids are spiders . In English, opilionids are sometimes called harvestmen. Almost all arachnids have 8 legs (aside from some pesky mites!).

(Fwiw, the main differences between spiders and opilionids is that chelicerae (fangs) have 3 parts, not 2. The opithosoma (rear body-half) has visible segmentation whereas for spiders this is (usually) fused. The opithosoma and prosoma (front body-half) are also joined across the whole breadth, rather than have a conspicious waist.)

Look at those tusks and they will hunt you for ever