Fieldherper.com » Invertebrates

Not a reptile, but still my first of these. North American Millipede

Bryan — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:58:10 +0000

Saw this weird little thing just after photographing a milksnake in Pennsylvania in May. I’m sure they’re common as dirt out there, but it’s new to me.

Apheloria-virginiensis

Tarantula from New Mexico

Bryan — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:12:39 +0000

I noticed these guys are a bit larger where I was in New Mexico. Anyone know the species of this lady(?)

Tarantula

Bad Day to Be a Tarantula

Bryan — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:49:43 +0000

Here’s a paralyzed tarantula being dragged through the desert by a tarantula hawk, who had apparently taken a route through an ant nest. I can count 6 different things biting the spider at the same time … not a good day.

tarantulahawk

Another Tarantula From The Past

Bryan — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:02:28 +0000

Here’s another one from back when I had just discovered the fun of wandering around at night, taking pictures of things. Based on how awful this photo is, this very well could be one of the first wild tarantulas I’d ever seen.

Tarantula

A Big Milipede

Bryan — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:51:50 +0000

This milipede was out cruising around a wash North of Phoenix on a cold, wet morning. Can any arthropologists out there help me out with the species?

Almost A Face Spider

Bryan — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:27:03 +0000

I met this guy while walking around a desert wash one night looking for snakes. I was about 2 inches from having a spider friend on my nose when I saw it. Whew! Big and weird looking … the first of these I’ve seen.

Entomologists? Any help with the ID?

Big Scorpion

Bryan — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 06:22:04 +0000

I see these mouse-sized scorpions all over the place in the Sonoran desertscrub. I always stop to play with them at least once.

Hadrarus arizonensis

Iron-Cross Blister Beetle Fiesta

Bryan — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:31:41 +0000

We found a bunch of these iron cross blister beetles clustering in the low grass early one morning while photographing some sidewinders.

iron cross blister beetle

blister beetle party time

Hiking the Agua Fria River

Bryan — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:16:47 +0000

I had some friends in town to find rattlesnakes in April, and one of the locations we hit was the Agua Fria river. The various small canyons and rock cuts, along with the year-round supply of water, make a great habitat for all kinds of desert animals. We found 3 rattlesnakes this particular morning, and a variety of other cool stuff.

Here are a trio of diamondbacks found along the way:

Diamondbacks

diamondback

atrox

diamondback

Here are a couple of the many canyon treefrogs we saw as well.

Frog

canyon treefrog

… and some indian art on a rock, right near where we parked.

art

Here’s about the scariest thing you can find in Arizona, an open nest of bees. Fortunately, these guys usually make enough noise so that you can see them well before you piss them off.

bees

And finally, a patchnosed snake we found on the way out to our next location.

Patch-Nosed Snake

Amblypigid, Meet My Nightsnake

Bryan — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:00:01 +0000

Big creepy arachnid:

Amblypigids

Big creepy arachnid with a nightsnake:

desert dance party 3000

Tarantula

Bryan — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Here’s a big tarantula I found crawling around near our camp one morning near Payson, Arizona. One of these days I’m going to have to learn how to identify these other than “those brown ones” and “those blackish ones”.

Tarantula

Pleasing Fungus Beetle

Bryan — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:00:09 +0000

This is totally not a reptile, but the cool blue color and silly name makes me want to post it.

Pleasing Fungus Beetle

Lubber Grasshoppers

Bryan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:38:50 +0000

In the Fall of 2008, South Eastern Arizona was absolutely flooded with these huge lubber grasshoppers. I first saw a few crossing a road and thought that they were male tarantulas out and about looking for mates, which is much more common in my experience. By the time I had returned to the area a month later, these were so numerous that there was almost no patch of ground, road, or water that didn’t have a few. I wonder what eats these?

lubber grasshopper

Stripe-Tail Scorpion

Bryan — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:24:13 +0000

I know this isn’t a lizard, but I still take pictures of them from time to time when things are slow. It’s (I believe so anyway) a stripe-tail scorpion (Vaejovis spinigeris), one of the more common scorpions I run into when flipping stuff over herping. The sting from these guys is maybe a little painful, but otherwise completely harmless to humans. Keep that in mind next time you see one out there trying to make a living and the douchebag behind you is yelling for its death.

Stripe Tail Scorpion

Quality, Not Quantity (Part 3)

Bryan — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:59:58 +0000

… continued from part 1 and part 2.

In the morning, the first thing I found was a biggie for me. It was a Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum), only my second find of this animal.

Gila Monster

Heloderma suspectum

I took a lot of pictures. I’ve only seen 2 in so many trips to the desert, who knows when the next one would be.

Gila Monster in Arizona

Gila Monster

Although they’re venomous, the bite is most likely not going to be fatal to a human unless there’s some other problem going on. Unlike rattlesnakes, their bite is purely defensive. They’re slow moving animals who just want to get away, and will face you and slowly back up to cover if bothered. I tried my best to keep my distance and let this one do what he was doing and get my photos without hassling him. It was on its way somewhere and I was pleased to follow it for awhile as it did what Gila Monsters do.

Also found with the earlier-mentioned coral snake was this big gross desert bug, the Arizona Desert Centipede (Scolopedra heros arizonensis). They’re the largest centipede in the U.S., capable of reaching up to 12 inches in captivity. Always cool to see, they are one of the few things out here that just creep the hell out of me.

Arizona Desert Centipede

Scolopendra heros arizonensis

Here’s one crawling on a boot, just so you can see how big these things are and why they make me feel like a scared little girl when I’m around them.

Gross dude.

I went back to town at this point to meet up with a couple of guys from Pennsylvania who were out in Arizona to see some desert animals. Right away, we were able to photograph this young adult Sonoran Gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer affinis) enjoying the warm dirt roads of Apache Junction.

Sonoran Gophersnake

Pituophis catenifer affinis

More to come.

Young (metamorph) Canyon Treefrog

Bryan — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:51:48 +0000

Hundreds of these were swimming in shallow pools this September in Santa Cruz county, along with many more less-developed tadpoles of various species. This is the southern-most example of a Canyon Treefrog I had seen.

Canyon Treefrog

Also out in vast numbers were these big lubber grasshoppers. They were so big that I first mistaked them for tarantulas crossing the road when I saw them.

Lubber Grasshopper

… some habitat:

Santa Cruz County

Field Herping Byproducts

Bryan — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:54:03 +0000

Being out in the wildnerness looking for snakes puts a person in a lot of attractive surrounding, and every trip comes with a story. Here are a few HDR (and non HDR) pictures taken in-between snakes.

HDR Picture in S.E. Arizona

HDR Picture of Santa Cruz County

HDR Picture in Arizona

Praying Mantis

This one is (we believe) an impromptu grave. It was found just 3 or 4 miles North of the Mexican border in a very high-activity area. Someone not making the trip is something that happens from time to time. The picture does not show it well, but it’s a rectangular pile about 6 feet long and 3 feet across, and the only pile of rocks in the area.

grave

“No Herping Weekend” = FAIL

Bryan — Tue, 13 May 2008 05:45:41 +0000

Last weekend was supposed to be the weekend where I don’t go herping. My brother is in town and I planned on wasting the entire time drinking and eating horrible things. Friday night went well, but by Saturday morning at 8 a.m. I was halfway up a mountain North of Phoenix.

The place kind of sucked. There was automatic gunfire from pretty much every direction. I realize they were most likely shooting at targets placed up against hillsides, but that’s a lot of trust to place in people. The other established trails were equally occupied with the most redneckingest redneckmobiles and douchy mountain bikers with their silly little hats and “I’m so much better than you” neon spandex.

I only found two things that I felt like taking pictures of.

First was a nice tarantula crawling across a wash; the first I’ve found this year. I’ve since seen two more, and will see hundreds more by years end. I wish I knew how to differentiate species.

Tarantula

The next thing was this Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister) that I was able to sneak up to within a foot or two of before he woke up and bolted.

Desert Spiny Lizard

I also saw a lot of Tiger Whiptails, though I didn’t stop to photograph them. I like them. They don’t seem as good as the other lizards at disappearing into the brush. Usually when I’ve disturbed one, it crashes loudly through the grass and makes no attempt to hide its location.

HDR Photo of an Arizona Bark Scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus)

Bryan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:03:13 +0000

Taken today in Yavapai Co., Arizona.

hdr-cent-sculpturatus-041208