Heyo all, recently I had the opportunity to visit Costa Rica, specifically Puntarenas Province on the Pacific Coast. I spent 12 days there, and while hunting for invertebrates was not the goal of the trip, I definitely made the most of the opportunities to explore what ecosystems and habitats I could!
Herein I present a photo journey through my trip. Coming from the hot and dry Mojave Desert, to explore a tropical rainforest, where invertebrate, plant, and fungi (and much else besides) populations are very dense and diverse, was a life-long dream realized!
Note: I will add in names as I get identifications. Find me on iNaturalist and follow me to get updated when I upload my observations from the trip (including some stuff not shown here).
Second note: all reptile/amphibian pictures are at the bottom of this post.
Wasp feeding on smashed mango in Jaco, a city on the Pacific Coast. These wasps were common at fallen fruit and in open spaces.Also in Jaco. Interestingly, ants, the usual first responders to fallen fruit, were superseded by their flying kin at these bonanzas (though that did not stop me from getting some wonderfully fiery Solenopsis bites later on). I count four species in this shot.Miros Mountain. As a millipede keeper, seeing these 3″/7.62 cm Chelodesmidae for the first time had me over the moon. These were very common amongst leaf litter, irrespective of light level. I tried to see what they were feeding on as keeping these sorts of polydesmids in captivity successfully seems highly dependent on providing the proper food, but did not have much luck.Central America also has dragons! Dragon millipedes, that is. These Paradoxosomatidae were fairly common under large stones and pieces of concrete, even in disturbed areas, and give the Asian Desmoxytes a run for their money in both color and size, being about 1.5″/3.81 cm in length.Paradoxosomatidae that I (jokingly) dub “White Dragons.” Considering the state of millipede taxonomy, and the difficulty of identifying species from photos, this may be the closest identification I get. I only saw two of these, and they were just a tad smaller than the black-red Paradoxosomatidae above. I am pretty sure they are a different species but who knows?Beetle found under a piece of concrete. It reminds me of a stockier Coniontis.These beetles would fly onto leaves, tease your camera out, and then fly off just before the shutter clicked.Firefly larva? One evening while hiking back down the mountain, I was surprised to see familiar winking lights hovering in the air…fireflies. The last time I saw fireflies was years ago in Alabama, so to see them again was a treat. They are strangely exciting creatures in the unknowns of a foreign country.Ectobiid roach! This gorgeous bugger was hanging out on this enormous leaf in broad daylight. It was fast, so presumably such a trick was not too dangerous. I only ever saw these on living plants off the ground by 4+ feet, so they are probably arboreal.More ectobiids, probably nymphs of the species above. There were a few of these on a bamboo-and-wood bridge over a little creek. Very fast and camera shy, these were difficult to photograph.Terrestrial planarian (flatworm) under a rock. Sort of a nondescript specimen, I didn’t see any of the famously colorful species known from the tropics unfortunately. I wasn’t in the jungle when it was pouring however, which is from what I understand usually when such animals come to the surface…When you’re expecting “new” and “exotic” species and run into good ol’ Peucetia sp. you can only laugh as your expectations get subverted by a familiar, but still amazing, genus, ha ha!Nephila? Female and male. These were everywhere along one trail.Jumping spiders were everywhere, some quite large, some quite small, like this specimen, which was probably not much more than 10mm.This spider, presumably some kind of orbweaver, dropped out of the trees and onto my party like some arachnid pirate with an upturned bicorne cap. It walked the plank back into the undergrowth without harm. “Avast, ye scurvy bipeds!”When you notice a hole in the wall with a mat of webbing, what do you do?I was not hopeful to lure this specimen out of its hole in broad daylight, but it was either hungry or super defensive (or both) because then bam, tarantula! Psalmopeus maybe? Leg span was maybe 4″/10.16 cm.Tarantula tarsi and setae are strangely alluring to photograph.A little spider making its home in the crook of a leaf. In the jungle, I had to learn to check leaves far more closely for what might be living on them, which is not something I have to do as much in the deserts or chaparrals of California.Ahh…
Dung beetle found on some horse scat at night. This specimen was about an inch/2.54 cm in length. The following pictures are from my phone…
Miros Mountain. Unidentified Flying Phasmid (UFP) observed at night.
This approximately 1″/2.54 cm roach was found scurrying across the trail at night.
Gazing out from the ruins of a resort that was left half-finished on the slopes of Miros Mountain.Colorful Lycosidae, of which there were many in leaf litter and under logs.Inside the darkness of the resort ruins, stranger things stalk the walls… Just look at those spinnerets!Those with me shouted “Executioner wasp!” as soon as we saw this. All I know is that a 2″/5.08 cm wasp is quite intimidating.Those who don’t know me will think I included this photo because of the bats. The correct answer is that there is some sort of arachnid to the left of the bats that is infinitely more interesting… The bats had taken over the darkest rooms of the resort ruins.One of the final species from Miros Mountain, Archimandrita! High up on the wall in one of the bat rooms, this was the best picture I could get.Switching from mountains to tidepools, these zoanthids were found in only one pool, though there were hundreds, if not well over a thousand, polyps, some quite near the surface as seen here. There was also a green species in a nearby pools, which I am kicking myself for not trying to photograph (they were in deeper water). Urchins, several species of fish, anemones, barnacles, sea slugs, and berserk amounts of Grapsus grapsus (Sally Lightfoot crabs) were also present. At times the rocks looked like they were running away, there were so many crabs. Thousands of Coenobita compressus hermit crabs ruled the wrack line of the beaches. I wonder if these are the only photos of zoas not under blue actinic lights…Back to the mountains, this time on an island. My family went on a tourist trap tour to one “Isla Tortuga” for snorkeling and the like. Jumping into the murky water was not…comfortable at first (I had two major fears as a child: arachnophobia and sharks/stingrays, the latter of which has turned into an uneasiness with the ocean), but after settling in it was a huge treat to get to see Diadema (longspine urchins) and blue sponges for the first time in the wild (kicking myself for not bringing my waterproof camera for the swim). Unfortunately, though there were a number of fish, the coral population of this part of the Pacific appears to have been almost completely wiped out. I only saw one sickly SPS specimen. But anyway! There were also a few hiking trails on the island, and under logs and rocks along the trail I found Gecarcinus lateralis, which was another bucket list species. All were more than several hundred yards from the beach, sometimes near freshwater streams, but usually far away from any consistent water source. I even found some near the island’s mountain summit, over 2000 feet above sea level! I speculate in captivity this species might not need any saltwater outside of reproduction. That said, they look so much nicer in the wild…One of the first rocks I flipped on Isla Tortuga checked another arachnid order off my bucket list. Amblypygi! Probably Phrynus, this juvenile had maybe a 3″/7.62 cm whipspan. This is a phone picture; at the time my hands were dirty from rolling logs.Gazing up the coast.At the time I did not realize there was a storm brewing, though the clouds are clearly ominous in this picture. The storm would illuminate the boat ride back to where I was staying with brilliant flashes of lightning (and soak me and my family with several inches of rain).There were several of these 3/4-1″/2-2.54 cm polydesmids under logs and rocks on the island. I also saw a small round millipede that looked vaguely like a Spirostreptidae on a dead tree branch. Unfortunately I did not get a good photo of it; in fact, while trying to manipulate the stick to get a shot of it, it fell down into the undergrowth (lesson learned).Sea arch and sea caves on the peninsula tip across from the island. What creatures lurk inside, I wonder?An adult Phrynus! Some background: after finding the juvenile at the start of the hike, concerned as the trail was ending and I wanted to see another one to get some better photos. Heading down the final slope, I prayed that I would fine at least one more amblypygid. Bending down, I flipped a rock on the side of the trail, and there is this big, gorgeous, chill Phrynus. Whatever you believe, I was thanking God!I will add a note here: bug spray, bring it. I counted 22 mosquito bites on my legs and feet after this hike (not counting lingering fire ant bites from Miros Mountain). What is odd is that this was only on Isla Tortuga; for the rest of the time in Costa Rica I did not get a single mosquito bite, though I did kill a handful of specimens that tried to bite me or family.The nice thing about the equator is that bugs just show up. Case in point, so many interesting species interrupted meals, like this little golden beetle.I pulled this Camponotus sericeiventris queen from the shoreline where it was trapped by the water tension of the wet sand. Approaching an inch/2.54 cm long, iridescent green, fast, and with massive jaws, I will admit it set me on edge. The eyes were reminiscent of a shark to me. After a helter-skelter photoshoot it was removed to a safer location. Identified by ponerinecat.In the backyard of the building I was staying in, Atta daily went to town on the clover growing in the lawn. I was so stoked to see these famous ants go about their work, but I didn’t realize they used clover for their farming. These were easily the most common ants I saw over the entire trip.This Camponotus sp. that was near the Atta was not having a good time, missing an antenna and looking poisoned. Identified by ponerinecat.I counted five or six ant species in the backyard alone, including this photogenic little Camponotus sp. Identified by ponerinecat.This large mosquito was waving its rear legs (the one with the white tips) in circles slowly.There were crabs under nearly every piece of cover around the building. Unfortunately, due to their speed the only specimens I could photograph were the injured ones, such as this specimen that looked like it had been stepped on or poisoned.These orbweavers were all over the backyard, and posed me a real photography challenge to say the least.This jumping spider was being abducted by aliens, hence the green, hypnotic eyes.
An Archimandrita adult that appeared at breakfast one morning. Not an unpleasant interruption…at least, not for me.
One of the few slugs I saw on the trip, though this one looks oddly similar to some European Limacus I’ve seen. Invasive?
A mass of Eciton sp., Army Ants, thankfully not in the backyard where I was staying. I missed an opportunity to photograph a huge, bright yellow major, gah! Identified by ponerinecat.
Off the beaten track of Costa Rica tours there is this place called Rainmaker Conservation Park, a private wildlife refuge that has hiking trails, swimming holes, and suspension bridges galore. Mercifully, it is one of the least touristy tourist places you can go. I took over 500 photos in a few hours here.
One of the first insects at Rainmaker, an assassin bug hanging out on a leaf.I was intrigued by these burrows I kept seeing along the trail, and tried to lure whatever was inside out. Soon these grinning faces appeared.I found this huge, dead drone (Atta?) on a suspension bridge. From all the queens and drones I saw, it must have been nuptial flight time for a lot of species.Remember that Camponotus sericeiventris queen I found on the shore? I found workers alongside four more queens. These massive ants were not only fast but aggressive too. Far be it from me to touch the suspension bridges with anything other than my feet! Identified by ponerinecat.Psuedomyrmex! I have searched forthese for a while now in California, and whaddya know, they aren’t that hard to find at Rainmaker. I found at least one colony inside a fence post, and then several workers running along this root avoiding larger ants of another species. Identified by ponerinecat.These Camponotus sp. kept the pseudomyrmecines on their toes. Identified by ponerinecat.Pseudomyrmex queen! Identified by ponerinecat.Only after looking at this photo upon my return home did I realize this ant has eight legs, which would explain a lot.Another beetle species that liked to tease out the camera then fly away just before you get a good shot.Tortoise beetle. It was incredible to see how many creatures lived on plant leaves.…or died on plant leaves.…or were already dead on plant leaves. This well-camoflauged/armored larva (caterpillar? Beetle larva?) appeared quite dead on this leaf. There is a much higher density of life in the jungle, but by the same token that means there is a much higher mortality rate I suppose.A freshwater crab found under a stone near a stream. It was maybe 1.5″/3.71 cm across.I only saw three isopod species over the entire trip, this being one found under a rotting piece of wood. I am unsure if this is an adult or a mancae.This isopod was found on the underside of a living, Selaginella-covered leaf. The arboreal isopods I’m familiar with are quite spiky, but this cryptic species seems to rely on camouflage and speed.One of three katydids I saw (I heard plenty more).The final katydid I saw on the trip. It was quite interesting as I was looking at a hemipteran, and then happened to glance at a leaf and there this katydid was. Their crypsis is impressive.Stability amidst chaos. This overgrown log is also a great example of the boggling plant diversity of the jungle. If I had been paying closer attention to the number of plant species I saw it very well might have been close to or more than the number of invertebrates. Seeing vigorous plant specimens in their natural habitat also makes keeping them in terrariums lose its luster.Tree snails were quite common pretty much everywhere in the jungle, seeming to especially favor still-living leaves that were overgrown with mosses or clubmosses.Glow worm lines under a rock overhang?One of many diverse planthoppers.Nyssodesmus? These 3″/7.62 cm millipedes were common on rotting wood.Another species of large polydesmid that were active during the day.A roach nymph of some kind found on a fence. It was such a light green that the natural light and then my flash kept washing out the shot. Fast too, it would not stay still.Another spotted jumper like the one found at Miros Mountain.This massive spider was in a bromeliad about five feet below a suspension bridge. Phoneutria?This spider guarded its wooden post with careful vigilance as I departed Rainmaker in a rainstorm…At Ballena National Marine Park, the humidity and sand made handling the camera treacherous as I rolled logs and rocks. However, when leaving the park my hands had dried enough to snap some long distance photographs of Cardiosoma crassum. A few other tourists wanted to know what I was photographing; they were unimpressed. Identified by orchidloveXTM.A hemipteran feeding on flower-juices. A green shield hemipteran.Another jumping spider. I saw five or six different species of salticids alone over the course of the trip.The colors on this hemipteran were jaw-dropping. I believe it was freshly molted.Towards the end of the trip I was looking, not without some franticness, for a final new place to visit. While out for a drive I spotted a turnout. A river was flowing nearby, and a little footpath went down into a bit of jungle before dying in the shrubbery. It revealed another interesting species of chelodesmid, and a lot of them at that.I count five millipedes in the photo. The plants with the thin leaves are all touch-me-nots (Mimosa pudica). Touching one in a store is cool; waving your foot over a whole clump of them and watching the plants virtually disappear in front of your eyes is fantastic.Fishing spider near a river. These were common on the rocks, ostensibly feeding on flying insects and the like attracted by the water. They did not move unless disturbed.A little ways on from the river turnout I stopped at an area that had been cleared, probably for development, but at that time still sat vacant. Blister beetles(?) like this one were common aerial visitors.Under many chainsawed logs that still sat in the field were more “dragon” Paradoxosomatidae, both adults and the whiteish juveniles.Also under some of the logs were these roaches, which were always found singly.A snail that wasn’t in a tree, surprisingly. After seeing pictures of Megalobumiulus in the Ecuadorian Amazon, my expectations for tropical snails envisioned large specimens everywhere. Reality, of course, tends to be smaller: this specimen was less than an inch/2.54 cm long.Opportunistic shrubs had already started to fill in the field, and on these a variety of creatures could be found. I saw several of these gorgeous planthoppers but only managed to photograph one.Another hopper, this time of grass, enjoying the view.The tall plant in the foreground is being worked on by an army of Atta. Note the leaves reduced to mere skeletons of their former leafy glory.I am not sure what these Crematogaster were doing, grouping together on the top of a leaf in broad daylight, but they seemed quite content in any case. Impressive abdomen! Identified by ponerinecat.The promised herp photos. These tiny frogs were common near the river where I saw the fishing spiders, touch-me-nots, and chelodesmids, leaping away quickly whenever one would approach.A stately green iguana. These were everywhere along the coast. They were not particularly bold despite being around people frequently.The basilisks were much less fearful of people, if not completely unwary.Dendrobates auratus! I saw two or three of these over the course of the trip, and it was always as they were jumping powerfully away, hence the poor photo. I have no idea what happened to this specimen’s back left leg; it was jumping fine, and I didn’t notice its odd look until reviewing the photo for this post.A wary gecko on a tree trunk. The camouflage on many of the lizards I saw was incredible; I remember bending closer to look at a tree root and then bam, a lizard of some kind swishing off it and away; I had been starting right at it!I was saddened not to see any snakes on the trip, but the lizards definitely did their best to make up for it. This beautiful specimen was alongside the trail, trying to avoid detection as best it could.
Thus ends the photojournal. Some lessons I learned: The amount of water present in jungles means that flipping rocks and logs with a camera in hand is a much different proposition than doing the same in drier climes. Frequently my hands swere o wet or muddy that I was unable to handle my camera without dirtying it. I had read in Piotr Naskrecki’s excellent book, The Smaller Majority, that photographing in rainforests is a unique challenge because of how difficult it is to protect cameras and other equipment from the water, and he was more than right.
A team of two – a photographer and a flipper – might be ideal for this kind of environment to get the best shots and find the most invertebrates. Or maybe I just needed to get a rag to wipe my hands on… In any case, rain is a major danger to any electrical equipment, and a waterproof bag is an absolute necessity. My phone, which is housed in a snug-fitting OtterBox case that is largely water-proof, got water trapped in between the screen and the plastic screen protector twice, which shows how pervasive moisture is in this environment.
A second lesson I learned is that checking foliage, especially the underside of leaves, is not only a good idea, it is really a necessity for finding a lot of rainforest fauna. I’ve never seen so many creatures hanging out on leaves and tree trunks, especially not coming from an area where yuccas, rabbit brush, and pines are the most common plants.
Finally, a very simple thing is to make sure to use the flash. It gets quite dark under the dense rainforest canopy, and not using it is likely to be very damaging to any photography efforts. Trying to wrangle the unwieldy pop-up flash of my Nikon CoolPix S9900 for macro shots was a frustrating experience at times, but not having to rely on inconsistent natural light made it worth it (at least with my camera). A quality diffuser would be a good idea.
Last November I made a trip to south-eastern Arizona, specifically the Dragoon and Chiricahua Mountains, for the express purpose of finding invertebrates. Granted the timing was not fantastic and I had only about two full days of time to explore, but I was expectant of finding cool invertebrates nonetheless after the success of Michael Jacobi and Co. in the fall of 2019. While I did not find any Aphonopelma or Scolopendra heroes, I did discover one other reason why Arizona continues to draw invertebrate enthusiasts from around the world: the scorpions.
To be clear Arizona does not possess the incredible Kovarikia or Cataliniae my home state of California has, and so therefore one can only be so impressed (;D). But I will say that finding scorpions in Arizona in fall/winter is a lot easier to do than in California; all told I found 11 specimens in roughly two days of haphazard searching spread across 4 locales of 5 species. Comparing that to the fact that I have only ever seen 2-3 Superstionia donensis, Paravaejovis puritanus and confusum, and Smeringurus vachoni in California in the fall/winter after several years of searching, that is pretty good. Anyway, one of these species I found in Arizona was Vaejovis electrum from Mt. Graham in the Pinaleño Mountains, a very unique vaejovid species that was only described in 2011. It lives under rocks in the forests at higher elevations (8000-9000+ feet) along the mountain side. My adventure in finding them was relatively typical; I arrived near the type locality and started flipping rocks, ha ha. They are decently common, as within the space of an hour I found five specimens, all within a relatively small area, though I only managed to catch four, the first escaping as I tried to photograph it in-situ. This species seemed to favor rocks (themselves often covered in lichens) that were set fairly deep into the ground near the roots of trees, though this could just be a sampling bias as for some reason most of the rocks were near the pine trees that dominate the forests at this altitude on Mt. Graham (or vice versa). It was interesting to note that this species does not seem to be communal, as specimens were only ever found individually, unlike, say, Vaejovis carolinianus which is often found in loose aggregations under the same log or board. I did only seem to find adults or large juveniles, which could have been due to the time of year, as I imagine in the wild this species does not breed like it would in the spring or summer when food is plentiful, though this is just speculation on my part.
Some of the rocks I found a specimen under, alongside my Concealed Carry Catch-Cup from Tarantula Canada.
I was disappointed to learn that “electrum” did not refer to the electric-appearance of this species, ha ha, rather meaning “amber” in Latin and referring to their amber coloration. I personally don’t really see much amber in my specimens, but it is apparently quite a variable species in terms of coloration, and on top of this I am red-green color deficient (partially color blind), which doesn’t help with seeing the subtle hues that so often comprise amber.
Anyway, after returning home with my prize I rehoused the specimens into 5.5 ounce deli cups on slightly-moist peat with some bark and oak leaves to hide under, essentially mirroring the habitat I found them in as much as I could (I did not have flat stones small enough for them, hence the bark). Unfortunately one of the smallest specimens died soon after this for reasons I am not fully sure of, leaving me with three scorpions. These seem pretty forgiving in terms of husbandry all the same, handling both dry and moist conditions well.
I don’t believe in collecting animals as trophies, and I collected these in the hopes of breeding them; three is not great for a breeding project, but there is still hope!
…At least, there was hope until I learned that the most reliable way to sex this species is through various measurements of the body (such as the width of the chelae), measured in millimeters, as noted in the original description of this species by Garret B. Hughes. Now, V. electrum is a very small, highly skittish species, so much so that even getting a pectinal tooth count, which is helpful for sexing other species, was going to be hard, so I highly doubt, even if I had such tiny calipers to take the necessary measurements on my specimens, I would be able to sex them (alive anyway). The count of the pectinal teeth can be helpful for V. electrum, as males have a mode count of 12 and females a mode count of 13, but that is a scarce difference with plenty of room for overlap and observer miscount (1).
I count 12 teeth for this specimen, meaning this could be a male.
Thus, I am not totally sure how to proceed. I do think I have three adult specimens, and I will try to count the pectines to at least get an idea of what the sex ratio might be, but otherwise it may come down to simply putting specimens together and keeping my tongs and tongue depressor handy. In the meantime I definitely plan on upgrading the three specimen’s enclosures to something bigger and more suited to an ecoscape similar to where I found them, and perhaps I will reach out to Richard F. Ayrey, who studied this species’s reproduction in his 2013 paper “Reproduction and Birth in the “Vorhiesi” Group of the Genus Vaejovis (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae). Part I. Clutch Size”, to see how he went about sexing the specimens he used for his study (2).
Anyway, it’s been an interesting experience finding this species in the wild, studying them in captivity, and learning about them further through the published literature. I definitely hope that a breeding project is still possible for my trio of specimens, and if so their good-sized clutch sizes definitely makes the further dissemination of this species to breeders a strong possibility (2). It seems, here in the USA anyway, that enthusiasts and breeders so often miss out on our own wonderful scorpion diversity amidst an emphasis on larger, perhaps more charismatic, exotic buthid species…even though electrum is way cooler of a name then bicolor.
Why not have both?
Till next time,
Arthroverts
References:
1. Hughes, G. B. (2011). Morphological analysis of montane scorpions of the genus Vaejovis (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae) in Arizona with revised diagnoses and description of a new species. The Journal of Arachnology, 39(3), 420–438. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23070789
(open-access here, from pages 420-438: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53134399#page/57/mode/1up)
2. Ayrey, Richard. (2013). Reproduction and birth in the “vorhiesi” group of the genus Vaejovis (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae). Part I. Clutch size. Euscorpius. Euscorpius, 166:1-17. 10.18590/euscorpius.2013.vol2013.iss166.1.
Back in 2019-2020 a small number of trapdoor spiders were imported from Madagascar into the USA and sold under the name Thyropoeus mirandus. They were enormous for trapdoor spiders, easily matching the largest American trapdoor spider species (Bothriocyrtum californicum) and dwarfing the majority of other species kept in captivity, including Liphistius. They by and large sold pretty quickly, and within a few months none were to be found available anywhere, except for perhaps, of course, Madagascar itself.
Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot to put it mildly, being home to such hobbyist favorites as Zoosphaerium, Aphistogoniulus, Monocentropus lambertoni, and Calmanesia, and therefore it should come as no surprise that such an interesting trapdoor spider would come from the island. What is surprising is to what degree Madagascar is suffering both in terms of its human population and its ecosystem, with over 2 million people below the poverty line and little hope for self-improvement with 9 out of 10 children being illiterate according to the World Bank (1). These terrible statistics point to a likewise depressing point; in the Malagasy Central Highlands, 60% of wetlands and 30% of riparian forest has been lost in the face of subsistence farming and slash-and-burn agricultural practices; this is just the highlands, and this info is quite old already, being from 2013 (2). The situation is grim across Madagascar for both the wellbeing of the people and the wildlife that call it homes, and though things like lemurs and chameleons get a lot of conservation attention, other, less-noticeable species, are pushed to the edge; multiple species of Aphistogoniulus are now restricted to small patches of rapidly-disappearing forests (3).
If Aphistogoniulus and other such invertebrate species are largely missed in the broader conservation picture (most poignantly by hobbyists so often unfortunately) despite being quite “obvious” in terms of color and size, the situation is quite possibly worse for cryptic species…such as trapdoor spiders like Migidae sp.
Now you may be thinking, “Arthroverts, what’s the deal with Migidae? Sure it’s sad what’s happening in Madagascar but what’s the deal?” Well, the answer to that is I have one.
To be clear, I won’t buy these, or most any trapdoor spider, now, and the reason for this is that back in 2021 I was very fortunate to be able to attend the February meeting of the Invertebrate Club of Southern California, at which Dr. Jason E. Bond of UC Davis (of Cryptocteniza kawtak fame) came and dialogued with club members about the conservation and cultivation of various trapdoor spiders. One of the families that came up was Migidae, and Dr. Bond expressed his deep concern over the practice of collecting and selling such spiders given the situation in Madagascar. His words have stuck with me, and in the time since I have decided not to acquire any trapdoor spiders from Madagascar if it meant buying them. By that time it was largely a moot point as the stock of such spiders had dried up, but soon after that meeting with Dr. Bond a friend of mine put his specimen up for sale or trade, and incredibly, I was able to trade for his specimen on very favorable terms. Since my friend had purchased it from an importer and was now looking to part with it, my trading for it would not incentivize further wild collection of this species (as far as I am aware), hence why I felt it was ethical for me to acquire it.
Anyway, of course, since we are dealing with a trapdoor spider, I only saw it once in the entire time I had it, and that was an unclear view through plastic and webbing. Crickets disappeared irregularly, and while it sometimes appeared as if new webbing or burrowing had taken place, I couldn’t help but wondering if I was just seeing what I wanted to and not something that was actually there (c’est la vie for keepers of such mygalomorphs). It remained unseen for close to a year.
At least, up until a few days ago.
My first full view of Migidae sp. “Madagascar”!
In repeated discussions with my friend RezonantVoid (whom I interviewed a little while back), and through personal observations in the field, I have come less and less to appreciate coco coir as substrate for non-tarantula mygalomorphs (and tarantulas to to an extent). The Migidae specimen was housed on coco coir, about 12″ of it with the burrow to prove it, and so I let it be for, gosh, come to think of it, it’s been almost a year now. However, my itch has always been to rehouse it onto something with more clay content for better burrow building, and having not seen the specimen in the entire period since I got it, I was beginning to wonder if it was still alive; fungus had also started to spread throughout the substrate, necessitating a change sooner rather than later. I carefully dumped the whole block of substrate held together by hyphae into another bin, and slowly started to dismantle it with my tongs. Before long I found tube of the main burrow, and saw a very suspicious wiggling in it…
Ta-da! I was immensely happy to see that that wiggling was of a healthy, if a little thin, trapdoor spider.
On a taxonomic side note, these spiders were sold as Thyropoeus mirandus, though various other enthusiasts and breeders have taken issue with this identification, some suggesting that they are idiopids, others another genus in the Migidae, and still others, including Dr. Bond, have just left the identification at Migidae sp. I have tried to look farther into identifying this particular specimen myself, with the most recent literature being an article from 2001 entitled “A Monograph of the Migid Trap Doors of Madagascar and Review of the World Genera (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Migidae)”, by Charles E. Griswold and Joel Ledford, which was published in Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences (4). I am still continuing to work through this article and comparing the diagrams to my specimen, and will update on what, if anything, I find out. Insofar my specimen seems to match Thyropoeus in terms of external characteristics (how I wish I had gotten better pictures of leg III now!), and considering Tom Patterson found the original ID of T. mirandus accurate that is probably what it is, but until confirmation I follow the friend I got this specimen from and Dr. Bond and leave the identification at Migidae. If anyone has insight on this please be sure to comment or contact me directly.
This specimen’s fangs make it look much larger than it actually is, and while it is not particularly fast, such powerful-looking jaws do make me nervous of ever getting my finger too close, ha ha. I was, and am, absolutely floored to have this specimen. It is ostensibly a female that is probably over five years in age (at least two years in captivity now, I estimate at least three in the wild to grow to this size); considering the slow growth of most trapdoors it is quite possibly closer to a decade old, which would be longer than I’ve been keeping invertebrates seriously.
The realization of dealing with something so old has made me completely reorientate how I view keeping trapdoors and threatened mygalomorphs in general, and I strongly believe, after talking with Dr. Bond, seeing the danger to Madagascan wildlife, and finding trapdoors here in my home state of California, that such spiders should not be kept in captivity for any purpose other than life history studies or captive breeding. That’s a pretty narrow view I know, but I can’t help but feel that the removal of such amazing creatures from their native habitats, which, as far as we can be aware, was not because it was about to be destroyed given most wholesale collectors situations (in which case collecting would be justified), for the sole purpose of sitting in a jar of dirt on the shelf of someone’s collection as a trophy pet is hardly a responsible “use” of the creatures we are charged to protect. And I know I’m generalizing, and I am indicting myself in saying this because for many years I did the same thing, but I feel it is a necessary indictment of a hobby that has, by and large, ignored the wider picture in a search for the next cool species, and in doing so incentivized bad collecting methodologies and further exacerbated conservation crises the world over. There are bright spots; Simandoa conserfariam, the Mexican tarantula breeding project headed up by Dr. Jorge Mendoza, Cubaris sp. “Blonde Ducky”. But crucially, all of these projects have been reactive; reactive to the fact that the bauxite mine that destroyed the habitat of S. conserfariam was going in, and reactive to the rampant overcollection of Brachypelma and Tlitocatl to support the demand coming from us enthusiasts; in the case of C. sp. “Blonde Ducky” I think it was largely luck that specimens were collected prior to the destruction of their cave by another mine (from what I understand).
Being reactive means we are beaten to the punch; we lose our opportunity to do good for goodness’s sake because, for whatever reason, we are distracted elsewhere, and there are only so many Jorge Mendoza’s and Piotr Nasckrecki’s who can be in the right place at the right time to pull things back from the edge. I want to call us all to step into being proactive, and that means making sure we don’t incentivize the collection of threatened species in the wild, or irresponsible collection with regards to any species anywhere really. And when species like Migidae sp. “Madagascar” come in, we work together to make sure that they aren’t lost in a whirlpool of trophy-pet keeping and indiscriminate collection. Again, in this regard I am not someone to be praised; I had a general idea of what I just shared above, but did not attempt to seriously try and form a team to try and breed them, if that were even possible (the majority of the imported specimens are mature females I believe due to their size). And it is also possible that there is some enthusiast somewhere already doing yeoman’s work in trying to breed these and document their life history that I don’t know about. But regardless of either, the point remains, and for Madagascar’s sake, and truly the sake of ecosystems the world over, we need to get our act together and change this “hobby” from merely being a reactive one that in many ways supports bad ecological practices into a force for good. The world is bigger than our enclosures, and we need to start seeing it that way.
What does this mean for my specimen? I hope to keep it until it dies of old age, and then I will preserve it for further analysis. If before then I can find other people with this species, aside from being over the moon, I will most happily see if a breeding project can be undertaken. But aside from these, I hope it will help us visualize that we can both do great and terrible things for the natural world, and it’s about time we as invertebrate enthusiasts and breeders started to do more good, both for Madagascar’s sake and the rest of the world.
Thanks,
Arthroverts
Referenced Material:
(2020). “The World Bank in Madagascar”. The World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/madagascar/overview#1
Kull, C.A. (2013). “Air photo evidence of historical land cover change in the highlands: Wetlands and grasslands give way to crops and woodlots”. Madagascar Conservation & Development. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272471652_Air_photo_evidence_of_historical_land_cover_change_in_the_highlands_Wetlands_and_grasslands_give_way_to_crops_and_woodlots
Wesener T., Enghoff H., Hoffman R.L., Wägele J.W., Sierwald P. (2009). “Revision of the endemic giant fire millipedes of Madagascar, genus Aphistogoniulus (Diplopoda: Spirobolida: Pachybolidae)”. International Journal of Myriapodology. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/31be/c45f9a2b4e7285e3568c4b0ded7e187ca387.pdf
Griswold C.E., Ledford J. (2001). “A Monograph of the Migid Trap Doors of Madagascar and Review of the World Genera (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Migidae)”, Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences. https://wsc.nmbe.ch/refincluded/9105
NOTE: Currently not selling any velvet worms. Please see the below comments for a link to a seller who might have some available.
Hello all, I have some very exciting news! I have been able to bring a brand new invertebrate into the hands of private US breeders for the very first time; Epiperipatus barbadensis, or the Barbados Brown Velvet Worm! I am super stoked to have received these. If you are wondering how in the world these made it to the US, let me tell the story…
Back in October of 2018, I was perusing Arachnoboards like I often do, and I came across this awesome thread started by Mackenzie Harrison (or @AbraxasComplex as he is known) on his velvet worm vivarium. I was immediately blown away by the incredible vivarium, but even more so by the creatures that were living inside it; Epiperipatus barbadensis, or Barbados Brown Velvet Worms!
Prior to seeing this thread, I had only known velvet worms existed from a very short bit in which they appeared in a graphic novel (about insects, coincidentally), but I never researched them further. However, as soon as I saw these on Arachnoboards I made sure to claim a spot on the not-yet-formed waiting list for these with a few other enthusiasts. One slight problem however: Mackenzie was in Canada. Seeing this, me and two other enthusiasts, M.S AKA @schmiggle (M.S are his initials, as per his request) and Carter AKA @Cresto on Arachnoboards created an email thread between us and started researching the legality of these incredible creatures. Not long after we we’re delighted to find that Epiperipatus barbadensis is completely legal to import and keep in the US! The USDA, USFWS, and APHIS had no problem with these, so we started talking with Mackenzie about importing and costs. Carter and M.S did most of the footwork in garnering information, and I am incredibly grateful for their support and help. Unfortunately, the original price for velvet worms was much higher than we had been let on to believe, so in February-March of 2019 things kind of dropped off.
However, in April I came across a few more people wondering about the legality of keeping/importing velvet worms in(to) the U.S. I talked with Carter and M.S about sending them the info we had already found. They agreed, and a few months later I started gathering email addresses from those interested in joining the Velvet Worm Club of the USA, which was the semi-official name I gave to the loose assemblage of enthusiasts interested in velvet worms. I started an email thread between all of us, as well as Mackenzie, and soon after we started having some more serious conversations about pricing and importing.
Before this however, in July, I had been talking with Mackenzie about possibly importing some other invertebrates with another friend. That fell through, but in the process I discovered the price on the Epiperipatus barbadensis had dropped considerably. Ecstatic, I sent a message to Carter and M.S about the price drop, and that was when (in August) we started bringing other velvet worm lovers into the club and started working on the finer details of importing.
The only catch was that the easiest way to get the velvet worms from Canada legally was to go through a broker. We didn’t know much about brokers, but Mackenzie suggested we use Reptile Express, which not only takes care of the legal issues at the border, but also has an agreement with FedEx to overnight shipments of live reptiles/invertebrates through them. Mackenzie even offered to be our intermediary between Reptile Express and us since he had worked with them before on an export to Europe, which made our lives much easier. Thanks Mackenzie!
Now, with 8 of us spread across the US in on the import, shipping wasn’t exactly going to be cheap to send the velvet worms to each person individually, at least not with Reptile Express. While brainstorming, we discussed sending the velvet worms to maybe one or two trusted people within the club, who would then ship out to each person via overnight shipping; this would help keep our import costs down. After some more discussion, we decided this would be the best option. However, with 8 people spread so wide across the US, we decided on two shippers, one for the West Coast and another for the East Coast. I was the only person on the West Coast with shipping experience who was available at the time, so I volunteered to have part of the import delivered to me and then send it on to 3 other people.
With the shipping details taken care of and all our payments in, the date the package was to be sent to Reptile Express was set for September 25th. It would then be flown into the US, inspected, rerouted, and delivered to the two intermediary shippers on the 26th. The other shipper and I then shipped out the majority of packages via overnight mail on the 27th, except where bad weather required the packages to be held for a few days. By the 30th, everything had been delivered. All the while the velvet worms did fantastically! They ship very well, and to my knowledge there were no losses. I took great care, with much help from my brother, who is amazing at packing things, to ship them out with the utmost care however. Thank God for styrofoam insulation!
I received my 3 baby velvet worms about 1″ long and got them into their cage on the 26th, because I was one of the intermediate shippers and therefore received them early. Insofar they seem to have done very well, but they are exceedingly secretive; I have only seen them twice since I’ve received them! Food continues to disappear, however, so I’m hoping they are feeding and growing. With good care and a lot of prayer, I will hopefully have a colony of these established in a few years, and then be able to continue to spread these amazing creatures amongst enthusiasts in the US invertebrate hobby. Pictures below!
Two babies when I was unpacking them.Epiperipatus barbadensis are capable of greatly expanding or shrinking their bodies, similar to millipedes; the above photo shows what they look like when they shrink down; this photo shows how they look when they expand.And here is the enclosure; a 10″ x 10″ x 5″ Sistema enclosure with a 1 1/2″ hole covered in microscreen in the lid. Despite this, a kind of fly similar to scuttle flies has still managed to get in. *sigh*
The substrate is made up of ABG soil with a New Zealand Sphagnum moss covering portions of the substrate. Two medium pieces of cork bark provide hides. I mist regularly in the evening to keep the humidity up and stimulate evening activity, as Epiperipatus barbadensis seems to be more active in the evening after it rains. I keep the temperature up by placing the enclosure next to my Rosy Boa cage which has a heat mat under it, as these fascinating creatures prefer a temperature in between 72 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Lastly, I feed small crickets every two weeks, as well as medium Porcellionides pruinosus “Powder Blue” isopods in between the cricket meals.
And those are my new velvet worms! If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and ask. I have also attached Mackenzie’s care sheet for this species for those who would like to know more.
And last but certainly not least, I want to give a huge shoutout to those who helped make this happen; thank you to Carter and M.S for getting the ball rolling in the early days of our velvet worm fascination; thank you to Mackenzie for being so incredibly helpful all the way through the process (he smoothed out all the problems for us and made sure each velvet worm arrived safely even though it was an international operation!); thank you to those who already had this species and contributed to the pool of husbandry knowledge; and thank you to each and everyone who helped bring these into the US by ordering some; I couldn’t have done this without you guys!
Yes, yes, I know, I didn’t post for July. That month was crazy! Anyway, here is the post that was meant for July. Another for August coming soon(ish)!
Hello invertebrate enthusiasts! In a previous post I talked about how I had gotten my Blaberus giganteus, and mentioned that I would talk a little bit more about that in the next post. Well, that post has arrived!
Back in September/October of 2018, I was perusing through Arachnoboards, and I came across some posts from an old invertebrate club, SCABIES (SCABIES: Southern California Arachnid, Bug, Invertebrate, Entomological Society). As I live in Southern California, I immediately looked into joining the club. However, after some more research, I discovered the club went defunct back around 2010. I was disappointed, but then realized there was still quite a few SoCal invertebrate enthusiasts on Arachnoboards and Roach Forum. After some thought, I decided to launch a new club on the 1st of January 2019. The ICSC (Invertebrate Club of Southern California) was born!
It turns out there was a lot more than a “few” invertebrate enthusiasts in SoCal, and we held the first meeting in February! Since then, we’ve held monthly meetings where we’ve discussed a myriad of topics concerning the invertebrate hobby, gone to reptile shows together, and we are currently gearing up for our second club collecting trip. We also have scored some sweet trades and deals between members! The diversity of interests amongst members is also boggling; everything from whipspiders to tarantulas, scorpions to isopods, true spiders to millipedes, centipedes to primitive spiders, slugs and snails to true bugs, roaches to aquatic invertebrates. And still the list goes on!
Anyway, we are now successfully past the 6 month mark, and looking forward to a bright future! I am working on our website, which I will link to when it is finished. If you are interested in joining, please leave a comment with your email address and I will get back to you as soon as I can!
I counted five or six ant species in the backyard alone, including this photogenic little Camponotus sp. Identified by ponerinecat.
