2020 December 21

   Another interesting bunch from Colquitz River Park, December 18-20, by Ian Cooper.  Thanks to Dr Robb Bennett for confirming Ian’s spider identification.

Scotophaeus (probably blackwalli)  (Ara.:  Gnaphosidae)  Ian Cooper

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Devil’s Coach Horse Ocypus olens (Col.: Staphylinidae)  Ian Cooper

   We can’t identify them all!   If anyone has any ideas on the one below, please let us know.  My guess (Jeremy Tatum) is possibly Insecta.  Maybe even, a very slight possibility, Diptera.  In other words possibly the maggot of some species of fly.   But I could be way out.

Insecta?   Larval Diptera??   Ian Cooper

2020 December 18

   Some spiders and slugs from Ian Cooper, identified to Subfamily (it’s a huge Family – thousands of species!) by Dr Robb Bennett:

Spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Ian Cooper

Another (different) spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Ian Cooper

   And some difficult slugs.   Robert Forsyth writes:

The smaller slugs are Arion (subgenus Carinarion), as I see the characteristic, pale “pseudo-keel” of enlarged tubercles along the centre of the tail. This is the group that includes A. fasciatus, A. silvaticus, and A. circumscriptus.

The large slug is interesting. I’m not sure what it is. A very pale Ambigolimax valentianus ???

Large slug possibly Ambigolimax valentianus (Pul.: Limacidae)

Small slugs Arion (Carinarion) (Pul.: Arionidae)

Ian Cooper

2020 December 17

Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of a Ctenolepisma  firebrat from Metchosin.  This one lacks the four rows of pale spots that Libby Avis’s one of December 13 had.  That is why, writes Jeremy Tatum, I *think* Jochen’s  is Ctenolepisma longicaudatum, whilst Libby’s was L. lineatum.

Ctenolepisma longicaudatum (Thysanura: Lepismatidae)  Jochen Möhr

   And here’s a globose springtail and a slug from Colquitz River Park, photographed by Ian Cooper:

Ptenothrix sp.  (Coll:  Symphypleona – Dicyrtomidae)   Ian Cooper

Limax maximus (Limacidae)   Ian Cooper

2020 December 14

   Ian Cooper recently photographed two small beetles at Colquitz River Park, identified for us by Charlene Wood as staphylinids (rove beetles).  The first is a bit too dark to identify safely below Family level. 

Rove beetle (Col.: Staphylinidae)  Ian Cooper

   The second (below) is in the genus Stenus, which, according to a Web reference, is reputed to be the largest genus in the Kingdom Animalia, with a reputed 56,000 species.   Charlene writes:   Stenus sp. are very cool, large eyed, rove beetles adapted to live at the edge of water margins. They can propel at high speeds across the surface of water by expelling “stenusol” from the tip of their abdomen, changing the surface tension and making them pretty fantastic predators in this situation. They also have a very long extendable labrum with sticky pads for grasping prey. 

Rove beetle Stenus sp. (Col.: Staphylinidae)  Ian Cooper

   And here, from the same place, is an immature male linyphiine spider, just possibly (Dr Bennett) a species of Neriene

Possibly Neriene (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae) Ian Cooper

2020 December 13

     Jeremy Tatum writes:  My recent plea for a photograph of a genuine Silverfish Lepisma saccharinum brought an interesting response from Libby Avis in Port Alberni. 

     First, two photographs of a Silverfish Lepisma saccharinum from 2020 August 26.   Note that the Silverfish has much shorter cerci and epiproct (the things at the tail-end!) than other lepismatids.

Silverfish Lepisma saccharinum (Thysanura: Lepismatidae) Libby Avis

Silverfish Lepisma saccharinum (Thysanura: Lepismatidae) Libby Avis

   Next – Ctenolepisma, from 2012.  The genus Ctenolepisma was formerly regarded as feminine, but it has now been declared to be neuter.  Therefore, writes Jeremy Tatum,what I have been calling C. longicaudata on this site is now to be called C. longicaudatum.  However, this photograph below may be a different species, namely   C. lineatum.   Notice the four rows of pale dots.   I think (not sure) that longicaudatum may have a longer abdomen) than lineatum, and possibly longer legs, too.

 I should probably sometime  (if I can find the time) go through earlier photographs of Ctenolepisma on this site, and see if we can determine which of the two species they are.

Ctenolepisma (probably lineatum) (Thysanura: Lepismatidae) Libby Avis

   As for English names,  originally “The” Silverfish  was Lepisma saccharina (now saccharinum), and “The” Firebrat was Thermobia domestica.  Other species in the family are called variously by different authors  either adjective silverfish or adjective firebrat.

   But we haven’t finished yet.  On 2020 October 29, Rick Avis found the interesting creature below in the Avis’s yard.   A blind and colourless three-pronged bristletail in a related Family,  Nicoletiidae:

Thysanura – Nicoletiidae      Libby Avis

Thysanura – Nicoletiidae      Libby Avis

   The photograph below shows the three caudal (tail) appendages.  The middle one is called the epiproct.  The outer two are cerci. 

Thysanura – Nicoletiidae      Libby Avis

Classification:  None of the creatures shown or mentioned in this posting are classed today as insects.  They are not in the Class Insecta:

I believe it goes something like this

Phylum:     Arthropoda

  Subphylum:    Hexapoda

      Class:                  Entognatha

            Subclass:          Zygentoma

                    Order:            Thysanura

                         Families:       Lepismatidae,  Nicoletiidae

The Order Zygentoma are “Three-pronged Bristletails”.     “Jumping Bristletails” (Microcoryphia), and “Two-pronged Bristletails” (Diplura) are different Orders.

  Variations on this are to be found in the literature.  For example, some authors treat Zygentoma as an Order, and do not use the word Thysanura.