2018 January 21

 

   Some unusual animals today from Scott Gilmore, who writes:  My son and I went on a walk in the forest yesterday morning (January 20th) and we found a couple of interesting things. The first was another snail species which makes 16 species in Lantzville that I have found now. I am confident it is from the genus Pristiloma, (possibly P. arcticum).  The snail is only a little over 2mm wide.  [Jeremy Tatum writes;  2 mm!  Viewers please note!]

 

  Robert Forsyth comments:  It could be P. arcticum, but more likely Pristiloma lansingi, although we can’t rule out P. crateris.

 

  Scott continues:  We also found 3 unknown larvae. They were under the bark of a fallen tree. They are very transparent with dark heads. I have no idea what they might be.

 

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I had no idea, either, to start with.  I thought maybe Kingdom Animalia.  But after a bit of searching around I now believe that these larvae are very likely larvae of a fungus gnat (Family Mycetophilidae).   The snail and gnat families are both firsts for this Invertebrate Alert site.

 

 

Tightcoil Pristiloma (probably lansingi) (Pul.:  Pristilomatidae) Scott Gilmore

 

Tightcoil Pristiloma (probably lansingi) (Pul.:  Pristilomatidae) Scott Gilmore

 

 

Tightcoil Pristiloma (probably lansingi) (Pul.:  Pristilomatidae) Scott Gilmore

Probably fungus gnat (Dip.: Mycetophilidae) Scott Gilmore

Probably fungus gnat (Dip.: Mycetophilidae) Scott Gilmore