Abbott Ecology

  August 29, 2019 "Friend" escaped yesterday. He then apparently TERRIFIED my husband as he was moving things off the dining room table last night. Oops! So far we have no eggs from (I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Friend is a male) him, so tomorrow when I'm able to observe them I'll introduce Suzie to Friend. He needs a proper name, though.  Update from later Aug 29th: BREAKING NEWS: We have nymphs! Two of the egg sacs are translucent, with a corresponding two nymphs. One egg is brown (likely dead) and the other one has remained green,  so I suspect that we will have a third nymph soon. They're huge in comparison to their eggs. The eggs are 3mm wide, and the length of the nymph's body is about 5mm. 

 This is getting out of hand…   Suzie has a friend now. I'll observe to see if it lays eggs. I cannot find information on how to tell the sex of a leaf footed bug, so if it doesn't lay eggs within a few days I'll introduce them and hope that they're nice to each other. Once I saved two crayfish from HEB and they fought to the death, so that's a very real possibility. I have hope for a better outcome and interesting observations (like fertilized eggs!) once they're together, assuming it's a male.

  This is my buddy Suzie and her eggs. There's not any information online about keeping a leaf footed bug alive. It's more about how to kill them. We will see how this goes. So far she's had a tomato and hasn't been interested in banana yet. I made her a habitat out of damp shredded paper and a cloth secured with a rubber band for air.

  Ok. Pinning is not my thing. I tried all summer and I officially hate it. I've exploded two more completely pinned spiders today trying to transfer them to my shadow box and I'm over it. It's catch or observe from here on out. No more losing legs or weird drying. No more primal screaming when I bend a leg the wrong way or my hand twitches and I rip off an antennae. No more guilt as the animal dies for me, or wondering if the spider in my jar might have eaten some of these dang flies. ' I found a leaf bug that I already wasn't sure about killing yet, mainly because it takes SO STINKING LONG TO PIN AND I HATE IT, but also because she laid eggs in the jar. I gave her a tomato and she's been sucking on it.  Leaf-footed bug I pinned the last two bugs that I had to and threw out the others (sorry tiny spider and other spider… I hate all your legs) and it turned out okay. I pinned a June bug and a little spindly flying guy from my Godson.  Common June Bug Cockroach E...

  GRRRRRRRRRR This is the SECOND American House Spider that I have ruined. It was totally dry and I dropped the foam board with my spider on it maybe ¼ of an inch. I’m not above supergluing this dude back together, so help me! I have a brown widow that dried janky despite all my best efforts, a 7-legged American House Spider and I just pinned my SECOND green grasshopper. If this grasshopper doesn’t make it I’m going to defenestrate the whole project!  No bug entries for today, this is journal entry functions to say that science isn’t perfect. It’s an iterative process that demands careful and patient attention. Sometimes as scientists it is difficult to channel the attention appropriately. In my case screaming rather than continuing to explore. The more that I practice the better I will get, I just need to make it through a few more screaming fits and superglue the broken pieces back together - possibly literally? No shame.  Also, I saw a trapdoor spider and decided not t...

  I caught some bugs last week (7/5) and tried to pin them today. It was UNSUCCESSFUL! My grasshopper was too stiff and the leg broke off. My garden spider was too squishy and its abdomen just fell off. I am still sad. However, the brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus) that was on my porch last night pinned well. I pinned at every joint so that she'll be beautiful. There's an egg sack of hers behind our mailbox. Since brown widows ferociously hunt black widows (their cousins) we have elected to leave those babies alone. From now on I'll pin my bugs within a day or two of capturing them. My dried bugs are ready to submit for an entry, so without further ado…  Cicada  Latitude: 29°31'08.8"N Longitude: 98°29'46.5"W Date Caught: 7/5/19 Scientific Name: Tibicen auletes Details: 7cm long yellowish brown Great Water Scavenger Beetle Latitude: 29°31'08.8"N Longitude: 98°29'46.5"W Date Caught: 7/5/19 Scientific Name: Hydrophilus triangularis De...

  I'm stumped. I cannot identify this one spider. Caught in a Central Texas garage. Aggressive. Approximately 6.0 mm in length. Dark brown, except for a black abdomen. The abdomen has a dark brown single spot that is the same color as the rest of the body. It is not fuzzy. It has to small symmetrical processes on the caudal end of its abdomen. It appears to have a flattened abdomen. I mention this because on the first spider I pinned, I accidentally pinned the abdomen. It deflated and looked like this does, but I didn't pierce the abdomen while pinning this one. I wasn't able to closely observe him alive.   Update 8/27/2022: Hacklemesh Weaver, a species of Intertidal Spiders (Desidae) As I have collected specimens, pinned them, and identified them, I have figured out some things. This is a guide to how I have made my collection. This is not the only way. Experiment around, and see what works for you! Don't try to pin bugs that you found dead. They're brittle and hav...