Week 5

Date: May 6th 2013
Weather: Partly Sunny
Temperature: 70-72 Degrees 
Location: Ravenna Park
Time: 2pm ish

Well, to be honest I was not a fan of looking for bugs. It was actually more difficult than I thought it would be, it seemed like because of the fact that I was looking for them they were hiding. I did end up finding a few though but they are very common invertebrates so it wasn't exactly thrilling. 

This was a fun Beetle! I remember these Beetles from when I was little. It is called the California Firefly (Elychinia)- This is the species. I was confused while doing more research on this species. I thought it was a beetle and when I found out that it was a "firefly" I then thought it was that BUT it ended up being a beetle. Point being: I did not realize that fireflies were not its own thing, I thought beetles and fireflies were separate species. Very weird. Anyways, I learned a few things about this little guy. He can't glow like other fireflies, he is diurnal and he likes open spaces. :) Also, I found him under a bunch of conifers!

Annnnd here is a slug...

I actually like slugs. I found her by the water. (I'm not really sure of the sexes of these creatures so I don't know why I am specifying but I'm just feeling it out for the sake of this journal and the genders are just jumping at me) I'm not up on my slug game but I believe this is a Leopard Slug (Limax maximus) This Slug does not look like the pictures of the Leopard Slugs on the internet. I identified it using my guide book so I could be mis-identifying it. In fact, I am. I think the Leopard Slugs spots are always black. Clearly this slug has brown spots. The jury is out on this slug. I will have to do some more research.

This looks like a picture of just dirt but it's not. There is an Earthworm (Lumbricina) in there! It is towards the top of the picture. Yeah, not too exciting but I got desperate. What is exciting though is how much I learned post discovery. The anatomy is interesting, I have never looked at the anatomy of an earthworm before! Here is a picture below.

SO COOL.

Side Note: I also forgot that Earthworms are Hermaphrodites. Their reproductive system is fascinating. Also. Obviously I was aware that they were good for the earth but I guess I never really bothered to find out why, so, I found out. Their poop which is called "castings" is the answer. Earthworms eat soil that has organic matter in it and because plants cannot use organic matter directly, the Earthworms castings break it down so they can digest it! 

Alright so this is turning into an I Spy session here (sorry) but there is an ant in this picture. To be more specific there is an Argentine Ant (Linepithema humble) The Argentine Ant is mostly brown (usually light) and it has an uneven thorax which makes them easy to identify. I don't have anything against ants except for the fact that I have everything against them. I've stepped on a few ant holes in my day, am I bitter? Strong yes.

This concludes my hunt. I was disappointed I did not find anything really rare or cool. On a positive note-- I learned facts about very common species that I found intriguing. The research I did literally made me want to learn more about other creepy crawlers.