# Planning Trip to Miami--Invert collecting tips?



## Aquarimax (Aug 21, 2015)

In early October, my wife has a weekend convention in Miami, Florida, right on the beach.

I'm going to accompany her, and I'll get a fair amount of free time while she is involved with the convention, plus we'll have some free time on Saturday.

I figured I would go look for inverts / herps... I've never been to Florida, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity.

I won't have a car, so I'm limited to walking distance pretty close to the beachfront hotel. I am optimistic that some interesting creatures will still be around... I lived in Hawaii for 3 years, and there were plenty of interesting inverts and herps in highly urbanized areas.

Specifically, I was hoping to find some isopods, ('Florida fast', Venezillo parvus, Cubaris marina, etc.)  and maybe some millipedes (Scarlet, Ivory, Narceus sp., etc.)

If possible, it would be great to find some Phyrnus marginemaculata as well.

I am really interested in finding just about anything. I hear there are some interesting centipedes there, and, of course, geckos, anoles, and so on.

Any tips on how to find things? What to look for, what to avoid?

Thanks!


----------



## awiec (Aug 24, 2015)

You might be able to find Nephila clavipes there which are hard to miss since they're pretty big BUT you need to check all rules for invertebrate/non-invertebrate transportation between state lines or the airplane. Some animals may be protected under state law and you could get into trouble for harassing them. Florida also has a number of venomous snakes and several species of Latrodectus so you have to tread very carefully.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Aquarimax (Nov 6, 2015)

I ended up spotting herps, fish,  and inverts of various sorts...some very interesting Ligia sp. isopods, a good number of scarlet and bumblebee millipedes, a few tree snails, a big terrestrial crab, a large spotted eagle ray, some fascinating pipefish, lots of brown anoles, and a couple of hefty iguanas.


----------

