# I trip around taiwan.



## Ganoderma (Sep 6, 2007)

*Our trip around taiwan.*

we finally got around to traveling around the entire island.  was really fun.  we went right around taiwan and 2 smaller islands on the southern west and east coast.  here are a few of the animals we found.  1 has been on the top of my wish list for 4 years, and i finally found one (technically, i found half f one last year.....).  we also found a bunch of other spiders, insects, lizards etc but the photo quality was very poor....i am bad at taking night shots cause i am a shaky bastard!  i forgot my tripod 


Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri  this was at the top, #1, of my to find list.....now it is the 2 new Hynobius sp. described in the northern mountains of taiwan.











Megacrania tsudai  this was also very high up on my to find list.  i knew i could find them easily, i just had never gone to where they are found until now!  we found quite a few and took many pictures (about 300...but again my night photography SUCKS)





























a few beetles i have not looked up yet.  we found a bunch of dead ones as well so i took the deceased home.  these flew into our heads, table, cups you name it while we were eating at a BBQ.  that place had tons of various beetles flying about.







some Japalura.  i am still not positive if they are Japalura polygonata xanthostoma or Japalura swinhonis.  any thoughts?  either way the big ones have good teeth and one got my thumb and placed 5 nice cuts along the top.  but they are so cute.






















a hermit crab that was almost run over.  i am size 12 shoe for comparison.


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## beetleman (Sep 6, 2007)

:clap: wow! awesome shots of some awesome animals,thanks for sharing,and yeah a very beautiful place ofcourse


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## Gsc (Sep 6, 2007)

Wonderful photos Ganoderma...Thnak you for sharing them...looks like a fun trip.  Did you find any roach species or Macrothele spiders during your searches?

Thank you,
Graham


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## Ganoderma (Sep 7, 2007)

thanks.  it was a fun trip.  me and my wife decided we need a few days to travel before the new school year begins.  we both saw scenery we never thought would be in taiwan!

yes i found both.  i found many different species of roaches but i have little clue about roach taxonomy....so i couldn't tell you what.  and i did not photograph them.  we also found frogs, 1 salamander (i left my camera at the hotel damnit!!!!), mantids, stick bugs, some cool marine invertebrates-and fish/coral- (we went snorkeling), a bunch of skinks and TONS of japaluras.  Many beetle species, more spider species and many other insects and centipedes.  i kept one centipede cause it was so beautiful  shhhh.....

i really wish we took more pictures but my wife is already pissed that we only took 40 pics of us and 400+ of bugs and reptiles :wall:


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## Ted (Sep 7, 2007)

i just wanna cry when i see those phasmids.

beautiful..:worship:


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## Ganoderma (Sep 7, 2007)

haha i feel you.  i have waited 2 years to go to that place to photograph them...its only a 3-4 hour drive and a ferry too....but thats a long trip in this country


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## M.F.Bagaturov (Sep 10, 2007)

Hi my friend!

Thanks for shaRING! Beautiful pics and animals!


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## Randolph XX() (Sep 11, 2007)

hey kyle, u know u are not suppose to disturb the PROTECTED SPECIES (Megacrania tsudai), but i guess u know that, just a reminder.
If you posted in a local Taiwanese forum, you might get ppl saying crap on you 
but by law, it is illegal even to grab them on leaf...


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## Ganoderma (Sep 12, 2007)

i knew they are protected, i was not aware they are not allowed to be disturbed as such.  thanks for the heads up   i got enough photos to make me happy for years, so i will not be touching them ever again


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## Randolph XX() (Sep 12, 2007)

well, as long as the park rangers didn't see you poking around with the big stick bugs, i don't think anyone would report to any authority due to lack of any evidence
but still, wild life, especially protected ones should not be grabbed, unless you are certain that they won't get bother or affect...
i know people got busted by holding Cheirotonus macleayi formosanus. Although they are pretty common in mountains, but they are protected
few years back there were students taking photos with handful of marine invertebrates, corals, starfish off water, and they got mouthed big time, then the school expelled them...


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## Ganoderma (Sep 13, 2007)

yikes good to know.  we went out with those tour groups that take you around the island, i'm sure you know the ones.  in the day they said they are very hard to find, but we talked them into helping us find one (very easy at night).

we saw a bunch of squashed stuff on the road as well   such as the hermit crabs above.  even if protected, i dont feel bad about moving them to the side of the road.  the one above was sitting right in the middle.


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## Arachnotized (Sep 13, 2007)

Great shots! I especially like the hermit crab :worship: ..he would have been in my suitcase on the way home


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## Ganoderma (Sep 13, 2007)

well, you can buy much more common legal hermit crabs at the pet store...so maybe not?

this place is neat in that they actually built the road above the ground and kind of hid the fact to give ocean critters safe passage without being crushed.


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## Banshee05 (Sep 18, 2007)

post more of this beautiful species from your island  specially more snakes and scorpions  

:clap:


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## Ganoderma (Sep 27, 2007)

thank you   i wish i could but i have found very few snakes   there are not many scorpions here at all!  and i have certainly not found any myself   i will post pics once i do find some, but dont hold your breathe...


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