BC canada solifugid

[mitchnast]

Just had to have one of these to show off at the BC arachnoparty this saturday, so out with the flashlight I went and hooray!

 

[ocean/blue]

These are awsome little creatures.

 

[cacoseraph]

too funny. that looks like what appears to be the most common species i find in southern california. not saying it is, by any stretch... but it does look similar. it always warms my heart to see the neat bugs that make it up to canada


did you know you guys have giant centipedes (er, technically giant (in the order Scolopendromorpha)... in reality they are 2-3" long, max) in CA? they are all along the W coast up into alaska. there are also a limited number of mygalomorphs (no tarantulas, though) that make their way into parts of southern canada

 

[Hobo]

Neat. I didn't know we had any here... Or any of the other crazy stuff you found! How big is it?

 

[Moltar]

Whut? You guys have solifugae in BC? I always thought they were partial to hot, arid climates specifically. I'm jealous, we don't have anything cool in MD.

 

[ArachnoYak]

Whut? You guys have solifugae in BC? I always thought they were partial to hot, arid climates specifically.

Believe it or not Canada is a huge place with many different climates to offer animal and plant life. There's plenty of hot and arid too. I'm guessing you've never been to the badlands of Alberta in the summer, let alone the Okanagan. It's not all igloos and icehuts up here.

 

[Moltar]

No i've never been to Canada at all, unfortunately. I realize, of course that there are all sorts of climates but I always figured that with the northerly latitudes that you didn't get much in the way of hot and dry desert. I've always assumed it was a variety of plains, deciduous forest, coastal rainforest and mountainous regions (with snowy cold stuff farther north).

 

[kripp_keeper]

We have scorpions here too.

did you know you guys have giant centipedes (er, technically giant (in the order Scolopendromorpha)... in reality they are 2-3" long, max) in CA? they are all along the W coast up into alaska. there are also a limited number of mygalomorphs (no tarantulas, though) that make their way into parts of southern canada

So far I have found 2 different centipedes around here. The "giant" ones are pretty easy to find just my in back yard, and when collecting isopods we saw at least 30 of them.


Awesome find Mitch. Where exactly did you find it?

 

[Travis K]

Just had to have one of these to show off at the BC arachnoparty this saturday, so out with the flashlight I went and hooray!

What were the conditions like and what type of area did you find it? Do you have any habitat pics?

 

[mitchnast]

Some habitat shots, Though not from the same particular location, they illustrate the hot, sunny, arid climate, and grassland-desert terrain.
We have scorpions, rattlesnakes, cacti, lizards, lotsa cool stuff.

 

[cacoseraph]

that looks like where i live, in southern California

 

[Toirtis]

Southern Alberta (right next to BC) has areas that are even more arid, barren and hot (Southern parts of both provinces regularly see 42ºC/108ºF in summer). We have rattlesnakes, cacti, scorpions, and solifugids here.

 

[kripp_keeper]

Southern Alberta (right next to BC) has areas that are even more arid, barren and hot (Southern parts of both provinces regularly see 42ºC/108ºF in summer). We have rattlesnakes, cacti, scorpions, and solifugids here.

I don't know what you consider regularly, but I don't thinks its been that here since I've been here. The issue is even if something is fine in our summer, it still get -40 in the winter. So I can see how people would be confused when they find out we have scorpions, centipedes, and soliflugids here.

 

[Moltar]

Wow, it looks like the American southwest, just a little greener.

 

[jsloan]

I don't know what you consider regularly, but I don't thinks its been that here since I've been here. The issue is even if something is fine in our summer, it still get -40 in the winter. So I can see how people would be confused when they find out we have scorpions, centipedes, and soliflugids here.

The actual temperature records for various locations in Alberta can be checked here. Temperatures in the 40's C (100's F) do occur, but they are extremes and far above the monthly average for any given location (I looked at July and August):

http://www.climate.weatheroffice.gc.ca/climate_normals/index_e.html

 

[Travis K]

Either way if you guys have them up there that means I can expect to find them in Washington State, though it is technically illegal to molest or collect any wild organism in my state

 

[cacoseraph]

Either way if you guys have them up there that means I can expect to find them in Washington State, though it is technically illegal to molest or collect any wild organism in my state

i would go to the drier E side of washington to look for solpugids


also, do you have links to the rules forbidding? i can take a peak. sometimes the language actually excludes part of whole of the animals we are interested in. for instance, california fish and game leaves terrestrial inverts out of their working definition of animal, thus none of their rules that apply to animals in general apply to the bugs we like

 

[Toirtis]

The actual temperature records for various locations in Alberta can be checked here. Temperatures in the 40's C (100's F) do occur, but they are extremes and far above the monthly average for any given location (I looked at July and August):

http://www.climate.weatheroffice.gc.ca/climate_normals/stnselect_e.html

They are extremes, but places like Coutts, Writing on Stone, Aden, Milk River regularly see mid thirties and higher on many days during the summer....bear in mind that averages are skewed thanks to a couple of low days each week. It is possible to have, for instance, a week that is 38º, 36º, 34º, 18º, 20º, 28º, 30º, and end up with a 29º average. These places do typically have several stretches of very hot days each summer, but the averages don't show that due to clusters of cool days. Also, be aware that we have a number of microclimates here...data is from government weather stations only, which are few and far between in Southern Alberta...even here in Calgary, the temperature can vary by 6º-8º from one side of the city to the other, and official data is captured only at the airport.

 

[Toirtis]

I don't know what you consider regularly, but I don't thinks its been that here since I've been here.

Ah, but where in the province are you? The difference between Calgary and Milk River, for instance, is considerable. Depending on how long you have lived here, you might be surprised at our changing climate. I have been in Alberta for just 25 years now, but when I moved here, we had colder winters, more snow, and hotter, drier summers....it should prove interesting to see what Calgary's climate looks like in another 20 years.

 

[jsloan]

Also, be aware that we have a number of microclimates here...data is from government weather stations only, which are few and far between in Southern Alberta...

Have you got any actual weather data for these microclimates?