Northern Illinois Herps and More!

[gunslinger]

My son is on spring break so I decided we'd take the day to go spider hunting. Not only did we find spiders but MUCH more!

Nerodia sipedon

My son holding a Garter Snake (dont worry he's being much more gentle then the pic may appear )

Little Snapping Turtle

Dolomedes tenebrosus spiderling

We saw many other turtles, several types of frogs, tadpoles, several species of jumping spiders, several types of web and wolf spiders, and a Pisaurina mira. We also found a LARGE Dolomedes molt in a runoff culvert. Maybe ill run into its former owner later this summer .

Also here is a pic from Saturday thought I'd attach it for the heck of it.

Proof that Northern Illinois doesn't suck ALL year (just like 9 months of it )

 

[Natemass]

is that top 1 a water snake?

 

[gunslinger]

If I'm correct its a Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon).

 

[loxoscelesfear]

radix

Northern Illinois is a great place to herp. But one species has eluded me thus far: Thamnophis radix. Do you know any good places for plains garters?

 

[gunslinger]

Today was so nice we decided to skip our lab work and hit the field, and it payed off pretty well for an unplanned jaunt.

Started the day with this Thamnophis sirtalis just feet from our car.

Not far away another just cruising.

One of our targets for the day, a tiny little Storeria dekayi.

Chorus frog.......and then the find of the day (for us)

A smooth green snake. This is the first vouchered specimen in our county since before 1980. We did manage a few decent inverts too.

More to come, as the semester ends the hunt will be on for Kirtland's Snake and Massasauga. I know its not as glorious as the Kansas Copperheads or the Wastelands but hey, its a pretty darn good day for us

BTW Loxo, I know many places very near me with plenty of radix.

 

[loxoscelesfear]

i'd gladly trade a Kirtland's for a radix. Kirtland's are gorgeous snakes, but I have only come across a couple and despite many visits back to the those sites, I haven't seen any others since. Keep posting the pics-- always enjoyable.

 

[Sheri]

Awesome green snake! They must be pretty damn rare!

I've only found one dead so far - this year, I hope to find one live.

Way to go!

 

[froggyman]

i didnt know the midwest was so diverse in herps!

 

[gunslinger]

Another beautiful day out today so me and my son went out herping and bugging as usual. Not too bad of a day, 5 beautifully banded water snakes, a neonate as well, some spiders, and pedes.

This was the best pic I got. I actually had a nice size male that I totally forgot to photograph :?

Dolomedes triton........man I can never focus when the sun is really bright out.

Finally!! Found 3 N. americanus today, first 3 I've found this far north or west!

 

[Only Exotics]

Looks like you had a better day then I did. Went out a few days ago to a couple of area's south of Chicago ( Lemont, Romeoville ) not much besides a few garters, dekay's, & a smooth green. Anyways nice pics keep them coming....

 

[gunslinger]

A few more finds..........

So my son and I went on yet another N. Illinois adventure. We found more Narceus americanus, which was great. We also got two more first time finds for N. Ill for us.

First, just a cool jumper.

Now.... the first large flat back millipede I've seen up here.

And finally, a real centipede! I know its not so great to all of you that live in the southwest but man this is a giant for me..........and I dont know what it is so any ID help would be great too.

 

[cacoseraph]

giant centipede is a Scolopocryptops species. ID to genus by 23 leg pairs. (other genera have 21)
note: lacks eyes!

let me get my IL state sheet and see if you got more than on sp for scolopo

http://www.geocities.com/blight_child/centis/states/cent_IL.html

Scolopocryptops sexspinosus DMbRS GIS
. . . Range: All!
Scolopocryptops nigridius DMbRS GIS
. . . Range: SE corner/tip bottom 30-35%


you have two. you might be able to range differentiate as one is in the SE part of the state and it sounds like you are more in the NW?

otherwise i can look in my Shelley book for the ID key between the two

p.s. cool thread man. my brothers live in IL so i am happy there are more animals out there then i was afraid of

 

[Crotalus]

Very nice photos! Thanks for sharing!
I wish we had Nerodia in this province, I love them

 

[LongDucDong]

Great finds! Have you ever tried Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve or Warrenville Grove Forest Preserve? TONS of N. americanus in there, as well as lots of snakes, including queens. Ive been wanting to get out to Kankakee and find some racers and bulls, know any good places? Also, did you hear about the dog in McHenry County that got bit the a 'sauga? Just happened about a month ago, its nice to know 'saugas are still up there.

 

[JungleGuts]

wow im loveing all these pics, where exactly are you at in northern il?

 

[Jonathan]

Hey,
Where were you at? Some rad looking snakes. Was that off of Lake Cook Rd?
Heard they have myglamorph's up there.
Thanks for sharing.
Jon

 

[JungleGuts]

seein all these pics makes me wanna go out and look for some spiders...i have a cottage on the Kankakee river and im always seeing cool spiders around...

 

[gunslinger]

The pics were taken at several different sites. I just returned from a week long trip and will post more pics as soon as I sort them all..........found many cool creatures including Kirtlands Snake, Rat Snakes, Queen Snakes, Racers, Garters, Green Snakes, Brown Snakes, Nerodia etc... and tons of cool wolf spiders, fishing spiders and more.

Massasauga still exist in a few populations around Chicago, though the largest Illinois populations are in the south.


Waterfall Glen is very nice....never been to Warrenville though.

And thanks for the pede ID Caco......