Pedes in Panama ??

[James H]

I will be getting to go to panama for the first time this summer. I was wondering if there are any Centipedes worth making a special hunting trip for? I know that there are plenty of other stuff to look for while I am down there but I want to keep my eyes open for any cool pedes.

 

[spydrhunter1]

There's a really cool black and yellow flat millipede about 4" to 5" long in Costa Rica. I'm sure they're in Panama as well. If you bring any back I'm extremely interested.

 

[James H]

Spydrhunter1--I have seen pictures of the flat millipedes from Costa Rica as well as them posted as being in Panama but I think that it would cost me more to get permits to bring them back legally then they would be worth. If there were some large scholopendrids then I might attempt the paperwork and payments for them.
By the way, what is the spider that is on you avatar? That is a beautyful spider. Is it a red widow? I am not that savy when it comes to smaller spiders.

 

[spydrhunter1]

Yep...that's a red widow (Latrodectus hesperus) sling.

 

[Steven]

as far as i know:
Scolopendra viridis viridis most Southern border of its distribution area is the Panama canal.
(not completly sure about this, but i would assume these will have darker coloration then the North-Am. viridis)

• Shelley, R. M., 2006, A chronological catalog of the New World species of Scolopendra L., 1758 (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha: Scolopendridae) Zootaxa 1253: 1–50 (2006).

 

[Arachnophilist]

it would be Latrodectus bishopi not hesperus would it not?

 

[spydrhunter1]

your right about the widow species L. bishopi, it's amazing how you brain thinks one thing and the fingers type another.

 

[AKRABUT]

Panama

My advice:Try to avoid the rain season (rain season starts from June (as far I remember) throughout October

Unfortunetly I visited Panama in the rain season and experienced
it extremly hard to collect arachnids.
When everything is wet it's full of flys and without a local guide it can be dangerous to really get into the forest. In other words: If you want to get out of the forest again you better go with somebody that know the area.

You can easly get lost or meet ''wrong'' people.
Around Panama City or Colon (think twice before you go to Colon) you''ll find often slums around the ''nature'' and that's often the hot spot for spiders and arachnids in general.


You can't move freely in those countrys as long as you are a foreigner.


Collecting arachnids in the rainforest is in our imagination very simple but when you stand in front of the forest things are different.
I spontanously see several difficulties:
1.find a place were you can freely move around without being noticed by criminals as a foreigner and one that is natural and has wild animals.

2. geeting bitten by a snake or geeting infected through insects with disease (for example dengi fever)- if something bites you, well then your really in trouble.

I am pretty sure that the forests around Panama City (I never made a tour to forest at the Canal (I think it's name is GAMBIA or something) anyway especially the one close to the Canal:

-you can't move that easy around there because they have so called nature rangers. If you go in you only do that with a guide and the guide might have a problem if you start to collect things so I guess that would be a problem for you.

Without speaking the language which is in Panama's case as we know= spanish.
But you Americans learn Spanish in school no?

I am pretty sure once you'll be there you remember my words when facing the difficulties I also had.

Anyway good luck and have a good time (Panama is great)

 

[James H]

Thanks for the advice, I am going down with one of my friends who goes down there about every four months. He has family down there that we will be staying with. We are also going out with some Smithsonian researchers while in the country. Our main goal is to find eyelash vipers but I just wanted to keep my eye out for any cool T's or pedes while I was there. My friend found a couple of nice Ts that he got some pictures of but not shots that I could fully Id. I am hoping to spot some of my favorite orchids as well as other creepy crawlers at the same time. My wish list includes: Masdevallia and Dracula orchids, Eyelash Vipers, Fer-Da-Lance, Dendrobates, and of course the king of New World pit vipers the bushmaster. I know that it’s a tall order but you never know what will happen.

 

[Lividius]

Is it legal to bring out live tarantulas from Panama? I will also be going there in a few weeks

Cheers,
Lividius