Some finds in Southern California(mostly invertebrates)

[AnthonyNeubauer]

So I've lived in Southern California for 6 years now(moved from Montana) and got into keeping and breeding herps and inverts about 4 years ago. I've been catching and looking at them since I was able to walk, but didnt get seriously into them until recently. I started with breeding leopard geckos, but was amazed by scorpions so I got into breeding them. Within a year of getting my first gecko, I had 20 + breeding adults and around 30 babies, and too many individual scorpions to count, as well as various tarantulas and centipedes. The scorps I kept were mostly some of the hottest, such as Androctonus species, Parabuthus sp. and Centruroides sp. but also had a few local species. I got out of geckos and scorps for the most part recently, and now have gone to breeding local scorpion species exclusively, and photographing snakes in the wild.

Anyways, just thought I'd give some background on me. If anyone ever has questions on inverts or wants to go scorpion hunting, just PM me!

Okay so here are some cool stuff I've seen:

Anuroctonus pocki:

These guys are very common in my area, and I know multiple places to find them. They burrow super deep into the ground, and are a pain to get out.

Pseudoroctonus castaneus minimus:

This is a very small species, with adults reaching only an inch total. They are pretty rare, very interesting little guys.

Paruroctonus silvestrii:

One of the most common CA scorps. They are very willing to sting, even moreso than the Andros I used to have. This is the only species to eve tag me, an it was pretty unpleasant. Lots of localized pain.

Scolopendra polymorpha:

I absolutely love these guys! They are absolutely gorgeous and come in a variety of colors even within the same range. They are however still a Scolopendra, so they move incredibly fast(that's an understatement), and are pretty quick to bite which is not fun. They get around 5-6".

Diplopoda sp.


Now for some herps!

Unsure of species:
Found this guy in my house and didn't wanna touch him as I know frogs can be hurt by human grease it whatever so I delicupped him and got a quick pic before sending him on his way.

Alligator lizards:



The only striped king I've seen in the wild ever:


I have lots more pics, but I'm having trouble locating them at the moment so I'll post them here if/when I find them. Let me know what you guys think, and if someone wants to go helping or bug hunting, let me know!

[LouB747]

Love the inverts. And nice king....

[AnthonyNeubauer]

Thanks. I really want to see some other king variations! And all the inverts were found within 5 minutes of my house

[El Garia]

Great post, Anthony!

Your Scolopendra creeps me out. I have a love/hate relationship with those guys. I once saw a HUGE one in Southern AZ. So huge, that I don't want to state the length. People would be calling B.S! It may have been a different species, though. Great mix of inverts and herps, here. I look forward to seeing more of both from you.

[hellihooks]

Your frog is a Baja Treefrog. And I really like THAT king, for it's consistent pattern. As for inverts, I like spiders, especially jumping spiders. jim

[SDherp]

Nice striped King. Was is on the crawl? My daughter has a Pink-toed Tarantula, but I don't mess with the scorps much! Cool post.

[AnthonyNeubauer]

Your frog is a Baja Treefrog. And I really like THAT king, for it's consistent pattern. As for inverts, I like spiders, especially jumping spiders. jim

Thanks for the frog ID. And I find a really cool jumper species that's larger for Phiddipus sp. it's P. johnsoni, and they are all black with a red circle on the abdomen and metallic teal "fangs". I'll try to get some pics for you next time.

Nice striped King. Was is on the crawl? My daughter has a Pink-toed Tarantula, but I don't mess with the scorps much! Cool post.

Thanks, he was actually underneath some AstroTurf a few summers ago. Pink toes are really cool, but I'm more of a scorpion guy bc they can't climb glass like Ts.

Great post, Anthony!

Your Scolopendra creeps me out. I have a love/hate relationship with those guys. I once saw a HUGE one in Southern AZ. So huge, that I don't want to state the length. People would be calling B.S! It may have been a different species, though. Great mix of inverts and herps, here. I look forward to seeing more of both from you.

Haha I hear ya! Took me a while to get use to them. The species you are likely referring to is Scolopendra heros arizonensis. S. heros ssp. are the largest NA pede, so I would believe about any size you told me. I've seen pics of a 10 1/2" female before!

I'm leaving to SD area in a couple hours, so I'll update you all tomorrow on what I see. My buddy saw a C. Ruber and Southwestern horned lizard yesterday!

[Owen]

Great post, Anthony!

Your Scolopendra creeps me out. I have a love/hate relationship with those guys. I once saw a HUGE one in Southern AZ. So huge, that I don't want to state the length. People would be calling B.S! It may have been a different species, though. Great mix of inverts and herps, here. I look forward to seeing more of both from you.

7"+ (I saw it)

Haha I hear ya! Took me a while to get use to them. The species you are likely referring to is Scolopendra heros arizonensis. S. heros ssp. are the largest NA pede, so I would believe about any size you told me. I've seen pics of a 10 1/2" female before!

I've seen one that big in Anza Borrego (Narrows), but not an Arizona heros. Really big (as long as my size 13 boot) and about an inch wide body. Plain brown. I had been thinking a very giant polymorpha or something non-native. I would have caugt it, but like I said... IT WAS AS LONG AS MY BOOT

Nice first picture post.

[El Garia]

Great post, Anthony!

Your Scolopendra creeps me out. I have a love/hate relationship with those guys. I once saw a HUGE one in Southern AZ. So huge, that I don't want to state the length. People would be calling B.S! It may have been a different species, though. Great mix of inverts and herps, here. I look forward to seeing more of both from you.

7"+ (I saw it)

Thought it was about 10". But, then again, I was still a kid in '83

[AnthonyNeubauer]

Great post, Anthony!

Your Scolopendra creeps me out. I have a love/hate relationship with those guys. I once saw a HUGE one in Southern AZ. So huge, that I don't want to state the length. People would be calling B.S! It may have been a different species, though. Great mix of inverts and herps, here. I look forward to seeing more of both from you.

7"+ (I saw it)

Haha I hear ya! Took me a while to get use to them. The species you are likely referring to is Scolopendra heros arizonensis. S. heros ssp. are the largest NA pede, so I would believe about any size you told me. I've seen pics of a 10 1/2" female before!

I've seen one that big in Anza Borrego (Narrows), but not an Arizona heros. Really big (as long as my size 13 boot) and about an inch wide body. Plain brown. I had been thinking a very giant polymorpha or something non-native. I would have caugt it, but like I said... IT WAS AS LONG AS MY BOOT

Nice first picture post.

Probably the patternless arizonensis, but could possibly be a patternless polymorpha. It's a pity you couldn't catch it as I'd be very interested in know what it was.

[Owen]

As far as I know, S. heros doesn't enter California and would definitely not be seen in San Diego County. It was a medium brownish color and fairly uniform. It's one of those cryptopedes. I've heard of S. polymorpha getting 9", but the difference between a 9" and an 11" one in mass is pretty great.

[Owen]

As far as I know, S. heros doesn't enter California and would definitely not be seen in San Diego County. It was a medium brownish color and fairly uniform. It's one of those cryptopedes. I've heard of S. polymorpha getting 9", but the difference between a 9" and an 11" one in mass is pretty great.

So just to update- the patternless pede is Scolopendra aztecorum which ranges from the Borrego area down through Baja. I had emailed Dr. Rowland Shelley about it and he didn't know of any other large CA species other than S. polymorpha, but I find now, that back then, he considered S. aztecorum as a S. polymorpha synonym.