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Western Yellow Centipede - a Wireworm as I call them, nigh on impossible!
Paul Iddon
Registered Users Posts: 5,129 Major grins
They are the thin tiny yellowish wireworms as I called them as a kid, more legs than a millipede, and actually a centipede. But they always move, never in a predictable way either. This is a very small one - probably juvenile, as it was under 2 inches at it's most fully extended. It has about a one millimetre wide body - perhaps double that at the head and tail.
The best I could manage, manually focusing and relying on a light to illuminate where it was at any given moment, these are the best I could manage. Not much, but it gives you an idea of what it is, though I'm sure many of you will recognise it anyway from the pictures of various angles and directions. The photos are not rotated, they were either landscape, or portrait orientation.
This is the longest centipede found in the UK, it is creamy white and up to 70 mm long. It has between 77 and 83 pairs of legs. (It was previously called Haplophilus subterraneus). It is a 'geophilid' centipede which lives mainly in leaf litter but can also be found under stones. Latin mane now Stigmatogaster subterranea.
These are cropped though - a higher mag meant I had nil, zero, zilch chance, so had to dial the mag back a bit.
Paul.
The best I could manage, manually focusing and relying on a light to illuminate where it was at any given moment, these are the best I could manage. Not much, but it gives you an idea of what it is, though I'm sure many of you will recognise it anyway from the pictures of various angles and directions. The photos are not rotated, they were either landscape, or portrait orientation.
This is the longest centipede found in the UK, it is creamy white and up to 70 mm long. It has between 77 and 83 pairs of legs. (It was previously called Haplophilus subterraneus). It is a 'geophilid' centipede which lives mainly in leaf litter but can also be found under stones. Latin mane now Stigmatogaster subterranea.
These are cropped though - a higher mag meant I had nil, zero, zilch chance, so had to dial the mag back a bit.
Paul.
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A readily-available subject in gardens by digging in topsoil or in surface organic matter. If you think they are difficult, try Diplura, found in similar habitats but about the size of Drain Flies and even more active than centipedes. I had what should have been a good session last year but my lens was jammed open wide, instead of at f11 throughout. So the best shot is fit only to show what to look for.
Harold
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I got as bonus springtail I think it is, in #3.
Harold, I must look for one of those...
Paul.
Link to my personal website: http://www.pauliddon.co.uk
Yes, I was about to mention that when I got called away. An Isotomurus I think.
Harold
Thanks Harold - Palustris I assume?
Paul.
Link to my personal website: http://www.pauliddon.co.uk
Paul,
I hesitated to go to species, knowing that the species of Isotomurus are not fully sorted out. Having consulted Hopkins' key, and all his comments and caveats, I will say it is I. palustris, as I would have done in the 1960s and 1970s. The closest contender is I. plumosus.
Harold
Thank you
Paul.
Link to my personal website: http://www.pauliddon.co.uk