Saw this spider eating a scorpion on my recent trip. Thought it was interesting.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/323825612
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/323825612
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Seems to be a rather dusty Hogna ‘incognita’. Considering the month, it is likely a gravid female. Coloration similar to antelucana with the same broad black band on tibia IV but with a quite different carapace medial band. Adult females tend to stay near their burrows but the need to eat a lot sometimes trumps that.
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That is an amazing looking spider, so many faces hidden within its patterns, thankyou
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Wow! You know a lot! That is impressive!
I found this spider in my backyard, and there are only 34 observations on iNat! How exciting! Apparently also a juvenile, and very cute.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/315300868
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Try peeling loose bark of standing or lying dead wood, which often reveals wood-dwelling Chernetid or other Cheliferoid pseudoscorpions. Their moulting or winter cocoons are lentil sized constructions of silk and debris which sometimes get detached or ripped open when the bark is peeled.
Sifting leaf litter (as already suggested) on a white plastic sheet for better contrast, or literally ‘shake the bushes’ and see what lands on a white sheet underneath.
The ones I find most often are Chernetids (looking like tiny ~ 2mm dull brown striped linseeds with arms, mostly under bark) and Neobisiids (glossy / shiny, mostly a combination of brown and reddish-bown).
Two more things: if threatened or scared, in most cases pseudoscorpions pull in their arms next to the body and usually look more roundish as one would expect. And they move surpsisingly slowly for such tiny animals, almost on our own timescale.
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The spider that is yet another reason to check out tree trunks:
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/145626354 Herennia Oz, which is a cool name.
Which beats having no name of your own for https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/257312836 . If anyone wants to do the work they are not too hard to find and a lot of iNatters in my area will appreciate being able to ID past genus level.
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How cool! I’ll have to try some of those tips, and those are some fun facts about pseudoscorpions! Welcome to the forum!
I was so happy to find both of these species in my short trip to Darwin last June. Remarkable looking arachnids.
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Unnamed species, formal publication next year?