I live in a dry,deforestation,urbanized area and despite look for near 2 years,still not succeed to find these cuties:
harvestmen,fuzzy antennas moth,tiger beetle,pseudoscorpions,bumble bee,spoonwing,owlfly,rhino and stag beetles,velvet ant,bag worms,sawflies,mole crickets,huge june bugs and metalic flower chafers,velvet ladybug spider and stick insects
The data for spoonwings,owlfly and stick insect in my country is so low that makes me wonder that we may not have any native actually and they might be some introduced/immigrant stuff.It became 100% that we don’t have scorpionflies and fireflies(In my city not the whole),and also many of these arthropods that I motioned only lives in sands,woods and moist,which we don’t have such things in my area at all
Do you think I haven’t seen them in my 20 years of life,this meant that it’s not likely to I could find any here,if I have never seen them in mountains or even in the yard?I see many for example find tiger beetles at just their yards and rhinos in normal parks but I found nothing?Like if they have never been at my own place,does this means that looking for them even in villages and wetlands is pointles because anyways they aren’t in my area?Should I give up and focus on the ones I already find?I really want to see the in answer from people who have many experiences in looking for wildlifes.I would be glad to things finally get clear for me:)
i’ve been looking for arthropods for 15+ years and i still see new stuff all the time.
the spoonwings have a relatively small range but owlflies are more widespread. the rare sightings doesn’t necessarily mean they’re introduced, they’re just uncommonly encountered insects. they tend to have pretty unique and specific habitat requirements and don’t establish well in other places.
if you have the ability to hang a white sheet in a dark place and shine a UV light on it for a few hours, you’ll likely see lots of cool stuff
- Location/Region
- Time of day (the night is another world in some places)
- Season
- Surrounding plants
- Weather
Sometimes when you vary one of these factors you find a host of new creatures. There are ants that I tend to only see in the summer they day after a big rainstorm. They stay mostly deep underground otherwise.
And over time regions and ecologies can change. I wouldn’t give up.
People have rediscovered species that were thought to be extinct for decades. I’d say keep looking, and even if you don’t find what you’re looking for, enjoy what else you discover along the way. :)
Having a quick look at where your observations are, you certainly live in an interesting part of the world, that I hope to visit one day. I would love to see whats in the green belt to the north.
Observations are understandbly low for the country, so many things are likely data deficient.
The main thing I would suggest is using tools to try looking different ways. Not sure if you can get out to the places which do have more foliage.
But anywhere with leaf litter, if you use a simple garden sieve through some leaf litter in and shake it. There are many invertebrates that will be shaken off onto what ever you have below. Thats probably the best way I know to find pseudoscopians.
If you have a bedsheet and a light. At night you can shine a light at it, to see what moths or other light attracted animals show up (Though you would likely need to get out of the city due to light competition.) Edit: I see this in a comment above, but will leave it backing it up.
Getting a UV light was the biggest game changer in my quest for harvestmen.
Yes you can find interesting stuff only in the northern part,and I don’t have money for black lights:(
can you put out a plant? the flowers, leaves, and soil would all provide resources for animals. even a dish of water will attract many insects (but be caredul of mosquito larvae)
What I said for the sheet dosent need black light, it will work with any light. UV will just get better results. But any results is still a good start.