firewood surprise

I was in the back splitting firewood and discovered many of the logs' residents. Bess beetles, bark beetles, a coupla nests of termites and one of ants, some spiders and two of my more exciting finds: horntails and a tiny crab thing.

The horntails are large wasp-like creatures (sawflies) that burrow into dead trees to lay their eggs. They look mean- at about two inches- especially when theyre in the air. Their patterns are similar to the better-known CicadaKiller Wasp. When I split a large elm, I found several blue tunnels in the centre- and a translucent pupa or alien. Pupa live in their little tunnels for about two years to develope before emerging in the adult stage. I soon found others and more developed ones on the new surface of the halved tree. They were covered in the blue- it was a powder. I took the critters out of their cavities and set them at the base of another log- it the shade. They began to dry their wings- like a moth would. I think a few may have been a bit pre-mature, but outh of the eight that I set at the base of the log, only one remained at sunset!

On the same log were several tiny crabs- so I thought. They looked like a mite/scorpion. There were two larger brown ones- 2-3mm in length- and a smaller red one. I collected one in a vial. Its harder than it looks- collecting a living, moving creature the size of a pin's head!

I took some photos and spent some time reading about mites and scorpions and other arachnids. After a bit of time I found that my micro-pet was an arachnid known as a pseudoscorpion or "book scorpion." They are commonly found in birds nest; they prey on lice and other tiny things. Still dont know a whole lot about them- though, I can say that they are as hard to photograph as they are to catch!