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  • Things You Find Under Rocks…
  • doug_basqueMTB.com
    Full Member

    I was clearing a trail called “Clag-be-gone” yesterday and I moved a rock and found one of these:

    It was beautiful but I didn’t spot it at first and when it moved I got the fright of my life. I’ve seen loads of smaller green geko types under rocks, some fairly big scorpions and even a huge centipede, well over 10cm’s and evil looking, I’ve since found out it’s a Scolopendra and can grow to 20cm’s in Europe. It was actually beautiful and scary the way it moved, quite like that bad guy out of Monsters Inc but it’s meant to give a very nasty bite. I won’t post a picture for the faint of heart but google it if you’re interested.

    I also found some very large beetles last week in some dead wood, about the size of a thumb and the most amazing irredescent metalic green, absolutely beautiful.

    Anyone else found anything cool / creepy under a rock when building biking trails.

    roper
    Free Member

    Looks like a spotted salamander.
    Nice little things. Some people think they are lizards but they are amphibians.

    I’ve found quite a few snakes, lizards and mantis but it’s these that tend to give me the heebie-jeebies

    And there is loads of em.

    doug_basqueMTB.com
    Full Member

    What the hell is that??? Whereabout are you based? Not near me I hope!!!

    I think it’s a Fire Salamander, so called because they are quite often seen scurrying for their lives when someone throws their home (a log or similar) on the fire! Poor guys.

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    roper
    Free Member

    I thought fire Salamanders has more yellow or red, but are probably right, I find the odd dead ones and not many.
    I’m in Southern Spain and the spider is a funnel web. Not as bad as the Aussie ones but very aggressive. I presumed they were over all of Spain?

    doug_basqueMTB.com
    Full Member

    I hope not! I can just about cope with lifting rocks and finding salamanders! The centipede and scorpion were in the south, find many of them?

    Stoner
    Free Member

    This little critter was scampering around the floor of our jungle hut in Thailand. I wore shoes all the time after that (after checking the shoes were empty first of course) 🙂

    And this was out in the jungle. It’s leg span is quite a bit bigger than my open palm, and the body is the size of a plum. I was worried that they jump, but apprently they dont. 🙂

    sharki
    Free Member

    It’s a yellow spotted salamander, which can live for up to 30 yrs, posibily due to the fact that the can regrow body parts including sections of brain, clever eh?

    There’s nothing too scarey here in the uk.

    saw this awesome minotaur beetle shifting poo the other day.

    Special_ized_Jamie
    Full Member

    Stoner
    Free Member

    Jamie, you must make sure you put that back where you found it. They are a threatened species and could be extinct in less than a year.

    doug_basqueMTB.com
    Full Member

    There’s loads of those beatles on the trails here at the moment shifting their little bits of poo! About an inch long and cool as anything! I almost wiped the other day trying to avoid one right in the middle of a corner, not worrying about anything other than it’s ball of poop!

    Right, I’m off out, wonder what I’ll find today…

    roper
    Free Member

    doug_basqueMTB.com, I have seen the odd scorpion but never a Scolopendra. What type of environment was it? I would love to find one.

    Also these are a pain and probably the worst hazard to most people

    doug_basqueMTB.com
    Full Member

    It was in a really rocky area up in the hills in Andalucia near Cabra. I remember it because it was a roasting day in this rocky deserty type hillside. It was amazing when it moved but I’m glad I moved my hand away quickly!

    I’ve seen ‘nests’ in the trees that look like that. Must be caterpillars, I’d thought it might be a spider or something. I’ll keep an eye out to see what comes out of them.

    roper
    Free Member

    Thanks for the info.

    If the nests are in pine trees they are probably procession caterpillars, and are called tents. The hairs of the caterpillars are very light and very poisonous. If you have a dog keep them away as the hairs tend to get left on the ground and the dogs can sniff them up.

    Stoner
    Free Member

    jeeezus! 😯 😯 😯

    al2000
    Full Member

    Last year in Australia, we went walking on Kuringai Chase (think Cannock Chase, but completely different and in Australia). There were thousands of massive yellow orb weavers everywhere, and their webs stretched across the paths and tracks, often down to waist level.

    Except for on the paths that riders had been down.

    We got talking to a group of riders later on that day, they said they kept a pair of goggles for the guy on point..

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    I watched an epic battle at the top of our wheelie bin last summer.
    A maggot had got stuck in a spiders web, & old Spidey was busy spinning this thing into lunch. Mrs thought it quite sad, but me & takisawa jnr thought it quite fascinating.

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