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I am posting this as a separate thread because of the unusual subject, which might be of wide interest.
I used to come across these when, in the 1960s and 1970s, I collected arthropods from various habitats such as woodland leaf litter.
Although I have done a lot of examination of rotten wood in the last decade, and looked under loose bark (a favourite home for them) I have not found a Pseudoscorpion until yesterday. I was examining one of the rotting logs, kept as wildlife habitat in our garden, mainly hoping to find Slime Moulds. Then I saw some movement and a familiar shape.
From Wikipedia:
“are rarely seen due to their small size, despite being common in many environments”.
They may be beneficial in the home but I have never seen one indoors.
I rushed the log to the pub-type table at the house and grabbed camera, TC and Raynox, the 50mm and main flash already attached. Then I fetched the supplementary flash guns form the house and wooden block stands from the greenhouse. I was surprised to find the Pseudoscorpion still present after the delay but I needed the magnification and the lighting.
I got quite a lot of shots. The subject was very active, much like a large globular springtail but with the added behaviour of hiding under the various pieces of loose bark. Framing a moving ca 4mm subject in a 6-8mm FOV does not make for 100% “keepers”.
These are my very first images of one of these arachnids. I would hope to improve on them if I have another encounter. Images cropped by ca one third.
Olympus EM-1, Olympus 4/3 x2TC, Olympus 4/3 50mm f2 macro, f16, triple TTL flash, hand-held.
Harold
I used to come across these when, in the 1960s and 1970s, I collected arthropods from various habitats such as woodland leaf litter.
Although I have done a lot of examination of rotten wood in the last decade, and looked under loose bark (a favourite home for them) I have not found a Pseudoscorpion until yesterday. I was examining one of the rotting logs, kept as wildlife habitat in our garden, mainly hoping to find Slime Moulds. Then I saw some movement and a familiar shape.
From Wikipedia:
“are rarely seen due to their small size, despite being common in many environments”.
They may be beneficial in the home but I have never seen one indoors.
I rushed the log to the pub-type table at the house and grabbed camera, TC and Raynox, the 50mm and main flash already attached. Then I fetched the supplementary flash guns form the house and wooden block stands from the greenhouse. I was surprised to find the Pseudoscorpion still present after the delay but I needed the magnification and the lighting.
I got quite a lot of shots. The subject was very active, much like a large globular springtail but with the added behaviour of hiding under the various pieces of loose bark. Framing a moving ca 4mm subject in a 6-8mm FOV does not make for 100% “keepers”.
These are my very first images of one of these arachnids. I would hope to improve on them if I have another encounter. Images cropped by ca one third.
Olympus EM-1, Olympus 4/3 x2TC, Olympus 4/3 50mm f2 macro, f16, triple TTL flash, hand-held.
Harold
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