Biology as pertains to

[Treaqum]

I need to find a microscope that will work well so I can get a camera with microscope attachment. Those would be awesome pictures of glands on Cps and small creatures. Utric traps also.
I mostly do botany but Birds and mammals to a lesser extent. I am currently ordering a book on Bat IDs with actual pictures instead of drawings. I hope to be able to Id frogs and so on in a few months

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

do you see bats often? I rarely see bats... and when I do, I can't ID them because they're basically just dark things in the night
I've seen them drink though

and one time I was looking at a moth and woosh! there goes a bat. Then the wings of the moth fell
bats are awsome. I wish I could install a bat house or something but the location and everything is wrong. not to mention that they're expensive (at least for someone that's cheaper than dirt like I am)

 

[Treaqum]

Yeah well I really need a focused beam flashlight with high output. although that will temporarily blind the bats. Yeah I see bats when ever there are trees around that are not a lumber farm. My problem is there are 17 or 19 species here so IDing is hard unless you have a spotlight, mist-net or high-end Bat detector. You might want to check out www.BATCON.org for more info about bat houses. Or I can include some copied pages in your package. They are really easy to build (having built 5) but having the right enviroment is hard. But "Build it and they will come" does apply.
Do you ID insects ever? What is the scientific name of the "Rolly Pollie/Pill Bug"? When I was in California quite a few years ago they had some purple ones which I imported to Tallahassee. So if anyone sees purple ones over there let me know. (I was young then and did not know better).

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

I've been told where to put bathouses and I don't have anywhere like that, but I'll look at the site.

Quote[/b] ]Do you ID insects ever? What is the scientific name of the "Rolly Pollie/Pill Bug"?

IDing many insect species is a pain in the rear. I pretty much just ID the really easy ones or just the genus or whatever.
I don't know the scientific name for pill bugs... (there are many species in case you didn't know) but I do know they are millipedes and eat decaying matter, etc.

 

[Treaqum]

Oh many species. Well that is annoying. Bat houses jsut need an open area. I hope to put one up later this year but since I am moving in two years I doubt I will.

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

OH... by the way... pill bugs aren't insects. They're myriapods (millipedes and centepedes)

 

[Treaqum]

Thanks

 

[endparenthesis]

Quote[/b] (TheAlphaWolf @ April 27 2005,7:31)]bats are awsome. I wish I could install a bat house or something but the location and everything is wrong. not to mention that they're expensive (at least for someone that's cheaper than dirt like I am)

I built a small bat house... materials cost me $20 or so... and almost all of that was paint, which I have tons more of, so I should really build another.

I gave it to an aunt and uncle years ago who have tons of land, but they haven't put it up yet so I don't know if it worked.

I used these plans: http://www.batcon.org/bhra/economyhouse.html

With some modifications I saw here: http://habitat.ms11.net//bat/bathome.htm

I love swimming in outdoor pools at night. The insects are drawn to the lights under the water, and the bats swoop in on them. There have been plenty of times when a bat shot by me so close I could feel the wing beats.

 

[Gawd_oOo]

Bats always hit my fishing line while I'm out just after dusk.

 

[aprilh]

We always called the "rolly-pollys" Sow bellies. or rolly pollies. Discover magazine had an excellent article on Sow Bellies a couple of years ago.

Turns out they're crustaceans who take care of their young. Who'd a thunk it? april

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

oh that's right... some of them are isopods (or is it amphipods?), which are crustaceans. so there aren't just different species but different.... kingdom... phylum... classes? huh? i'm confused...
ok. kingom-animalia phylum-arthropoda class- some are myriapods and others are crustaceans? i'm I right?
holy cow i'm confused. which are which? AAAHHH. I gotta search.

 

[Finch]

if a bat takes up resedence in your bat house, that narrows the possibilities down quite a bit

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

AHA! you were right. I was confusing them.
Ok... pill millipedes and pill sowbugs are two similar-looking but different things.
The rollie pollies or whatever you call them you were talking about are wood lice, which are isopods.
wikipedia rocks! pill bug article
you have to see this! creepy relative of pill bugs
the differences between them
I also looked in my spiders book (they are NOT spiders. Why millipedes and isopods are included in a SPIDERS book? I don't know... crazy people) and it says-
(about pill millipedes) "glomerids can coil into a ball when disturbed, some tropical species approaching the size of golf balls. species found in southern states and in california are never more than 8mm long" blah blah "resemble woodlice  but have more than seven pairs of legs"
and about pill bugs "armadillidiidae have an arched body and can roll into a ball when disturbed. the two tails are shorter than the last abdominal segment"
and about wood lice in genereal (not all wood lice roll into balls) "(order isopoda) feed on humus and fungi. north of mexico there are nearly 100 species. eggs and young are carried in a brood pouch by the female."
so anyway... want some amazing pics?
big pill millipedes
WOW pill millepede

great example of convergent evolution eh?

edit: oh... I just noticed my book says "SPIDERS and their kin" lol.

 

[Dyflam]

Quote[/b] (Treaqum @ April 27 2005,1:40)]Yeah well I really need a focused beam flashlight with high output.  although that will temporarily blind the bats.  

Lol... blind the bats.

 

[Treaqum]

Awesome about the bat house. None are in my neigborhood. Well not the Dusk leaving kind. I paln to get the most modern plants for a bat house andput it on a 4 x 4 in the air on the side of the house. I have been by one persons house about 10 miles away that has the twin houses on a 4 x 4 post and everytime I drive by in the evening there are about 1000 bats. It is so amazing.
If no on saw it yet check out the re-discovery of the Ivory Bill

 

[Treaqum]

Don;'t worry Luis I already searched for them and found out about Isopods (yes crustations). That Discover article was neat.

 

[Treaqum]

Did you see about the missing link between canivorous dinosaurs and herbivorous ones?

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

nope... they found  a missing link? great!
can you find me a link? (no pun intended)

 

[Treaqum]

It's in today's Nature. Let me find it.

 

[Treaqum]

No you have to pay big money for it.  Sorry about that.
Edit it will cost $174 a year (holy

)