Scolopendra at 6,300 ft. elevation

Henry Kane

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Me and Kugellager (the scary clown dude) collected these up on a mesa in Golden, Co.. We got 2 juvies (2"-3") and 2 adults (5").
Pretty cool considering they were caught maybe a hundred feet or so from a cliff face. There is also small stream coming from a spring near the collection site providing apparently enough moisture to sustain a decent colony of them.

Anyhow, here ya go. :)

Atrax
 

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Sean

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Nice, do you have any idea of what kind of spieces it is?
 

Henry Kane

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It is very similar to Polymorpha but our native sp. is S. viridis. Sorry I forgot to mention it before.
:8o

Atrax
 

Code Monkey

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S. viridis, huh? I had read they look very similar to polymorpha but didn't realise just how similar they look. No wonder some people speculate on them hybridising where their ranges overlap.
 

Kugellager

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That little hike was definitley more successful than I had expected...now we just need to plan a T/scorp hunt in S Colorado to see what we can find.

John
];')
 

Henry Kane

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Yeah, they're all doing great actually. I've been letting mine acclimate for a little bit but John has already fed his and they're taking food just fine. They're just doing their thing and are quite active too.

Atrax
 

gphx

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I don't understand your statement:

'It is very similar to Polymorpha but our native sp. is S. viridis.'

S. polymorpha and S. viridis are sympatric throughout most of Colorado just as they are in Arizona. They have been documented by many competent observers over the years including Gertsch and Ivie 1961.

Some people have ignored the records and created the idea that only S. viridis are found in such states as Colorado and Oklahoma for example, something that has caused many S. polymorpha to be mislabeled as 'S. viridis'.

Personally I believe that the maximum size of S. viridis in its description of 3 1/2 inches is accurate and that anything attaining greater size is S. polymorpha. In fact, the species I associate with being S. viridis bears little resemblance to S. polymorpha at all.

You caught it at 6,300 feet. An additional determinator is whether you caught it in pine debris or out in the open away from the pine canopy and debris field. S. viridis are most typically found within the debris field and S. polymorpha without.

But if your specimen is as large as it appears in the photo it may be a foregone conclusion that it is S. polymorpha.

Other observers may reasonably disagree.
 
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