I never knew such a thing existed! Sarah found it in a glass of water in her house.
It’s called a Pseudoscorpion (Dactylochelifer copiosus) and it’s really not so eww… In fact, it is actually quite helpful in your home as it preys on clothes moth larvae, carpet beetle larvae, booklice, ants, mites, and small flies.
It’s just a tiny little thing… this one was between 4 and 5 mm. Sarah put it in a petrie dish and under the microscope. I took the picture using a Nikon Coolpix camera right through the microscope.
Isn’t that cool?
Learn more:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2062.html
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Uhmmm… now could you be a bit more specific about the origin of this glass of water? Was this one she got straight from the tap? In which case I probably will never drink water again (only coconut milk straight out of a coconut)…
Ech that’s one horrible lookin’ critter. And in a glass of water, to boot.
Mungo
very cool for sure and hey, when are you going to start taking other bug pictures like this? Dragonfly parts?
Wow, that’s quite something! Love the “microscoping” photo – that turned out really well!
yes, pretty ‘eww’!! .. but strangely fascinating at the same time!
your blog is beautiful, I’m looking forward to dropping by to visit 🙂
Mungo – she had finished drinking the water she wanted and claims it definitely was not in there while drinking! She left the glass and when she finally went to put it in the sink, that’s when she found it.
Monarch – we will definitely be trying more of the microscoping shots when we start dipping stuff out of the pond this spring!
Adam – thanks! It’s pretty easy to do. I don’t know how well it would work with my DSLR. But with the little point and shoot, it worked great.
Hedgewitch – welcome! Thanks for visiting.
It is cool! How do I invite them to live in my yarn stash!
That is gross, but it is neat at the same time. I can see how it may be helpful in a household, but not in my drinking water!
That’s a really nice photo taken through the microscope!
At work, I used a scope-mounted camera and this fancy-schmancy computer monitor it’s hooked up to… A whole lotta silliness (or ineptitude on my part), given the quality of your picture here!
Nice blog…
It is pretty cool how you took the photo but as for the bug.
yuck not so cool to think it got into drinking water.
W.W.
What a great image this is. As I’m currently looking for a good stereomicroscope, would you be kind enough to disclose the make and model of your instrument?
Thanks
ARD
Jennifer,
Very Cool. In Ohio, my co-worker is canvassing the state to look for creatures just like this one- in caves. I’d actually never seen a picture either, but have heard plenty about them. I wonder how many millions of pseudo-scorpions are drank by unsuspecting thirsty people every year?
Tom
Very cool little creature. Nice photo as well! 🙂