My yard has turned up even more species that I'm attempting to identify. The isopod shown here is the only one of its kind that I've found so far. I'm torn between IDing it as Porcellio Scaber or Porcellio Spinicornis. Spinicornis has more of the brown mottling seen here, but almost always has some semblance of a linear pattern down the back. The Scabers are typically grey, but the Lava morph (AKA Red Calico morph) shown below has a closer pattern to the one I found, but the coloration is more orangey-brown than the bright flame red of the Lavas. So I'm not sure yet. I decided to try collecting from a friend's yard, an area 6 minutes away from my house. I was surprised to see very few isopods, but many more snails. I think the garden snails here are the gray footed lancetooths. My friend's yard has a noticeably rockier soil and lack of mulch, which I'm sure is contributing. The Georgia clay here is extremely dense, and there was no grass. My friend rents their property and is not in charge of lawn maintenance, so we don't know if any pesticides or chemical treatments have been used on the land. Our yard hasn't used any pesticides, plant / weed poisons, or lawn treatments since we moved in (Feb 2021). Our front lawn is wildflowers and local plants, the only lawn on the block that isn't plain grass. I'm grateful we don't have to deal with any HOA complaining about my yard, but I'm really passionate about keeping the local wildlife healthy. Diversification of plants leads to diversification of arthropods, insects, birds, and so on. Some construction happening at the end of our block has pushed out that pocket of wildlife, and I want my land to be a safe haven / thriving micro-ecosystem for them. A microcosm of native Georgia.
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JDD "Dune" RussellAmateur herpetologist * Blog posts have been moved to this page as of 5.20.24 but the original post dates for transferred posts is included in the titles.
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