Hammerhead Flatworm

This is a shovel-headed garden worm, wandering hammerhead worm, or hammerhead flatworm, Bipalium vagum — technically not a worm like an earthworm, but a land planarian. Planaria actually eat earthworms and other invertebrates. Planaria are way too cool and fascinating for me to get fully into here — check out this site (among others) for…

Olive Green Swamp Grasshopper

Meet Paroxya clavuliger, the olive green swamp grasshopper. This unassuming little spur-throated grasshopper is about 3-4 cm long (females are larger), and is also known as the salt marsh grasshopper and hoosier grasshopper. Both sexes are primarily green to greenish-black, with black eyes, and a dark stripe through each eye, also running down the pronotum….

Pantropical Jumping Spider

I assumed at first this was a wolf spider, Lycosidae sp. I am hesitant to call it a jumping spider because this individual was “huge” — I would have put it at half an inch long — and pantropical jumping spiders seem to max out at 12mm with the females. On the other hand, half…