Part I, Day 10: 080618

We continued North and West this morning, to the Suwanee River in the eastern part of the Florida Panhandle. This represents the Gulf of Mexico drainages of Florida and the American South-East, which is supposed to be biogeographically distinct from the Atlantic drainages.

At Suwanee River, we found a few amphipods, but Matt managed to find a discarded fish hook, the hard way. A little first aid and swearing later, we picked up some other interesting creatures, including terrestrial isopods (i.e. “pillbugs”) and a strikingly red-coloured hemipteran (“true bug”).

A large red hemipteran in the process of moulting. It turned dark brown a few hours after I collected it. It was about 3cm long.

The largest insect I have ever seen. This enormous cricket was hopping clumsily around the parking lot at the Suwanee boat ramp. That’s Matt’s leg, for scale. It was about 5cm long, and apparently not fully grown – notice the absence of wings.

After Suwannee, we continued West, visiting several other productive sites. We finished the day at a motel in Tallahassee.

Tomorrow, we visit Lake Seminole and the Chatahoochee river system, to examine the putative biogeographical divide between the Gulf of Mexico drainages and the Atlantic drainages.