Album of Tolmie Creek Field Trip

Selected photos from the spider collecting field trip to forest, swamp and talus habitats on Tolmie Creek, just outside Mount Rainier National Park, Pierce County, Washington on 17 May 2007 with Laurel Ramseyer and Rod Crawford. Photos by both, as credited. A little-known, little-visited and undeveloped site not too far from the city and with some very interesting habitats. Clearly the season was wrong for collecting many habitat-limited spider species here, but an adequate sample was taken, including a significant range extension for our smallest Mygalomorph, Microhexura idahoana. Many lowland species were added to the sample in a brief visit to a grassy clearing along the Carbon River.
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Metellina curtisi female orbweaver Tetragnathidae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington washed-out jeep bridge over Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Metellina curtisi in web          © Laurel Ramseyer Bridge is a bit incomplete                  © Rod Crawford
Dirksia cinctipes female Agelenidae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington waterfall on Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Dirksia cinctipes from swamp edge   © Rod Crawford Log from bridge poised on brink of falls        © Rod Crawford
cascade waterfall on Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington Rod Crawford on washed-out jeep bridge over Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Cascade above bridge       © Laurel Ramseyer Rod tries to look intrepid while crossing         © Laurel Ramseyer
Microhexura idahoana female Dipluridae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington Hexura picea juvenile Mecicobothriidae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Microhexura idahoana         © Rod Crawford Hexura picea           © Rod Crawford
beargrass Xerophyllum tenax, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington swamp, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Beargrass, Xerophyllum tenax       © Laurel Ramseyer Edge of the big swamp         © Laurel Ramseyer
alder swamp, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington swamp with Lysichiton and Veratrum, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Densely wooded swamp  © Laurel Ramseyer Swamp Water                   © Laurel Ramseyer
Lysichiton americanum skunk cabbage in swamp, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington spadix of skunk cabbage Lysichiton americanum with pollinators Pelecomalium testaceum Staphyllinidae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Skunk cabbage was abundant  © Laurel Ramseyer Staphylinid pollinators of skunk cabbage        © Laurel Ramseyer
western hemlock Tsuga heterophylla, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington rock talus, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Hemlock foliage habitat     © Rod Crawford Unusual talus habitat                  © Rod Crawford
Bathyphantes alascensis female Linyphiidae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington rock talus, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Bathyphantes alascensis     © Rod Crawford Talus stones harbored many spiders          © Rod Crawford
Pityohyphantes tacoma female Linyphiidae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington mossy boulders, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Pityohyphantes tacoma       © Rod Crawford Moss-covered boulders               © Rod Crawford
Megarhyssa sp. male Ichneumonidae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington Sitka spruce Picea sitchensis, Carbon River Road near Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Male Megarhyssa       © Laurel Ramseyer Isolated spruce at edge of clearing       © Rod Crawford
Sclerobunus nondimorphicus Triaenonychidae, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington grassy roadside field, Carbon River Road near Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Sclerobunus nondimorphicus       © Rod Crawford Grass in lowland clearing            © Rod Crawford
Viola orbiculata, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington Misumena vatia yellow female Thomisidae on Ranunculus buttercup, Tolmie Creek, Pierce County, Washington
Viola orbiculata       © Laurel Ramseyer "For I'm called Little Buttercup —"
Misumena vatia on Ranunculus    © Laurel Ramseyer

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This page last updated 17 June, 2007