very different looking larvae

Ah. Well, so much for that. (Say, Bob, you wouldn't by chance know of where one might find a photo of a Neurocordulia larva on the Internet, by any chance?) -- C

in the guide http://bugguide.net/node/view/255186 They are all similar.

Thanks.

Thank you, well I still have him and will photograph his bottom today. Ill get him in a better photography situation and get different shots . He was found in a large clear running stream along with other animals such as banded scuplin fish, fresh water snails and pond skaters. I wouldn’t be surprised to find hellbenders there. This stream is very fresh and there are limestone’s and possibly a cave in the area. Lots of healthy algae and moss. He appears to be very dirty as though being in the mud for sometime.

Ah ha! It all fits... could it be that you have taken the only existing photos of a living Smoky Shadow larva? (Only the Shadow knows....) BTW, if you could get some lateral views, we could check out whether there are middorsal hooks, spines, or knobs on abdominal segments 6 or 7. (Ahh, that all-important abdominal segment 7...) BTW, all that dirt you speak of is gack that's clinging to this poor fellow's hairy little body. (Actually, it's a crypsis thing. Isn't life wonderful?) I like to give my grubby little critters a good shower before I photograph them, to remove all that crud and to allow a better view of all their disgusting little body parts. I put the bug in a little 3-inch strainer and then hose him down with clean water from a hypodermic syringe (the syringe I use came as part of a little kit for removing ear wax [that's human ear wax -- there's no known cure for dragon larva ear wax], which I bought at the drug store for a $4.98 or thereabouts.) -- C

Wow Catfish,
I just checked on him this morning. He’s cold but ok . I will clean him off 2day and I will Take several Images , Good clear Images . This is so exciting to me.wow. ThXXXX
=p

I've found dragonfly larvae to be quite hardy. I've kept them in specimen jars for several days, and they do fine. Damselflies are not so hardy. They are prone to develop diseases of their gills, and they damage more easily than dragons. (BTW, Bob says this bug is definitely not Neurocordulia.)

the genus Neurocordulia is characterized by semicircular papal teeth.(I know I've keyed out hundreds for a contracting job) This puppy is a Cordulegasteridae, blocky head, jagged papal teeth are the key characters to look at. and as mentioned below is probably the common species C. maculata and the frontal shelf confirms (The dorsal closup of its head) C. maculata has a continuous row of hair extending along its length from antennae to antennae.

I think you nailed it, Bob. For the record, per USGS survey ("Odonata of Tennessee"), there are five species of Spiketails in Tennessee (Twin-Spotted, Brown, Delta-Spotted, Tiger, and Arrowhead). Per Dunkle, the Twin-Spotted lives in "clear forest streams and small rivers, including trout streams." The habitats of the other four species of Tennessee Spiketails (again, per Dunkle) are quite different. -- C

It is so kewl watching you all work.
Thanks
To bad it wasnt a rare PiX Though , Thanks

But they were rare pics -- such photos of a Twin-Spotted Spiketail larva are rare indeed (if you don't believe me, just go out there and try to find one!). Nice shots. -- C

Hi catfish,
I thought I posted this but I never hit the button. I went to a site called glasscages.com Their in TN . I am having them build me a frameless aquarium for 27.00. It 4 inches wide/ 6 inches long, 3- 1/2 inches high. Wa-La No more leaking. Thought I should pass that along. It will be fully cured in 3 weeks.
Kathleen Chute
Images That speak Ur Language

Neat. That size aquarium would be large enough to photograph water scorpions. I found a company online that makes large microscope slides. A box of 36 slides measuring 5" x 4" costs $79.75. I made two aquariums using that glass. (I'd be happy to send you a dozen such slides, if you're interested. Apparently slides of that size are used in hospital laboratories for examining large tissue specimens. They're very specialized slides.) For one box, I used regular window-pane glass for the base and glued the slides to the window- pain glass with silicone aquarium adhesive/sealant. For the base of the other large box, I had a glass cutting shop cut me a rectangular piece of glass that was thicker than window-pane glass. I only use my big boxes for big bugs. For your average bug (say, any bug measuring less than 35 mm), I use boxes made from slides measuring 2" x 3". You can order slides of that size from Ward's Natural Science (http://wardsci.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_IG0004282). A box of 72 slides costs $36.50 (I could send you a dozen 2" x 3" slides too, if you're interested [assuming I can find those smaller slides among all my gear and stuff -- I know where the big slides are, but I'd have to dig around to find the box of small slides].) The nice thing about the smaller boxes is that they're easier to clean than the big boxes. (I like my glass to be spotlessly clean when I shoot.) As with the big boxes, I use thicker glass for the bases of my small boxes, so it only takes 4 slides to make one aquarium. I had the bases cut a little larger than the dimensions of the box itself. This way, I handle the boxes by the edges of the base and thus avoid getting fingerprints on the glass. Say, I wonder if glasscages.com would build boxes for you if you provided them with your own glass? (There's nothing like research-laboratory-grade microscope glass for this kind of photography.) It is a little difficult to get the nozzle of the tube of aquarium sealant down into the corners of the little boxes. I'm not particularly handy with things like that myself, but a friend of mine who prides himself on his workshop-type skills offered to help. (He feels he's contributing to a unique form of nature photography, which I daresay he is.) BTW, I posted some photos of my boxes on BugGuide -- you can see them by visiting my contributor's page on Bugguide. --C

Awesome, I would love to give this a shot.
If you could send some slides to me. I’m sure I could do it. Ill Be happy to pay. I looked up them myself but the price is a bit high for only a few needed.
My address is posted on my contributor page. I also updated my equipment.
I’m thinking that I have and old flavor injector for food I have never used. I bet using that would work for disturbing the silicone.
I bet you anything This Glass company can do it. They told me it had to be at least 4 wide to seal it. They also said no matter what type of sealant you have it has to cure for 3 weeks to seal completely. Hard to wait that long, But They said the water pressure would find weaknesses. Thanks so much for being a friend. I just bought a 24 mP Cam so I’m really excited about this.As you can see in the pIx The Plastic is already showing scratches. Do you have any tips on taking images from the bottom, for below shots.
BTW, are you going to the Smoky Mountain Event??
Thanks for your Kindness

Kathleen Chute
Images That speak Ur Language
www.runwiththewild.com

Three weeks??? Fuhgedabowdit. Try 24 hours. I believe that's how long we let our boxes dry, and they're fine. I don't think that injector thing would work. The silicone is too thick. But you can just squeeze the sealant right out of the tube onto the glass. (You can check out the photos of my boxes to see what the finished product looks like -- I daresay the seals won't be as slick as the aquarium shop would make them, but they do the job.)

Now, even if you're handy with this kind of thing, your first efforts will be sloppy. For one thing, you'll inevitably get silicone sealant on the face of the glass, maybe even all over the glass. Don't panic. There are solvents available specifically designed for cleaning silicone off glass. One such product that I've found easy to use and very effective is called Dap Silicone-Be-Gone Silicone Remover. You can get it at Lowes or Ace Hardware or places like that for, like $7.98 or something. It comes in a 3 fl. oz. bottle that looks like an aspirin bottle. It's a viscousy, brown, noxious, goopy substance that you apply with a special brush that comes with the goop. (I'd advise not getting any of this stuff on your aquatic larvae unless you want to witness the emergence of a new species of life.) The Dap solvent is very easy to use. You just follow the packaging instructions, and your gunked-up glass will be pristine in a jiffy.

Now, after you apply the silicone and let it dry for 24 or 36 hours, you'll need to test the seams of your box for leaks. Leaks are not that uncommon, but they're easy to fix. Just apply more silicone to the leaky area and let it dry another 24 to 36 hours. When fixing leaks, you can be generous with the silicone, because you can easily remove any excess silicone from the face of the glass, first with a razor blade and then, for any remaining residue, with the silicone remover. (I'd hold off cleaning up the glass with the Dap until the very end, after you've fixed any leaks.)

I'll try to get that package off to you today (I found the small slides! Now THAT'S a miracle of nature.) I'm also sending you a large base plate and a small base plate (somehow or other, those base plates really make for a nice box) and a pair of cotton gloves that film photographers use to avoid smudges when handling film (you may have an old pair hanging around from days of yore when we shot with real film [ahh, those good ole days when photography was PHOTOGRAPHY -- oh, Fuji Velvia, where have you gone, my long lost love?...], so you'll need film photographer's gloves to clean the boxes, especially the big box -- when you stick your hand down there to clean the bottom edges of the glass, the back of your hand will inevitably smudge the inside of the opposite pane. It's tough enough having to deal with air bubbles on the glass and with drops of water being jettisoned from the rectums of panicky dragonfly larvae [on a couple of occasions, I've had dragons squirt water onto my camera lens, and a big, late-instar Darner once shot water a good 5 feet straight up into the air], but fingerprint smudges are relatively easy to control with cotton gloves).

Now, once you get into this, you may need to rename your website. How about this: "Run Or, If You Prefer, Crawl Through the Water With the Wild!" (What? What???) -- C

Yep the good old days of winding my own film and buying Tetenal. Sold that old Jobo a while ago. I do still have photo safe gloves so Im thankful of that. Thanks for the nice offer and sending me the glass, I will post it for sure when Im done making it. Yah the Glass company told me three weeks and I told the to keep it until its ready. I don’t want leaks and later have them say I messed it up.
I cant believe the bugs squirting. I read that in your blog before.
I know Ill fly off my seat. I’m Typical girl.
The Other day I was filming a three lined skink and i was trying to get his head over a bit and the SOB bit me. He went flying. LOL
I think about the new website name , It might swim with the public.
Kathleen Chute
Images That speak Ur Language
www.runwiththewild.com