texascavers Digest 20 Aug 2012 15:00:16 -0000 Issue 1611
Topics (messages 20553 through 20561):
Re: off topic - retirement
20553 by: Bill Walden
Re: Oregon does too have significant cave life
20554 by: Louise Power
Calling Mike Bradley
20555 by: Heather Tucek
San Antonio bat question..
20556 by: Ted Samsel
that spider
20557 by: Sam Young
Kiwi Sink dig
20558 by: Ernest Garza
Looking for a new caving vehicle?
20559 by: Louise Power
20560 by: Ted Samsel
20561 by: Don Cooper
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Logan,
Congratulations on your retirement!
I predict that within a year or perhaps two that you will be involved in
volunteer work and projects to the extent that you will wonder how you
ever found the time to have a real job!
Enjoy your retirement.
Bill Walden
On 08/17/2012 01:56 PM, Logan McNatt wrote:
I retired from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on August 15th,
after 18+ years of working there (1972-1976 part-time; 1996-2012). If
you have my TPWD work email address and phone #, please be sure to
delete them from your address book/contacts. They don't work anymore
(like me, for now).
I've sent evites to some of you for my retirement party, but know that
I've missed a lot of you who will want to come. It will be a mix of
cavers, archeologists, TPWD folks, and other friends. So here's the info:
Saturday August 25th, 2012 5:30 to 11:30 p.m.
Zilker Clubhouse west of Zilker Park and Loop 1/Mopac, off
Rollingwood Drive
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?address=200%20Zilker%20Clubhouse%20Rd&city=Austin&state=TX&zipcode=78746
beer, music, fire-dancer, champion kite flyer provided
potluck
Here's how my new life of retirement is going so far.
_Day 1_: Calendar says "SLEEP LATE, DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING".
5:30 a.m. woke up
6:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight on computer and phone answering messages
most of day; wash dishes; feeble attempts to clean house; put tarp on
roof to last until roofers come on Aug 28th;
_Day 2_ Calendar says "SLEEP LATE, DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING"
9:00 a.m. woke up, making rapid progress in adjusting to new lifestyle
Onward Through the Fog,
LowGun
4419 Clawson Rd
Austin, TX 78745-1039
512-462-9581
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It was even on local TV last nite. Robin Snider, the wildlife biologist who
permitted the study, is a friend of mine in our office. She's on my bat
information list for things on my e-mail list and other sites that may be of
interest to local BLM and FS wildlifers. I was happy to read that they're
keeping the cave names and locations a secret.
List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com
Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 06:26:42 -0500
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Oregon does too have significant cave life
From: t.b.sam...@gmail.com
To: power_lou...@hotmail.com
CC: texascavers@texascavers.com
I heard another bit about this on BBC last night on my way to the Home Brewers
meeting..
Ted
On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Louise Power <power_lou...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Entirely new family of arachnids was discovered south of Grants Pass area
A new family of spiders, called Trogloraptor marchingtoni, has been discovered
in caves south of Grants Pass. They are about the size of a 50-cent piece.
Photo courtesy Joel Ledford, California Academy of the SciencesJoel Ledford,
Calif Academy Of T
August 17, 2012
By Paul Fattig
Mail Tribune
Arachnophobes beware: A new family of spiders has been discovered in two caves
south of Grants Pass.
The new species of Josephine County cave-dwelling arachnid has been given the
scientific moniker of Trogloraptor marchingtoni in honor of Neil Marchington, a
self-taught biologist and spelunker who helped bring the caves and its
eight-legged residents to the attention of the scientific community.
"It's exciting to be part of a whole new discovery of spiders," said
Marchington, 31, of Bend, the son of retired Medford teachers Scott
Marchington, now of La Pine, and Sally Marchington of Medford.
"It's remarkable, really amazing, to think you were in a group that discovered
an undiscovered species in the Grants Pass area," added Neil Marchington, a
deputy sheriff in Deschutes County when he isn't spelunking.
Marchington is a member of the Western Cave Conservancy who, along with
graduate student Tracy Audisio of San Francisco State University and others,
helped bring attention to the spider. Dead specimens were collected in 2010,
followed by live samples last year.
"We think this is a pretty historic moment in arachnology," said entomologist
Charles Griswold, 61, an internationally known spider expert at the California
Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
"This spider is so evolutionarily different we had to propose a new family name
to contain it," he added of Trogloraptor, Latin for "cave robber."
One of the caves is on private land; the other is on U.S. Bureau of Land
Management property. Those studying the spiders have requested the sites not be
named out of concern that visitors could damage the fragile underground
environment.
The BLM issued permits for the 2010 and 2011 scientific expeditions into its
cave, said Robin Snider, a biologist with the agency's Medford District.
"It was nice for us to have these people come in to study these invertebrates —
we don't have the skills they have," she said.
The agency's goal is to protect the cave from vandalism, she said, noting it is
very sensitive to intrusion.
"These spiders are in their own environment, their own microclimate," she said.
"We want to protect that."
Griswold, along with Audisio and postdoctoral researcher Joel Ledford at the
University of California-Davis, have written a paper that has been accepted for
publication in ZooKeys, a major zoology publication.
When Audisio first brought in a specimen, no one at the academy had any idea
what the creature was, Griswold recalled.
"We consulted all the standard reference works — it didn't fit into any known
family, living or fossil," he said, noting that detailed studies of its anatomy
and DNA also determined the spindly spider about the size of a 50-cent piece
was new to the world of science.
"We now want to continue the research on its evolutionary position," he said.
"How does it use those trap-like feet to capture its prey? Their claws are
long, looking like a scythe or a switchblade knife. We know they make a little
web and hang beneath it.
"But it has no obvious cave adaptation," he added. "It has functional eyes, but
they probably enable them only to see the difference between light and dark."
Since that discovery, a different species of Trogloraptor was discovered living
in the redwood forest of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, he said.
But Griswold, who found one of the spiders while visiting the caves in
Josephine County last summer, said the underground caverns are special.
"We know these caves harbor unique organisms that are very fragile," he said.
"And there may be other unique organisms to be discovered in these caves."
Marchington also stressed the importance of preserving the sensitive ecosystem
of the caves.
"It's important people realize anything they do in caves has an impact," he
said. "We need to be very mindful of what we do and how we protect these
places."
However, given the fact the spiders aren't warm and fuzzy looking, Marchington
doesn't think a lot of people will want to be around them.
"At one point when we were collecting them — I was crawling on my back — and
one dropped off the ceiling," he said.
"I screamed."
Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 541-776-4496 or email him at
pfat...@mailtribune.com.
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Anyone have contact info for Mike Bradley? He was a UT Grotto caver in the
70's...
--
*Go find out!*
-Heather Tuček
UT Grotto
TSA Membership Chair
NSS 59660
(512) 773-1348
trog...@cavechat.org
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What is the main diet (insect-wise) of the bats around San Antonio?
Ted
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Entomologists are doing flips over that spider that was found in an Oregon
cave. Here is another article with pictures:
http://bit.ly/N67j6d
........ Sam
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Greetings;
We had an excellent cave dig today; the weather was much cooler than the
last dig and we had a tarp to shield the sun. Our objective was to continue
digging
down towards the North Passage, in the process uncovering the largest boulder
yet. Conrad dug down the soft clay mud until he exposed a nice void, about three
feet deep, blocked by loose rocks. It follows the solid wall, so it looks very
good. By that time we had filled all seven barrels and it was time to quit.
Several folks
got properly muddied up by going to the back of the known cave, but it made
them happy! There were several large toads and a nice snake in the pit.
List of diggers: Conrad Scheefer, Jackie Lambert, Casey Tucker, Ellie
Watson, Gallen Falgout, Don Broussard, E. Garza.
Visitors: Don Rutherford, Terri Holsinger, James Brown, Nancy Weaver.
--ernieG
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Try one of these:
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/14-extreme-campers-built-for-off-roading?icid=autos_3335
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I feel so inadequate since my carbon footprint is so miniscule. Sob,
whimper. <snork>
Ted
On Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 9:56 PM, Louise Power <power_lou...@hotmail.com>wrote:
> Try one of these:
>
>
> http://editorial.autos.msn.com/14-extreme-campers-built-for-off-roading?icid=autos_3335
>
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At some level - they are very large phallus symbols.
-WaV
On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 5:56 AM, Ted Samsel <t.b.sam...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I feel so inadequate since my carbon footprint is so miniscule. Sob,
> whimper. <snork>
>
> Ted
>
> On Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 9:56 PM, Louise Power <power_lou...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Try one of these:
>>
>>
>> http://editorial.autos.msn.com/14-extreme-campers-built-for-off-roading?icid=autos_3335
>
>
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