Arachnid Discussion Topic!

I voted other, thinking of Portia. Her mind is way bigger than her body. She has one pair of eyes with sharp but narrow vision (this is true of jumping spiders in general) and somehow manages to assemble a 3D model of the scene and figure out how to attack her prey without alerting it by touching its web.

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The winner of this poll is, quite obviously, spiders . If anything, it proves just how rad all spiders are! Each of them have their own cool adaptations, which is why they deserve a lot more study and love!

Also I didn’t add the bolas spider since they technically count as orb weavers and I already mentioned them (but I really should have added them 2 the poll).

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WHAT? This is a real spider? This needs to go to the weird name thread.

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Someone really likes the jungle book :laughing:

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Wait till you check out the names of the spider genus Bowie ( check the ones named by JƤger) :sweat_smile:

https://wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/6183/Bowie

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The same two biologists named three other genera after Kipling characters.

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I read about it from time to time, but I always forget how it works. I don’t see spider blood very often.

"Hemolymph contains hemocyanin, a copper-based protein that turns blue when oxygenated, causing the hemolymph to turn from grey to blue-green in color.

This contrasts with the iron-based hemoglobin found in the red blood cells of vertebrates, which turns a brighter red when oxygenated."

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Does oxygenated hemolymph levels help explain why late in the fall I sometimes see very bluish tints in some of the remaining spiders and insects?

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Start the barbie!

I visited a local Cambridge Conservatory a few days back (Cambridge, Ontario, Canada) and discovered this common house spider lurking in a dark corner and feasting on an ā€˜accidental tourist’ - an Australian cockroach. I checked, these cockroaches are well known inhabitants. They even have them in the Niagara Falls Butterfly conservatory. Both places import a lot of insects and I suspect some contain stowaways.

Anyhow, I’d be interested to see if anyone else here has encountered any other spiders enjoying ā€˜exotic’ dinners from other continents.

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Caught this guy on my arachnophobic besties ceiling, pic I took of it in a jam jar before taking it outside to the bug filled barn lol

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Yesterday out by the dumpster I was watching a silver-spotted skipper on a peppervine. On a nearby branch was something that I couldn’t quite see. As the skipper lifted off, it must have brushed against a silk line, because whatever was on the next branch materialized into a spider. It looked like a golden-silk spider; but now I find out that the joro spider might be in the area, too, and I haven’t yet looked into the differences between them – they look similar. Either way, a golden-silk spider or joro spider is big enough to handle even a large skipper like the silver-spotted. The interesting thing is that the skipper had shown no sign of entanglement or getting stuck; it was more as if the silk thread was a trip wire triggering the spider even from being gently brushed.

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Largest Cellar Spider I’ve yet to see (a good 3-4" inches from that far stretched legs tip to the far rights tip) and I find it behind my bathroom door, ready to jumpscare my poor mother.

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If a spider is not a tarantula, or something that looks like a tarantula (Mygalomorphae), you can ID that spider as typical spiders instead.

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What kind is that spidie in the window?
The one with the funnelly web?
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/308953338
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/319516309
Twice I’ve observed a spider in a window that was identified as Ageleninae but no further. This is not counting one in the window of my old home that was probably also an Agelenina but was not identified that far. The church window cannot be accessed from outside without a ladder; the one at my new house can, but there’s a screen on the outside, and I was looking up at the web. The spiders were visible only through the web. How can I get a better picture which can be identified at least to genus?

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I use my cell phone… overhead can be ā€œreachedā€ by using a ā€œselfie stickā€ and the timer… and a lot of shots to choose from. The one between glass and screen, I have no clue.

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if you can get a shot of the spinnerets, that should get you into genus (whether it’s Agelenopsis or Barronopsis)

Any tips for finding pseudoscorpions in NW Oregon? I’ve been flipping boards and logs, but it’s hard to know what to look for when I’ve never seen one before— is there a specific movement (or lack of) pattern to look for? That’s what I find most helpful when searching for other tiny things like mites and springtails

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I cant speak for your specific location, though I would be surprised if they are that location specific.

I have found my best luck is using a garden sieve, mine is similar to https://www.amazon.com/-/en/Apollo-Gardening-8-inch-Garden-Riddle/dp/B00DQCP82O/ref=zg_mw_g_4288492031_d_sccl_9/257-4062714-2263642?th=1

Note: I am not recomending that one/site, I got my from a local hardware store.

But throw some leaf litter into it, and sieve into some sort of container, and you will find lots of small invertebrates.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/221057761
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/194559826

Examples from this method, its also a very transportable system. My container is a lunch box.

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Thank you! I may actually have an old sieve like that lying around somewhere

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No worries. It was the method suggested by ggiribet to help me find more pettalid harvestmen.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/194559855

Also seems the best way to find Toxopsiella which seems to be a leaf litter specialist.

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