Sunday Night Movie: Attenborough on Orb Weaving
Apparently we’re in the month of Arachtober, leaving me no choice but to share this clip of David Attenborough narrating the construction of a spider’s orb web. For a somewhat lighter version, there’s...
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An ant-mimic spider escapes ant attention by being nearly odorless
Meet Peckhamia, a charmingly ant-like jumping spider: Peckhamia is a common ant-mimicking jumping spider in North America (photographed in Urbana, Illinois). Peckhamia avoids being eaten by predators...
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A Dominican Mimicry Complex
Spider guy Wayne Maddison has documented a remarkable mimicry complex involving several species of ants and jumping spiders in the Dominican Republic: Camponotus (left) and Peckhamia. Photographs by...
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A Social Spider In North America
Anelosimus studiosus, adult female (center) with two juveniles. A highlight of my recent excursion to the University of Texas at Austin was learning about some little spiders, Anelosimus studiosus,...
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Answer to the Monday Mystery: The Brown Recluse
What was Monday’s mysterious mop of mini-hairs? It was an extreme close-up of the abdomen of this animal: Loxosceles reclusa, the brown recluse (St. Louis, MO) The correct answer, #1, Loxosceles, was...
View ArticleSunday Night Movie: Look Deep Into My Eyes
This hypnotic clip, taken by JerseyBug, is a glimpse into one of the most fascinating set of eyes among all animals, those of jumping spiders: The spider’s anterior median eyes (the big ones) focus...
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The Halloween Print Sale!
In honor of the season, I have selected 26 photographs for my first ever Halloween sale, which will run until November 1st. Have a look!
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Three Reasons Why Spiders Can’t Burrow Through Human Skin
Yesterday, you may have seen this amusing-yet-dismal failure of the news media. Hundreds of outlets breathlessly reported a tourist’s tale of a skin spider plowing a pustulated trail through his...
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The Puppy Spider Is Not As Big As You Think
While we’re on spider debunkings, Piotr Naskrecki’s “puppy spider” story is making the media rounds this week, spawning the usual juvenile Nopes and Kill It With Fires! With every re-telling the spider...
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Happy Arachtober!
A nursery-web spider, Pisaurina mira. Canandaigua, New York. Will there be an Arachtober surprise? Follow the festivities on Twitter.
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