Spider egg invader!

The crunchy ground on a cold February afternoon was holding everything captive except for the chickadees and squirrels. My hike was purposeful. I was keeping up a good heart rate, rhythmically breathing in icy air and exhaling vapor. At the top of a hill, I stopped to take in the view. I could see the... Continue Reading →

Yinzer recluses

Chapter One - Nah-uh (Pittsburghese for "No way") It may come as a relief to our locals in Western PA that recluse spiders (Loxosceles genus) are rarely found here. We are too far north of their natural range. Within the recluse spider's natural range, which is mostly the southern midwest, they are commonly found in... Continue Reading →

Photo ID, please.

What makes for a good spider photo ID? Here are a few tips that will help if you're thinking of sending a photo to any type of social media group, nature app, or your friendly neighborhood "spiderologist". Identifying spiders to species by looking at a photo is very tricky and not as easy as you'd... Continue Reading →

A Neospintharus Tale

This is a story about luck, transformation, and opportunities (or the lack thereof) in the life of a peculiar spider, Neospintharus trigonum. These spiders are in the Theridiidae family AKA comb-footed spiders and/or cobweb spiders. I found one in my backyard (Pgh) in mid-May. I only spotted this speck of a spider because it was... Continue Reading →

Do spiders get sick?

Considering our current events, I thought this might be an interesting topic, although a good suggestion from my sister, "Do spiders poop?" is definitely something blog-able in the near future. These two topics may overlap on some level. I've witnessed a lot of spider deaths of various causes and sometimes spider poop is the last... Continue Reading →

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: