a journal about spiders found around Western PA
Last July, at a spider presentation in Sarver, PA, an enthusiastic mom/daughter scavenger hunt team found an orb weaving spider with her egg sac. They found a lot of other cool spiders, too - I should've asked if they'd be willing to go with me on every spider hunt. Since the spider was displaced and seemed... Continue Reading →
It ain't roaches.
Spider hunting isn't as fun in winter because the spiders are "gone". Where'd they go? Before yinz say they all came into the house, let me assure you, spiders have already figured this out. "Any North American spider that needed artificial shelter for the winter, would have been extinct long before Europeans arrived!" - Rob Crawford... Continue Reading →
Spiders lay eggs. Depending on species, they can lay thousands of eggs or just one single egg as is the case with the tiny spiders in the genus Monoblemma (found in tropical Africa and tropical Americas). The featured image above shows the egg sac of Argiope aurantia (AKA banana spider, garden spider, Steelers spider) on the left... Continue Reading →
Back in the day, I used to catch spiders and keep them in pickle jars that still smelled like pickles. I would use a kitchen steak knife to punch holes in the lids. I still have a scar between my thumb and index finger from missing once. I would toss grass in 'ere, label the... Continue Reading →
I was in the restroom at South Park - an indoor building with an outdoor feel. There were harvestmen (daddy-long legs) loafing among the stalls and random bugs flying around. I noticed a weird spider on the wall, not a big spider, approximately 5 millimeters from head to end of the abdomen. It kind of... Continue Reading →
SpiderMentor 