Arachnids in common
Category: Organisms
Posted on: June 29, 2007 11:41 AM, by PZ Myers
Mrs Tilton, meet Warren.
Warren, this is Mrs Tilton.
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Comments
A match made in silk.
Posted by: The Science Pundit | June 29, 2007 11:46 AM
It all fits. Solifuges (mostly nocturnal, cursorial hunting arachnids) can't build their own webs, so they prowl the sticks looking for tricks to earn enough to get hooked up and crash at Araneidae pads.
Sheesh, a nymph can never be too careful these days.
Posted by: mikmik | June 29, 2007 12:18 PM
Solfugids get a bad rap. they're amazing little bugs, and quite the ferocious hunters (the comment on the other blog "***Yes, these were once scaring the hell out of dinosaurs" made me crack up). Many people only know about the "Camel spider" myth, that they're 2 feet wide, can jump 6', run 40mph, and are so poisonous they'll kill ten men. there's a lot of misinformation out there. snopes has a decent rundown:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp
as usual.
there are a few natives running around near my house (southern ca. is full of surprises!) and i've been privileged to escort a few back outside. my roommate swears up and down he was poisoned by one, but seeing as they're not venomous, it may have been a dream. eh.
Posted by: garth | June 29, 2007 1:40 PM
Alas, but there's an ocean between us.
Posted by: Warren | June 29, 2007 2:00 PM
How coincidental. I discovered the spider drug video just yesterday, as I was looking around for good classroom experiments on effects on symmetry. I first watched it without realizing it had sound (the speakers were off), so it took quite awhile to realize there was something amiss.
Speaking of which, I'll hijack the thread for my own personal gain - does anyone know of any good short-term classroom experiments on how various substances/genetic defects affect developmental or behavioral symmetry? I found one in ABT on spiders weaving lopsided webs once sprayed with vodka (which led to the spider drug video), and there are the anntenapedia and double-winged fly mutants, but are there any others? Sort of demonstrating the pollutants=five legged frogs without running afoul of animal care permits by actually using vertebrates.
Posted by: Carlie | June 29, 2007 2:45 PM
so it took quite awhile to realize there was something amiss.
There was nothing "amiss", the Hinterland Who's Who spoof is one of the highest forms of humour.
This one was particularly well done, from the little spider-sized props to the pitch-perfect generic NFB documentary narration.
Posted by: Graculus | June 29, 2007 4:53 PM
For an atheist, PZ, you make a marvelous shadchen.
Warren: charmed I'm sure! I still recall the first solfugid I ever saw live (at Pinnacles National Monument in California) -- I was astonished that a creature so wonderfully horrific could exist.
Posted by: Mrs Tilton, FCD | June 29, 2007 5:31 PM