Arachnophobia
bushwells | May 16, 2008I have been known to display my love-hate relationship with spiders here on the Refuge. Knowing my ambivalent feelings toward arachnids, on-line droogs have shared photos of a couple of cool orb weavers, the type of spider I like, versus the lycosids which freak me out.
Spider porn below the fold...
First, Spacebee of Texas shares these pictures of a fine Gasteracantha cancriformis (Crab-like orb weaver) specimen. This spider resides in her backyard, having strung up the web between a starfruit and guava tree.
Now why am I reminded of a Dalkon shield?
And the rear-view:
ST of the UK…
bushwells | September 29, 2007One of my spawn attempted to take a photo of our household araneidid. He eschewed the flash because he didn't want to frighten the spider, so the photo is blurred. However, the colors and patterns of the charlotte can be discerned and are kinda striking.
bushwells | September 24, 2007Found scuttling around in my docbushwell at gmail inbox:
Needless to say, I was slightly disturbed when greeted with those images. My learned correspondent wrote the accompanying letter:
Dr. Bushwell:
My research has confirmed existence of several genera of the wolf spider Pardosa (Araneae, Lycosidae), such as the rabid wolf spider Rabidosa (Araneae, Lycosidae) and the oriental wolf spider Passiena (Lycosidae, Pardosinae). However, I have found no evidence of the FUCKING WOLF SPIDER! genus documented in Science Blogs. Ahem. Isn't science supposed to be about facts?
Nevertheless,…
bushwells | September 4, 2007This deserves to be highlighted. Hat tip to Lorri Talley (see comments in Orb Weaver entry).
I give you...
The Mating Dance of the Jumping Spider!
"I have the best pedipalps of them all! The very best. With my little dance, I will hypnotize you into wanting them. Yes, my darling, wanting them!"
bushwells | September 4, 2007Since Labor Day weekend has passed, it's time to put away those white shoes and to take note of the late summer orb weaver spiders.
Orb Weaver spiders are members of the Araneidae family. These include the ubiquitous yellow and black garden spider and familiar genera such as Mangora spp. and Araneus spp. When my kids were little, they referred to the more common Araneidae as "Charlottes" after E.B. White's Charlotte's Web.
Chimp Refuge field observers, Dawn & Bobby, recently shared a photo of an Araneidae arachnid that has set up her shop behind their house:
This is a pretty spider to…
bushwells | April 17, 2007If it's about spiders and sex, it's gotta be Live Science!
Well, to be accurate, the critters are not spiders, but mites from the family Crotoniidae. These mites reproduce sexually, which is not much of an eyebrow raiser until one considers that their close relatives, the Camisiidae, reproduce by parthenogenesis.
From Tiny Creatures Rediscover the Joy of Sex
Evolutionary biologist Katja Domes at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany and her colleagues examined genetic sequences in two Crotoniidae species and a diverse range of 13 other mite species. Their calculations show the…