Dispatches & Social Media

Roses are red,

Australia has spiders,

This Eriophora

Caught a feathertail glider.

Adam Fletcher of Project Maratus shares a wonderful picture of a peacock jumping spider’s tiny discarded “helmet”.

Education & Outreach

For articles that are more educational than news-related, and aimed at the general public.

A heroic spider leads a rebellion of invertebrates. Illustration by Leigh Guldig.

Events & News

Barbara and Bert Main in 1955. Photo from Monica Main.

Trailblazing scientist Barbara York Main, an expert on trapdoor spiders and her beloved West Australian Wheatbelt, passed away aged 90.

The American Arachnological Society’s 2019 annual meeting will be held June 16–20 at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

Research & Observations

Every month, arachnologists discover new things about their favourite animals.

Silk and Webs

The hackled orbweaver Hyptiotes stretches its web taut. Photo from Han, Astley, Maksuta & Blackledge, 2019.

Homes & Diets

Quick maths for a jumping spider navigating on the go. From Hill, 2019.

Regional Surveys

The Arctic Wolf Spider (Pardosa glacialis) is just one of many spiders likely affected by climate change. Photo by D. Sikes.

How it’s Made: Spiders

Female Nephila are much larger than their mates. Yes, those are her suitors, not her children! Photo by Micha L. Rieser.

In many spider species, males are smaller than females. One possible explanation is that smaller males are more agile. But, at least in Nephila, it turns out small size doesn’t make males any better at getting around.

Isn’t it amazing that a jumping spider the size of a dime has vision as acute as a pigeon’s? Isn’t it even more amazing that baby jumping spiders are even smaller and can see just about as well? The latest from the Morehouse Lab investigates how they fit those big eyes into their cute teeny little heads.

As a male Parasteatoda tepidariorum house spider matures, his pedipalps transform from basic leg-like appendages to intricate organs that can fit into females’ genitalia like a key into a lock. The process is kind of like how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

Arachnology and computational fluid dynamics, together at last. These researchers modeled a spider’s hydraulic leg joint.

Communication

Mating Tetragnatha. Photo by Neville Park.

Venoms

A Tityus scorpion from Brazil. Photo by José Roberto Peruca.

Over the past ten years or so, deaths from Tityus scorpion stings have risen sharply in Brazil. Rapid urbanization without adequate infrastructure has given these adaptable scorpions many places to live alongside humans.

Possibly related: scorpions may be repelled by rosemary oil. Strangely, not the “active ingredient” alone. Interesting.

An analysis of the wandering spider Cupiennius salei’s RNA identifies neurotoxic proteins and peptides in its venom. Learn more than you ever wanted to know about how a spider makes venom in the first place, from DNA to end product.

Parasites

A Caerostris sumatrana orbweaver next to its mermithid parasite, on a leaf. From Košulič & Mašová, 2019.

Taxonomy

Who’s related to whom, and how.

The latest family tree for arthropods, from Lozano-Fernandez et al. 2019.