A photograph of an adult female sparassid (huntsman spider) from southern California holding an egg sac.

Momma sparassid (huntsman spider) with egg sac in southern California. I flipped a rock and there she was. Post-photographs, the rock was replaced so she can raise her little ones in peace.

Several erigonine spiders (Linyphiidae) think the width of the opening of a purple pitcher plant pitcher is the perfect size to build a web. Not the safest web location, though.

Also S. purpurea may be used by the invasive Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, as an oviposition site!

In solidarity with today's ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA blackout, MinnMax is donating $1 to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota for every share of this Bluesky post for the next hour.

It's true, after years of work, Jackson Means, myself, and the late Dr. Richard Hoffman compiled a 130-page tome of Virginia spiders in the journal, Banisteria. The journal dedicated the entire first issue to this work. We add over 140 new species records to the state to stand at 713.

Male habitus of Agyneta hedini from Tripp Canyon, AZ.

@mhedin.bsky.social recognize your namesake from Arizona?

I do not! Maybe an entomologist who specializes on true bugs can tell us.

Lateral view of a hemipteran collected from Okefenokee Swamp NWR in southeastern Georgia.

This lil spikey swampy guy has spines even on his eyes! Yikes!

I think it should be illegal to name your subdivision after the wildlife you displaced to build mcmansions

Bobolink Acres? Not anymore, you assholes, you made sure of that!

Male Walckenaeria acuminata: Image thanks to Richard Gallon

Male Oedothorax apicatus: Image thanks to Richard Gallon

Male Oedothorax gibbosus: image thanks to Richard Gallon

Some genera of Money #spiders Linyphyiidae are present as adults throughout the year, often with peak male activity in the #winter months (see chart for Walckenaeria acuminata). Whatever the weather, it's a good time to be out looking for them and their wonderfully distinctive headgear! #Christmas

He's got a big head. 😁

Lateral view of Phycosoma lineatipes, a comb-footed spider in the family Theridiidae from southern Alabama.

A cubed flat top for this southern Alabama boy.

Thanks, Marshal, that means a lot coming from you.

Unfortunately, even if many of those museums do become databased, many of their tiny spiders remain unidentified or identified at generic or family levels.

That's why guest curation is so important! If only I could do that 24/7...

Yeah! I reached out to my coauthor about that. We're planning a publication for it.

GBIF has 0 records and a Google Scholar search has 0 hits. I suppose it could be hidden in a collection somewhere (i.e., dark data) but certainly nothing published on it.

Dorsal view of Emblyna suwanea (Gertsch, 1946)

Ventral view of the pedipalp of Emblyna suwanea (Gertsch, 1946)

Dorsal view of the pedipalp of Emblyna suwanea (Gertsch, 1946)

RE-DISCOVERY #4

Emblyna suwanea (Gertsch, 1946) (Dictynidae) was last collected by the great V. Wilton Ivie in 1943 near Sylvania, GA and hasn't been seen or collected since (82 years). We found a single male by vacuuming in the Okefenokee Swamp NWR along the Chesser Island boardwalk trail.

Unfortunately we're also losing species at the fastest rate ever.

Except far less dangerous!

Anterior view of a cute round mite.

Dorsal view of a cute round mite.

Lateral view of a cute round mite.

Oh to be a little tank living my life out in the soil.

The habitus view of a female specimen of Scotinella pennimani.

The epigynum of the female of Scotinella pennimani.

RE-DISCOVERY #3

Scotinella pennimani Platnick and Chamé-Vázquez, 2024 (Phrurolithidae) was described just last year from specimens collected in 1967 (58 years ago). We found this lady in Okefenokee NWR on Trembling Earth Nature Trail just north of Stephen C. Foster State Park in SE Georgia.

Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

[this spider has no common name]
[this spider has no common name]
[this spider has no common name]
[this spider has no common name]
[this spider has no common name]

Also featuring the incredible @mhedin.bsky.social and Kefyn Catley!

Ceratinopsis sutoris (Linyphiidae) male spider - dorsal view.

Ceratinopsis sutoris (Linyphiidae) female spider - dorsal view.

RE-DISCOVERY #2

Our trip to Okefenokee NWR has resulted in another re-discovery of a long-lost species. Ceratinopsis sutoris Bishop & Crosby 1930 was last seen in 1927 (98 years ago!) and we collected several males and females. The species has a orange-red carapace with black around the eyes.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then!

A dorsal view of the male of Ceratinopsis bona. Red carapace with black around the eyes, a pink abdomen, and yellow legs with tibia IV black.

A dorsal view of the female of Ceratinopsis bona. Red carapace with black around the eyes, a pink abdomen, and yellow legs with tibia IV black.

RE-DISCOVERY #1!

Our trip to Okefenokee NWR has already resulted in a re-discovery of a long-lost species. Ceratinopsis bona Chamberlin & Ivie, 1944 was last seen in 1943, 82 years ago. In addition to possessing genitalia that match the descriptions, their black tibia IVs are also diagnostic.

The lateral view of a shiny black green and gold beetle.

A shiny beetle collected from tall grass on Billy's Island in the middle of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia.

Yeah, but like, is it really Centromerus? That genus has not been revised. It would be interesting to see genetic data.

Wow! "Centromerus" perhaps? That epigynum is wild.

Mostly a surprise when we get home. But we did catch a few carabids!

Day 4 of our Okefenokee NWF collecting trip took us to Mixons Hammock east of Stephen C Foster State Park. We canoed the two miles and then sampled mossy patches and magnolia litter in cypress swamps. Not the most productive, but we found many linyphiids for study.

Day 3 of our collecting trip was to the east side of Okefenokee NWF (a 1.5hr drive around the southern edge) where we collected in swampy thatch/moss patches along the Chesser Island boardwalk. Found lots of erigonines, a pygmy rattlesnake, and a water moccasin. Didn't collect the snakes, though. 🙂