Spider Stories

One of the cool things about being an entomology major is hearing stories about bugs. Generally, folks tend to notice spiders for whatever reason. I have no idea why people notice spiders over things like beetles or caterpillars. I think it’s because they like telling stories about encounters with large, potentially dangerous animals. Spiders have [...]

Back in a bit…but for now, bugs in the news!

Yeah…sorry I haven’t kept up with the bug-blogging as of late. Had a few things going on in my life…but I dare not turn this into a ‘bitch-about-my-life’ blog. There are far too many of those and quite frankly, my strifes aren’t that interesting. So…let’s go through some of the news that’s been brewing since [...]

Do sac spiders cause necrosis? Probably not.

I’ve written a few times about the reputation of the brown recluse (Loxoceles reclusa) and how much of it’s reputation is undeserved. It’s bite, as is known from popular culture, causes a wound that is indeed pretty horrific. However, the gruesome nature of the bite makes it a scapegoat for many cases of necrosis. I’ve [...]

Don’t try to drown ticks. It just doesn’t work.

Water is important to disease vector arthropods in many different ways. For some, this is obvious. Mosquitoes and blackflies need water to breed. A large amount of the effort that goes into controlling mosquitoes in malaria-ridden areas goes into researching where they breed after floods. For others, it’s more subtle but still very important. Usually, [...]

Loxoceles reclusa 101

Last week, I made a post about a species of spider whose ecological niche is basically your garage. This species is what is known as a synanthropic species…a kind of animal who is very closely allied with people in terms of where it lives. The particular spider I discussed had venom similar to a species [...]

Steatoda bites: Latrodectus lite

Many species of spider make their living around human habitations. Some of these guys can be very common where they are found. Occasionally, people do get bitten and do experience adverse effects. However, the incidence of these bites is far lower than most people realize. The vast majority of spider bites go unreported simply because [...]

Don’t you wish you were in Australia?

Atrax robustus is amongst the most toxic spiders in the world. They’re famous for this, and there are all sorts of myths and legends about them. Hell, their wikipedia page makes them sound like the Jason Voorhees of the spider world. The females live in burrows in the ground and tackle everything which stumbles across [...]

Uaraneida and the origin of silk in spiders

I do quite a bit of writing on spiders. Many entomologists deal with spiders, mites and other arachnids in their everyday working life. They’re important, ubiquitous predators. To this entomology undergrad, they’re essentially honorary insects. Everyone knows spiders spin webs. They can be organized and beautiful, such as this orb weaver web They can be [...]

Black Widows are NOT going to kill you and your family

Many spiders get a really bad rap merely because they have hideously toxic venom. Okay, that’s actually a really good reason to be very, very careful when dealing with some spiders. Especially Black Widows. Black widows in areas they live are pretty much ubiquitous. I got the chance to collect them while I was in [...]

New Species Discovered Along Mekong River

Okay…totally breaking my moratorium on science posts for this. It’s a picture show which shows many animals discovered in a remote region of Laos, Vietnam, China…a region in there somewhere. There are some really cool species here…and it just goes to show that we still have a lot more to discover. You can see a [...]