#Arachtober 25 (which I forgot to do yesterday): ever feel you're being watched…?

This cute little jumper, probably _Eris floridana_, was peeking out from between flakes of pine bark.

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #JumpingSpiders #spiders • #Araneae #Salticidae

#Arachtober 24: this handsome, feisty crab spider (_Xysticus_? Coriarachnini, anyway) was all like "I'll fite u!!!…unless you're an incomprehensibly immense weird-feeling alien being in which case I'll just stay very still and hope you go away."

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #CrabSpiders #spiders • #Araneae #Thomisidae

#Arachtober 23: from June, a long-legged velvet mite (family Erythraeidae) climbs into a silk retreat over the exuvia (molted exoskeleton) of the jumping spider (family Salticidae) that previously occupied it. This is not the first time I have seen mites using old spider retreats for shelter!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #MiteBehaviour #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #JumpingSpiders #spiders • #Acari #Acariformes #Erythraeidae #Araneae #Salticidae

#Arachtober 22: from June, one of my favourite "lifers" this year, a pair of _Gea heptagon_ orbweavers!! Found in the marshy meadow just past the Oculus. Such unique-looking orbweavers.

#ArthroBeauty #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Araneidae

#Arachtober 21: Happy #MiteMonday! Here's a snout mite (family Bdellidae) snacking on a long-legged velvet mite (family Erythraeidae). Taken back in June.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Bdellidae #Erythraeidae

#Arachtober 20: the impressive mouthparts of a male _Tetragnatha_ long-jawed orbweaver!

Both chelicerae and pedipalps are multi-segmented and jointed—true for all spiders, but easier to see here because of the exaggerated anatomy. It points to their evolutionary/developmental origin as modified legs (what else?).

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Tetragnathidae

#Arachtober 19: one of my favourite finds this year, a hister beetle (family Histeridae) carrying several phoretic (hitchhiking) Uropodina mites attached via "anal pedicels", tough but stretchy stalks formed from special secretions from glands in…well, you can probably guess where. The mites are harmless to the beetle and use it to disperse to new habitats.

More on phoresy in Uropodina: https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2023.2288847

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #phoresy #AnalPedicel • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Uropodina

#Arachtober 18: yesterday I was showering and only noticed this cellar spider (family Pholcidae; I assume _Pholcus phalangioides_) when it was half-drowned. I fished it out and laid it on a piece of toilet paper, and when it was dry gave it a Q-tip dipped in slightly diluted honey, which it grasped with front legs and drank. (Anecdotally, spiders seem to prefer sugary water to plain. I'd typically use sugar syrup, but didn't have any prepared.)

Later saw it in a couple different places around the bathroom, and now I don't know where it's gone; I hope the cat didn't get it.

Cellar spiders are not typically thought of as "cute" spiders, but look at their eyes! They look like ._. (well, more accurately, ∵ .. ∵)

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Pholcidae

#Arachtober 17: gotta delete old photos on my phone to free up space, so, from early June, here's a couple of rather unlucky running crab spiders (family Philodromidae) who don't even have eight legs between them!

As I explain in a blog post (https://nevillepark.ca/2024/05/24/i-can-put-my-leg-back-on-you-cant-how-spiders-regrow-limbs/), spiders can regenerate detached legs when they molt. But typical spiders (basically, not tarantulas, trapdoors, purse-webs, etc.) stop molting once they become sexually mature. If they lose a leg after that, they're stuck that way. And this often happens with highly mobile spiders like running crab spiders.

(The male in the second picture has regenerated his back right leg recently. If he still had molts left, it would gradually gain colour and become longer and eventually indistinguishable from its counterpart.)

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Philodromidae

#Arachtober 16: since it's #WeevilWednesday, here's an older photo of mine (posted here: https://flipping.rocks/@nev/110585316967094045), a little red long-legged velvet mite (family Erythraeidae) that in its frantic scurrying about ended up climbing over this slower-moving weevil a few times. I think the weevil is one of the billbugs, genus _Sphenophorus_ (https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/211468-Sphenophorus).

Mites are well known for phoresy (riding on other animals), but this was clearly an accidental and temporary case.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #insects #beetles #weevils • #Acari #Acariformes #Erythraeidae #Coleoptera #Curculionidae

#Arachtober 15: an _Allothrombium_ red velvet mite I found recently. I'd never noticed one missing legs before. This one is missing the front two left legs!

This is an adult. I wonder if mites can regenerate legs between molts like spiders? It's complicated by the fact that many mites have distinct life stages and can change a lot in both body and lifestyle between molts, they don't just get bigger. Should look this up…

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Acariformes #Trombidiidae

#Arachtober 14: #RIP Sabella the black widow.

I had her for ten months exactly (https://flipping.rocks/@nev/11157397654673256). Her last molt was about six months ago.

I have added her to my collection.

I didn't have the sort of attachment to her that one has with a pet that, you know, can perceive you are a human being and interact with you and that you can handle and whatnot, but I will miss the bumbling little murderess.

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Theridiidae

#Arachtober 13: while I was in the grass taking the photos I posted yesterday, every movement would send little leafhoppers (family Cicadellidae) springing away. This one leaped right into the web of a tiny _Theridula_ cobweb spider, who quickly seized it.

(At least, I think it's a leafhopper, but true bugs aren't my wheelhouse so please correct me if I'm wrong!)

edit: accidentally the date

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Theridiidae