A spider I don't see nearly as often as I should - the delightful Green Meshweaver (Nigma walckenaeri). This one was found trapezing after dark, and even when she sat down I needed some comically acrobatic manouevres to get the shot (hence the suboptimal sharpness).
@britishspiders.bsky.social
That S. bavarica is a beaut!
I have looked for this briefly while trying to hunt down Trochosa spinipalpis - any tips for telling it apart from similar linys in the tray?
I think people (including myself) fail to realise just how diverse arthropods are! I was recently humbled when attempting to ID a Schizomid - a distant cousin of an arachnid group I’m very familiar with - and was presented with the beautiful and thoroughly incomprehensible word ‘propeltidium’.
Angled down image of a large, heavy-bodied snake resting in leaf litter. The front half of the snake is a dark gray with some faint gold banding. The back half turns from gray to a lovely gold color.
A male Yellow-tailed Cribo (Drymarchon corais), right at 8 feet. These powerful serpents eat other snakes and many other creatures. At home on the ground or up in the canopy. Tapiche Reserve, NE Peru #herps #NaturePhotography #snakes 🌿
Thanks! Yes, in fact I’m already 5 species behind…
Thank you!
Sounds good! I’ll send you a dm on Bluesky
Thanks! Where should the specimens ideally be deposited then?
@arachnoteg.bsky.social @cofnod.org.uk I've collected a male and 2 females of what is likely to be this species (suspected by Dr. Bernhard Huber from macro photos of the palps, habitus and epigyne). Would it be useful to send you the specimens to add to the SRS?
#snakesunday Photographer wishes to remain anonymous; respect that if you know this person and/or pic's. I've permission to use several. Lampropeltis elapsoides, FL, USA; Pre-pub teaser😁 Specific details of locality will be withheld. Pic's to be in upcoming publication by yours truly, et al. Enjoy!🐍
@chalkspring.bsky.social @chizz13.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social @kalakemangga.bsky.social @tylanberry.bsky.social thanks a lot for all the help in finding and IDing the spiders on this page!
snake-spider-et-al.weebly.com/spiders.html
A 2-year long project which seems to have reached some semblance of fruition - cataloguing all the species I've photographed (properly). c. 600 of the 800 odd species on this site are spiders, of which over 100 are Linyphiids!
@britishspiders.bsky.social
Congratulations to my hard-working snakey graduate student, @hippieherper.bsky.social ! Well-deserved!
Check out his work on garter snake venom evolution in IOB 🐍 ☠️ academic.oup.com/iob/article/...
Are those massive PMEs easily discernible with a hand lens?
No. 1 - The magnificent Black Widow (Latrodectus cf erythomelas). The moment I saw that flash of red under a stone, I knew I had struck gold. This majestic spider puts even the largest Steatoda nobilis to shame. And despite the danger, she was an incredibly calm subject.
Honourable mentions (this list was very tough to compile and I feel I need a way to cheat a bit):
Clockwise: Gasteracantha doriae, Walckenaeria nodosa, Haplodrassus minor, Walckenaeria corniculans, (thanks @chizz13.bsky.social and @chalkspring.bsky.social)
No. 2 - Fringed Portia (Portia fimbriata) - This intelligent and iconic spider-killing jumping spider has been on my wishlist for years (thanks to Sir David Attenborough). At the end of a fruitless hunt for pit vipers, seeing Portia was truly one of the highlights of my year.
No. 3 - Walckenaeria obtusa - the largest in a genus full of wacky headgear, and one of the first I ever set my sights on; thanks @chalkspring.bsky.social for showing me the right search technique. One I definitely want to re-find elsewhere to prove I've finally defeated my white whale!
No. 4 - Cardinal Spider (Tegenaria parietina) - I can't even begin to descrbe how excited I was when I came across this guy. With a body length of 19 mm and a legspan of nearly 13 cm, this was by far the most impressive spider I've seen in the UK so far. The 2 year wait was worth it!
No. 5 - David Bowie Spider (Heteropoda davidbowie) - At the top of any spider person's bucket list, this massive, inordinately hairy species is so impressive in life and so happy to pose for the camera that this moment on a hot, humid night in Singapore was undoubtedly one of the best of the year.
No. 6 - Taranucnus setosus, a Nationally Scarce linyphiid which has a particularly distinctive habitus and unbelievably long legs. This was probably one of the first linys I ever wanted to photograph, and it only took a year and a half on a frigid January morning to finally do so.
No. 7 - Water Spider (Argyroneta aquatica) - Another one I've wanted to find for a while, but certainly didn't expect to get it on the first (proper) try! Probably the smallest male palps I've ever seen on a spider, and watching it build its diving bell was truly captivating.
No. 8 - Giant Golden Orbweaver (Nephila pilipes). Not rare by any means, but what a spider! This is a species I've been meaning to see for a very long time, and a gigantic female right next to a walking path was one of the standout finds of the day. Not easy to photograph...
No. 9 - Zelotes petrensis, a rare ground spider. It's no secret what a Gnaphosidae fan I am, and unfortunately this was one of only 2 UK Gnaphosidae lifers I had this year. After nearly 2 years of searching, I had this female literally cross the path in front of me!
No. 10 - Common Spitting Spider (Scytodes thoracica)
In terms of pure personal investment, this has to be right up there. Since 2022 when I began looking at spiders, Scytodes has always been on my wishlist. This find in a random building back in Jan really made my freezing day!
Pales in comparison to @chalkspring.bsky.social's, but here's my Spider Top 10 for 2025!
I've stuck to lifers and gone for rewarding over rare. One genus will show up thrice, and I will not apologise!
@britishspiders.bsky.social @tylanberry.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social
What a collection!
Amazing! Thanks a lot to Alistair and everyone else involved in compiling this.
Some interesting inclusions - I now have to try and find Ischnothyreus velox and Pholcus opilionoides!
Minor question - is Lathyidae not recognised?
Synemosyna formica, an ant-mimicking jumping spider waves around his first pair of legs on a green leaf
Myrmecium, an ant-mimicking corinnid spider with antenniform forelegs, peru
ant-like jumping spider feeding on a springtail, costa rica
Brasema leucothysana, a Eupelmid parasitic wasp that looks like an ant (to me at least) on lichen, oklahoma
it’s amazing how diverse ants are 🙇🐜
