I don’t always manage it, but this year I managed to post arachnids every day of #Arachtober! For those who don’t want to page through the thread, here’s an album of them all in one place.
#Arachtober 1: Here’s an opilionid in goldenrod, found in Trinity-Bellwoods.
#Arachtober 2: I’ve noticed a kind of mite renaissance in the fall—nature giving a last hurrah I guess. Whirligig mites (family Anystidae) are once again easy to find. This little one is eating something held in its pedipalps.
#Arachtober 3: on a cup plant stem in Trinity-Bellwoods, a red velvet mite (family Trombidiidae) eating…oh dear…another, smaller trombidiid.
#Arachtober 3: on a cup plant stem in Trinity-Bellwoods, a red velvet mite (family Trombidiidae) eating…oh dear…another, smaller trombidiid.
#Arachtober 4: a classic, the cross orbweaver (Araneus diadematus). Spotted on the one big willow by the Budapest Park washrooms, which is normally monopolized by Larinioides and Zygiella.
#Arachtober 5: a pseudoscorpion from under a rock in my yard! These minute arachnids are found everywhere in the world, but are rarely seen because of their size and their hidden habitats (soil, leaf litter, under bark and rocks).
#Arachtober 6: mesostigmatid mites found under a rock at Sunnyside. Probably free-living soil predators like many mesostigs.
Araneae, Opiliones, Pseudoscorpiones, Acariformes, Parasitiformes—I think that’s all the arachnid orders found in my area.
#Arachtober 7: I can spot an anystid butt at 50 paces.
Seen in Trinity-Bellwoods.
#Arachtober 8: one of my favourite observations this year, mating Pardosa lapidicina at Trillium Park! I’ve watched countless courtships but had never seen this species mating until now.
Taken in June.
#Arachtober 9: six-spotted orbweaver (Araniella displicata) attempting to balloon, and a closer look at it. Under a certain size, many spiders can fly using silk released in the wind.
#Arachtober 9: six-spotted orbweaver (_Araniella displicata_) attempting to balloon, and a closer look at it. Under a certain size, many spiders can fly using silk released in the wind.
#Arachtober 10: an absolutely tiny Eustala orbweaver next to a largish Bryobia clover mite. (The mite’s body is probably 0.5-0.75 mm long; the largest clover mites aren’t even 1mm I think.)
Oh shit it’s International Jumping Spider Day! Have a bonus Arachtober entry: the Synemosyna formica ant-mimic jumping spider I was lucky to find recently.
Oh shit it’s International Jumping Spider Day! Have a bonus Arachtober entry: the Synemosyna formica ant-mimic jumping spider I was lucky to find recently.
#Arachtober 11: just a cute little zebra jumping spider (Salticus scenicus). Found back in April near the Marilyn Bell Park tennis courts.
#Arachtober 13: Silly walk.
A long-legged velvet mite (family Erythraeidae) navigates a crevice in a rock down at Sunnyside. It raised and tapped its long front legs rapidly.
#Arachtober 12: Eustala and gold.
The new stone blocks they got for the Sunnyside shoreline have these lovely gold mineral inclusions—pyrite? Pleased to get one in a photo with this little orbweaver.
#Arachtober 13: Silly walk.
A long-legged velvet mite (family Erythraeidae) navigates a crevice in a rock down at Sunnyside. It raised and tapped its long front legs rapidly.
#Arachtober 13: Silly walk.
A long-legged velvet mite (family Erythraeidae) navigates a crevice in a rock down at Sunnyside. It raised and tapped its long front legs rapidly.
#Arachtober 13: Silly walk.
A long-legged velvet mite (family Erythraeidae) navigates a crevice in a rock down at Sunnyside. It raised and tapped its long front legs rapidly.
#Arachtober 14: Tutelina are small, flattened, iridescent jumping spiders I typically find on tree trunks. Some species are very shiny and showy, but the ones I’ve found here are a more subtle but still lovely oil-sheen grey.
#Arachtober 14: Tutelina are small, flattened, iridescent jumping spiders I typically find on tree trunks. Some species are very shiny and showy, but the ones I’ve found here are a more subtle but still lovely oil-sheen grey.
#Arachtober 15: a tiny Larinioides orbweaver nestled into a slight indent in a rock. These are by far the most common orbweaver in my neighbourhood.
#Arachtober 15: a tiny Larinioides orbweaver nestled into a slight indent in a rock. These are by far the most common orbweaver in my neighbourhood.
#Arachtober 16: a wolf spider sunbathing at the Ontario Place shoreline one sun-drenched summer afternoon.
#Arachtober 17: one of the larger sheet-web weavers (family Linyphiidae) at ~0.5-10 mm body length, hanging upside-down in her delicate web at the beach at Ontario Place.
#Arachtober 18: an orbweaver (Araneus diadematus by the ventral markings, I think?—couldn’t see the other side) touching up her web. Check out the clawed back foot drawing silk out of the spinnerets!
#Arachtober 18: an orbweaver (Araneus diadematus by the ventral markings, I think?—couldn’t see the other side) touching up her web. Check out the clawed back foot drawing silk out of the spinnerets!
#Arachtober 19: from May, a plump clover mite feeding on a blade of grass, leaving those small white marks you see. Yes, THIS IS WHAT A CLOVER MITE LOOKS LIKE
#Arachtober 20: Platnickina tincta, a spider-eating cobweb spider. I love the little dashed line around the carapace. Found in late May at Sunnyside.
#Arachtober 21: male sumo mites (Allothrombium) wrestling at the foot of a birch tree, one spring day in Trinity-Bellwoods. I’ve been lucky enough to see this a few times!
#Arachtober 22: a whirligig mite (family Anystidae) eating a clover mite (Bryobia, family Tetranychidae). Note the size difference!
#Arachtober 23: a feather-legged orbweaver (Uloborus glomosus), family Uloboridae. This unique spider family has lost the ability to make venom. Their webs are of cribellate silk and, like Argiope orbweavers’, sometimes have stabilimenta.
#Arachtober 24: just realized I haven’t yet posted any mesh-web weavers (family Dictynidae), a shocking oversight! I encounter these tiny cribellate spiders quite often. This one has made its home in a green cup of Queen Anne’s Lace.
#Arachtober 25: one of my favourite observations this year—three snout mites (family Bdellidae) feeding on a springtail, on a rain-wet tree trunk in Trinity-Bellwoods. I got video, too!
#Arachtober 26: encountered two long-jawed orbweavers (family Tetragnathidae) mating on a park bench at night in their unique face-to-face position. Then a second male arrived and tried to break them up!
#Arachtober 26: encountered two long-jawed orbweavers (family Tetragnathidae) mating on a park bench at night in their unique face-to-face position. Then a second male arrived and tried to break them up!
#Arachtober 26: encountered two long-jawed orbweavers (family Tetragnathidae) mating on a park bench at night in their unique face-to-face position. Then a second male arrived and tried to break them up!
#Arachtober 26: encountered two long-jawed orbweavers (family Tetragnathidae) mating on a park bench at night in their unique face-to-face position. Then a second male arrived and tried to break them up!
#Arachtober 27: it’s Zygiella mating season! Female in web, male off to the side waiting on a signal line. Note the very long elbowed pedipalps.
#Arachtober 27: it’s Zygiella mating season! Female in web, male off to the side waiting on a signal line. Note the very long elbowed pedipalps.
#Arachtober 28: a beautiful long-jawed orbweaver (Tetragnatha) on a cute dead plant thing idk i’m not a plant person??
#Arachtober 29: it’s also Larinioides courting season. In the lights at the Humber Arch Bridge I saw this 30-second-long interaction: a male approached a female, made contact—and she grabbed his front leg in her fangs! He got away though.
#Arachtober 29: it’s also Larinioides courting season. In the lights at the Humber Arch Bridge I saw this 30-second-long interaction: a male approached a female, made contact—and she grabbed his front leg in her fangs! He got away though.
#Arachtober 29: it’s also Larinioides courting season. In the lights at the Humber Arch Bridge I saw this 30-second-long interaction: a male approached a female, made contact—and she grabbed his front leg in her fangs! He got away though.
#Arachtober 29: it’s also Larinioides courting season. In the lights at the Humber Arch Bridge I saw this 30-second-long interaction: a male approached a female, made contact—and she grabbed his front leg in her fangs! He got away though.
#Arachtober 30: Found under a rock in the garden just this afternoon: a mesostig with very long antenniform first pair of legs ending in forked claws. Family Podocinidae or thereabouts?
#Arachtober 30: Found under a rock in the garden just this afternoon: a mesostig with very long antenniform first pair of legs ending in forked claws. Family Podocinidae or thereabouts?
#Arachtober 30: Found under a rock in the garden just this afternoon: a mesostig with very long antenniform first pair of legs ending in forked claws. Family Podocinidae or thereabouts?
#Arachtober 30: Found under a rock in the garden just this afternoon: a mesostig with very long antenniform first pair of legs ending in forked claws. Family Podocinidae or thereabouts?
#Arachtober 31: let’s end this month the way it started—with goldenrod! I noticed this oddly positioned ant alate in goldenrod near the Oculus. Turning the stem around revealed this Mecaphesa flower crab spider!
#Arachtober 31: let’s end this month the way it started—with goldenrod! I noticed this oddly positioned ant alate in goldenrod near the Oculus. Turning the stem around revealed this Mecaphesa flower crab spider!
