This week’s Arachnews is a shorter one, as I’m catching up on a backlog of papers to sort. In this edition: charismatic Habronattus jumping spiders, the return of Silkhenge, fallout of the Australian bushfires, the latest volley in the are-horseshoe-crabs-arachnids debate, and more!
In this week’s Arachnews: spider/human jam sessions, the European spider of the year, Australian bushfires and the Arthropocalypse, tracking ticks, name changes and newly described species, and more.
In 2020, we’re switching to weekly—because there’s just too much art, writing, news, and scientific research for a measly monthly digest. In this edition:
funny & educational Twitter threads
tattoos!
social spider evolution
how mites and spiders cope with heat
new recluse spider in Mexico
new South African widow spider (with purple silk)!
At the end of 2018, I was burnt out on politics, and I decided to instead write about something I genuinely loved and could change people’s minds about: spiders. I started writing up the various bits of arachnid-related things I come across, calling it “Arachnews”.
In April, Sebastian Alejandro Echeverri asked Spider Twitter who might be interested in a group blog, to provide better coverage of arachnids than the usual “creepy-crawly” stuff you see in the news. I jumped aboard, and we switched from my “random bookmarks of things people send me” system to a spreadsheet of Google Scholar alerts. I had no idea how much stuff was out there, guise. It’s a whole new world. Yes, like the song, but, like, with more spiders.
This past month was very busy, as I have been making up for all the work I missed recovering from surgery. So this Arachnews is rather late. But, tons of great stuff! In this month’s edition: rainbow-faced spiders, the results of the Great Black Widow Race, the goods on that “climate change making spiders more aggressive” story, a scorpion-inspired pressure sensor, a new Portia paper, and more.
I’ve also changed the formatting up a bit. Links to the original papers are now posted at the end of each item, accompanied by Sci-Hub links unless they’re open access (marked with a 🔓️).
In this month’s edition of Arachnews: some amazing photography, cute cartoons, seal nasal mites, beetle-riding pseudoscorpions, ethical treatment of spiders, the evolution of sociality, and some beautiful newly described species. Go check it out.