OK, this isn’t going to turn into a spider blog. But I just happened to see this cutie in the yard today. There’s something so appealing about jumping spiders, with those two big and two little eyes.
Phidippus adumbratus
Tag: arachnid
Dictis striatipes
A new-to-me arachnid! I didn’t observe the spitting behaviour myself.
Steatoda nobilis
Thursday is yard work day, when we fill two green bins with oak leaves and offcuts, chipping away at the accumulation that’s been filling the carport. As I shovelled the leaves into the bin, lots of fat false widow spiders crawled out of the mulch, including this seven-legged mama.
Steatoda nobilis is native to Madeira and the Canary Islands from where it is thought to have spread to Europe, and continued to spread to other parts of the world including the United States, Chile and Colombia. It is now regarded as one of the most invasive spider species globally. It is considered moderately medically significant, with most bites causing symptoms comparable to those of a bee or wasp sting.
Peucetia viridans
I spotted this beauty in the house; after catching it for some closer observations and ID, I released it into the veggie garden. Maybe it will hunt cabbage white butterflies—one can hope!
Aceria aloinis
Some of our aloe plants have “cancer” 😩
Dermacentor variabilis
Ticks are parasitic arachnids of the order Ixodida. They live by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. They’ve been around for a long time; the oldest known tick fossils are from the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years old.
I’d never heard of the American dog tick (or wood tick) till I brought one home on my neck last weekend. They mostly live east of the Rocky Mountains. Dermacentor variabilis is a three-host tick—the larva, nymph and adult all need to ingest blood.
Some ticks attach to their host rapidly, while others wander around searching for thinner skin, such as that in the ears of mammals. Mine was obviously still on the hunt for a good feeding site. Reading up on tularemia and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, I’m glad I removed it before it latched on!
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