#arachnids — Public Fediverse posts

This bright little spider knows exactly where the juiciest bugs congregate at night 😁

#spider #spiderweb #orbweaver #spin #spinneweb #clever #arachnids #creepycrawlies #worksmartnothard

🕷️ Garden Cross Spider embalming its dinner.

https://piefed.social/c/photography@lemmy.world/p/2354885/garden-cross-spider-embalming-its-dinner

🕷️ Garden Cross Spider embalming its dinner.

https://piefed.social/c/photography@lemmy.world/p/2354885/garden-cross-spider-embalming-its-dinner

🕷️ Garden Cross Spider embalming its dinner.

https://piefed.social/c/photography@lemmy.world/p/2354885/garden-cross-spider-embalming-its-dinner

🕷️ Garden Cross Spider embalming its dinner.

https://piefed.social/c/photography@lemmy.world/p/2354885/garden-cross-spider-embalming-its-dinner

🕷️ Garden Cross Spider embalming its dinner.

https://piefed.social/c/photography@lemmy.world/p/2354885/garden-cross-spider-embalming-its-dinner

Some kind of Orb-weaver spider I think.

#nature #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #michigan #animals #wildlife #photography #spider #spiders #arachnid #arachnids #web

Some kind of Orb-weaver spider I think.

#nature #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #michigan #animals #wildlife #photography #spider #spiders #arachnid #arachnids #web

Some kind of Orb-weaver spider I think.

#nature #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #michigan #animals #wildlife #photography #spider #spiders #arachnid #arachnids #web

Some kind of Orb-weaver spider I think.

#nature #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #michigan #animals #wildlife #photography #spider #spiders #arachnid #arachnids #web

Some kind of Orb-weaver spider I think.

#nature #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #michigan #animals #wildlife #photography #spider #spiders #arachnid #arachnids #web

A Black and yellow garden spider that caught a Common bumble bee.

There are small holes in the silk from several bites.

#nature #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #michigan #animals #wildlife #photography #spider #spiders #arachnid #arachnids #bee #bees #web

Acantholycosa sp.

#Spider #ArtWithOpenSource #CCBYSA #Darktable #Arachnid #Arachnids #Spiders #Animal #Animals #AnimalPhotography #Arthropod #Arthropods #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Nature #NaturePhotography #Photo #Photography

This absolute unit had set up shop right above the back door, I included the recessed ceiling light for scale (the photo still doesn't do it justice, the light is smaller than the spider 😭😭😭)

My husband managed to safely remove it and release it in the backyard in a spot where there should be plenty to eat. I'll bet this guy eats mice. 😩

#gianthousespider #absoluteunit #EndBoss #spiders #huisspin #arachnids #arachnophobia #donotwant #aaaaaaah #pleasegetitawayfromme #imscared

A Spined micrathena being lovely

#nature #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #michigan #animals #wildlife #photography #spider #spiders #arachnid #arachnids #web

European garden spider (2012)
lat. Araneus diadematus
Photo ©️ Dietmar Bachmann
📍Zofingen, Switzerland

#wildlifewednesday #MakroMittwoch #wildlife #photography #spiders #animals #crossspider #orbweaver #arachnids #arthropods #sunset #Nikon #NikonD4 #Wildtiere #Fotografie #Spinnen #Tiere #Gartenkreuzspinne #Radnetzspinne #Kreuzspinnen #Spinnentiere #Arachnoidea #Sonnenuntergang

Une argiope frelon attrape une sauterelle dans sa toile — spectacle de prédation brut et fascinant! À voir pour les amateurs de nature et d'araignées. #Nature #Wildlife #Spiders #Argiope #Predation #Arachnids #PeerTube #French #Animalier
https://peertube.nicolastissot.fr/videos/watch/b9211441-730f-4a36-8fa7-70c7bdfffc27

#Mouthparts in #mites of the #Acariformes are usually normal shaped as typical for #arachnids. The #chelicerae are the feeding organs consisting of digitus fixus and d. mobilis. #Pedipalps have sensing functions with different kinds of #sensoryorgans. In #Histiostomatidae (#Astigmata) the whole #gnathosoma is modified into a complex #filterfeeding organ that creates an #underpressure on #food surfaces.
© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2026

Reference
S. F. Wirth (2023)
https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/GSP/GSOIL4N/GSOIL4N-Posters/ID_167.pdf

#MiteMonday: a tiny _Podocinum_ mite found under a rock. Its extremely thin elongated front legs have forked hairs at the end, and it seems to use these legs like antennae to navigate.

Much better pictures here: https://bugguide.net/node/view/514391

#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Podocinidae

World's biggest spiderweb home to more than 110,000 spiders discovered on the Albanian-Greek border

https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/11/07/worlds-biggest-spiderweb-home-to-more-than-110000-spiders-discovered-on-the-albanian-greek

#News #spiders #arachnophobia #arachnophilia #arachnids 🕷️ 🕸️

Note to self: when you think you’ve dropped your pen between two lounge chairs and a quick look shows something dark in the shadows, do NOT reach your hand down there to pick it up!

Fortunately for my nerves it was a dead huntsman, but it was a major creep out nonetheless. Could have been worse, right? We’ve had funnelwebs in the house before. #arachnids #arachnophobia #spiders #straya #australia

#Arachtober 4: March mating mesostig madness!

These are an ubiquitous sort of soil-dwelling predatory mites, likely in the family Parasitidae (ironically, primarily predators) in the order Mesostigmata in the superorder Parasitiformes. They are only very distantly related to the whirligig mite I posted the other day, which is in superorder Acariformes. While the two superorders are traditionally grouped together under Acari, it is likely they don't share a common ancestor and should be treated separately. So I'm counting them as a different group!

#iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/275521159 :inaturalist:

Some pro-level photos and info about mesostigs: https://www.chaosofdelight.org/all-about-mites-mesostigmata

#ArthroBeauty #arachnids #mites #MiteSex #taxonomy #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Parasitidae

The rain this morning brought out plenty of arthropods in the garden, including these two arachnids. A podocinid mite (https://bugguide.net/node/view/247922), a tiny mesostig with extremely long, thin front legs terminating in forked hairs; and a chthoniid pseudoscorpion, with its clawed pedipalps. Strangely akin.

#ArthroBeauty #arachnids #pseudoscorpions #mites #Pseudoscorpiones #Cthoniidae #Acari #Mesostigmata #Podocinidae

It was a relatively nice day, so I went out to take some photos. Here are some bugs I found.
Not sure what the black fly is exactly, could be a mosquito, could be a kind of midge.

#spider #mite #diptera #bugs #insects #arachnids #photography #macro #wildlife

I almost forgot it was #MiteMonday! From under one of my reliable dead logs just a few days ago, a mesostig with its prey, a tiny white springtail; a slug for scale; and a smaller, paler mesostig crossing paths with another springtail (which it did not try to eat).

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #springtails #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Collembola #Poduromorpha

Flipped over a piece of log on a big dead stump and there were tons of those little iridescent blue-purple springtails, but also several mesostigs. I was watching them hoping one would catch a springtail, and one seemed to be questing about for something. Then it chased after one of the other mites, flung itself on its back, and after some tumbling around ended up clinging to its underside. Then, this. I'm not even sure what's happening, I don't even know what appendages these mites use for sperm transfer.

edit: oh yeah I forgot to add they're totally having sex

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #MiteBehaviour #Acari #Mesostigmata

The first #MiteMonday in a while! The wet dead leaves are a bountiful source of predatory mesostigmatid mites.

#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata

Gotta post something for the last #MiteMonday of the year. Here's some mesostigs (family Parasitidae or thereabouts?), predators of the undergrowth, making their way across alien landscapes of fungus and leaf litter on the underside of a dead log.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata

#MiteMonday: checked out my favourite dead logs, got more pictures of mesostigs preying on springtails!!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Parasitidae???

Thrilling moment today. I had flipped a log and was trying (with limited success) to get in-focus photos of this mesostigmatid mite when a tiny springtail ran directly into its path. To my surprise the mite seized it immediately and then, antenniform front legs aloft, hurried off looking for somewhere safe to consume its prize.

I knew, of course, that mesostigs like this were predatory; I'd just never witnessed the actual predating!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata

#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 :OpenAccess:

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

#Arachtober 7: this mesostig's bristly, pointy face kind of reminds me of a hedgehog. Although similar in colour and body shape, it seems a bit more…rugged than the ones I normally see? More matte and spiky.

#MiteMonday #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata

#Arachtober 4: a representative from the other mite order, Parasitiformes! The parasitiform group Mesostigmata does contain some infamous parasites, but many—like this one here—are soil-dwelling predators.

(Acariformes and Parasitiformes have traditionally been grouped together under Acari, "mites", but in fact they are probably not each other's closest relatives and deserve to be treated as separate groups. Don't look too closely at higher mite classification or you will go mad.)

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata

The cherry trees are blooming in Trinity-Bellwoods! 🌸

…But I didn't dress up or bring a selfie stick or anything so instead I just rolled over some logs and took pictures of mites. I saw mesostigs trying to carry off springtails, plus one with some small prey (quite possibly another mite) in its mouthparts.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #bugstodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Mesostigmata #MiteBehaviour

Miracle of miracles, found a slow-moving mesostig under a log at the park.

#DailyMiteVid #MiteMonday #Mitestodon #bugstodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Mesostigmata

widow found in neighbour's co-worker's grapes update: got her new digs (jar with some sticks in it) and some fruit flies. she's just had her first meal in who knows how long!

#DailySpiderPic #arachnids #spiders #Araneae #Theridiidae #Latrodectus

#MiteMonday: flipping tables, not rocks—the folding table in the garden got tipped over and when I put it back, there were a bunch of mesostigs on it!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Mesostigmata uhhhh #Gamasina? #macro

#Arachtober 27: The trunk of a regal yellow tree (linden or something similar?) was busy with mites. I found a tiny cobweb spider feeding on a whirligig mite, and a red velvet mite feeding on prey in another cobweb spider's web!

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #MiteBehaviour #arachnids #spiders #mites #Acari #Anystidae #Trombidiidae #Araneae #Theridiidae

#Arachtober 15: a beautiful candy-striped cobweb spider (_Enoplognatha_). Peppermint flavoured? :thaenkin:

#DailySpiderPic #arachnids #spiders #Araneae #Theridiidae

#Arachtober 7: a tiny, intriguingly patterned mesostigmatid mite, from the same bunch of logs where I found the orange mushrooms in my recent post.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Mesostigmata

accidentally turned on the front camera when taking pictures of a _Steatoda_ (_S. borealis_ or _S. bipunctata_?) I found under a piece of bark

#bugstodon #selfie #DailySpiderPic #arachnids #spiders #Araneae #Theridiidae #macro

#WeevilWednesday: Took a photo of this black vine weevil (_Otiorhynchus sulcatus_) late the other night. The next afternoon, I saw it had fallen prey to the common house spider (_Parasteatoda tepidariorum_) living nearby. Press F to pay respects.

#insects #beetles #weevils #Coleoptera #Curculionidae #Entiminae • #DailySpiderPic #arachnids #spiders #Araneae #Theridiidae #macro

A bit of #OpenAccess #Arachnews:

How do forested buffers around rivers affect the diet of predators like trout and spiders? In the abundant fall season, both get most of their food from terrestrial sources! I'm not sure exactly what this means because ecology is really hard so read the paper yourself: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352249623000319#s0040 :OpenAccess:

Two new species of eyeless, cave-dwelling pholcids described. One is from Australia's ancient Pilbara, a remnant from before Australia aridified. Another is from lava tubes on Réunion Island. Plus some philosophical questions about what a cave is, really. https://subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/105798/ :OpenAccess:

#SciComm #arachnids #spiders #Pholcidae #Tetragnathidae #Lycosidae #caves #ecology #taxonomy

Aphid predators seen lately:

- Enoplognatha cobweb spider on goldenrod
- Ladybug on goldenrod
- Lacewing larva on chicory
- Whirligig mite on…I don't know what this plant is

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #spiders #mites #insects #beetles #lacewings #Araneae #Theridiidae #Acari #Anystidae #Coleoptera #Coccinellidae #Neuroptera #predation #macro

#MiteMonday: I was taking a photo of this red velvet mite (family Trombidiidae) when I noticed something on its butt. To my great surprise, it was another mite—a mesostigmatid, which are often hitchhikers on other arthropods. I haven't seen anything similar on trombidiids before, to my knowledge. Anyone know what's going on here?

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Mesostigmata #phoresy

However, I was *really* there to catch some rays with the wolf spiders. This _Pardosa lapidicina_ had such a comfortable sploot going on that she didn't even mind me taking up-close photos. There's no sploot like the P. lap sploot.

#ArthroBeauty #DailySpiderPic #arachnids #spiders #Lycosidae #sploot #macro