#arachtober — Public Fediverse posts

#Arachtober 28: clover mite (_Bryobia_) in a bright patch of lichen.

#ArthroBeauty #LichenSubscribe #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #CloverMites #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

#Arachtober 25: now for something entirely different, a penthaleid mite (https://bugguide.net/node/view/263374) feeding on a dandelion leaf. Species like the common _P. major_ (which this probably is) have a #DorsalAnus and excrete these globules as they feed, often hanging upside down on the undersides of leaves or vertically on blades of grass.

(If you think a dorsal anus is wild, certain astig females have secondary dorsal genital openings for copulation.)

#ArthroBeauty #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Penthaleidae

#Arachtober 23: witnessed some interesting behaviour between two long-legged velvet mites (family Erythraeidae, likely genus _Balaustium_) on a tree trunk. They were circling each other and drumming their legs, similar to what I've seen courting _Allothrombium_ red velvet mites doing. I am going to email a mite expert and see what they think!

Unfortunately somewhat shaky video here: https://youtu.be/eGYU6fMfm_Q

#ArthroBeauty #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Parasitengona #Erythraeidae

#Arachtober 21: dreams can come true (if your dream is finding a snout mite https://flipping.rocks/@nev/115403746846167689)

#ArthroBeauty #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Bdellidae #LichenSubscribe

#Arachtober 20: a tiny oribatid or beetle mite, likely suborder Mixonomata (https://bugguide.net/node/view/238862), ubiquitous dwellers of soil and leaf litter, armoured decomposers.

#ArthroBeauty #MiteMonday #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Oribatida #Mixonomata

#Arachtober 11: a little thin-legged wolf spider (_Pardosa_) on a blade of grass in a marshy meadow. They can be practically as jumpy as jumping spiders and are very hard to get close enough to to photograph.

#ArthroBeauty #WolfSpiders #spiders #Araneae #Lycosidae

#Arachtober 26: the cool weather is back and so the clover mites (_Bryobia_) are out! The tiny juvenile spiders plentiful now seemed unbothered by the crowds of mites scrambling around them.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #CloverMites #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Acari #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae #Araneae #Tetragnathidae

#Arachtober 17: gotta delete old photos on my phone to free up space, so, from early June, here's a couple of rather unlucky running crab spiders (family Philodromidae) who don't even have eight legs between them!

As I explain in a blog post (https://nevillepark.ca/2024/05/24/i-can-put-my-leg-back-on-you-cant-how-spiders-regrow-limbs/), spiders can regenerate detached legs when they molt. But typical spiders (basically, not tarantulas, trapdoors, purse-webs, etc.) stop molting once they become sexually mature. If they lose a leg after that, they're stuck that way. And this often happens with highly mobile spiders like running crab spiders.

(The male in the second picture has regenerated his back right leg recently. If he still had molts left, it would gradually gain colour and become longer and eventually indistinguishable from its counterpart.)

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Philodromidae

#Arachtober 12: In some interestingly fungus-covered grass in the swampy meadow by the creek just past the Oculus, I saw lots of _Pardosa_ thin-legged wolf spiders, but they were as jumpy as, well, jumping spiders and it was hard to photograph any. Here's a couple I did get!

These cute little spiders, getting up to ~1cm body length, put the lie to the common misconception that a "wolf spider" is necessarily big, hairy, and bulky. In fact the family Lycosidae has thousands of species all over the world, as varied as their habitats, from large desert burrow-dwellers to these lithe little denizens of marshy undergrowth and rocky shore.

#ArthroBeauty #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #WolfSpiders #spiders • #Araneae #Lycosidae

#Arachtober 22: "Back off!" This running crab spider (_Philodromus_) I found on a rock tonight was suspicious of me. Black & white not to be artsy but because the white balance was irreparably fucked up.

#DailySpiderPic #arachnids #spiders #Araneae #Philodromidae #macro

#Arachtober 13 (it's still the 13th somewhere!): a fast-moving, red running crab spider (family Philodromidae) eating an equally fast-moving, red whirligig mite (family Anystidae)! From back in July, seen on the Park Dr Reservation Trail, southwest of the Evergreen Brick Works.

Possibly _Philodromus rufus_? I've only identified a _Philodromus_ to species like, once.

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #spiders #mites #Araneae #Philodromidae #Acari #Anystidae