Some :OpenAccess: #arachnews from the Google Scholar alert…

We know very little about spider chromosomes; only a fraction of species (~900/50,000) have been studied. This study of 12 tiny spiders across 8 families found in leaf litter in Brazil helps fill in the gap. https://zoolstud.sinica.edu.tw/Journals/62/62-42.html

The clade shade is real in this paper sorting out the taxonomy of the opilionid family Cosmetidae in the US (and dunking on previous scientists' classifications). Just a reminder that most _Vonones_ species are now under _Libitioides_. https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/view/2143

#arachnids #spiders #cytology #Opiliones #taxonomy #SciComm #OpenAccess

I may previously have mentioned that there is an arachnologist named Gustavo Hormiga, which confuses me to no end as "hormiga" is Spanish for "ant" and I always, always instinctively first think he is a myrmecologist.

Anyway, this paper came up in my Google Scholar alerts: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107855 :ClosedAccess: and I was like, oh, cool, a new phylogeny of Symphytognathoidea, and got to "the phylogenetic hypothesis proposed using morphology to obtain the…Anterior Tracheal System (ANTS) Clade" and groaned out loud "okay please stop"

#arachnews #arachnids #spiders #phylogeny

today in #taxonomy: _Androctonus kunti_, a new scorpion species from Iğdır Province, Turkey.

"The species epithet is a patronym dedicated to Kadir Boğaç Kunt, a friend of the author and Turkish arachnologist, who has made great contributions to the knowledge of the spider fauna and systematics in Turkey."

https://mds.marshall.edu/euscorpius/vol2023/iss371/1/ :OpenAccess:

#arachnews #arachnids #scorpions #Buthidae 🦂

Also, this new paper has invaluable descriptions of Sydney funnel-web spider (_Atrax robustus_) courtship and mating behaviour, based on 81 mating trials carried out as part of the Australian Reptile Park's Sydney funnel-web breeding program. (This is used to produce antivenom.) Includes ethograms (behaviour "flowcharts") and drawn diagrams.

:OpenAccess: https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.13070

#arachnews #arachnids #spiders #Atracidae

A delightful little #OpenAccess paper from Gustavo Hormiga (who, despite his name, is an arachnologist) and William G. Eberhard, on the surprising diversity of linyphiid and pimoid spiderwebs. Includes many photos of some fantastic spider architecture. :OpenAccess: https://doi.org/10.3099/MCZ75

Also featuring this fantastic line…

#arachnews #arachnids #spiders #Linyphiidae #Pimoidae

Catching up on my Journal of #Arachnology backlog…the aggregations of silken nests created by social pseudoscorpions (_Paratemnoides elongatus_) are nearly as efficient as honeybee 🐝 cells! :pseudoscorpion:

📄 Chapin KJ, Kittle A, Dornhouse A 2022. Social pseudoscorpion nest architecture provides direct benefits to group members and rivals the efficiency of honey bees. _Journal of Arachnology_ 50:323-334 https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-21-017 :ClosedAccess: [DM for PDF]

#arachnews #arachnids #pseudoscorpions #sociality

Roses are red,
Cars go on roads,
This Mexican tarantula
was found eating a toad.

https://www.biotaxa.org/hn/article/view/73644 #Arachnews #spiders #herpetology

Nominations for the Norman Platnick Award for Taxonomic Research are open! Nominees must be:
- current members of the American Arachnological Society
- No more than 6 years post-PhD

More details: https://www.americanarachnology.org/society/norman-platnick-award/

#Arachnews #arachnology #taxonomy

Justin O. Schmidt, the adventurous entomologist behind the famous "Schmidt sting index" ranking the stings of different insects, has passed away at 75: https://news.azpm.org/s/96194-tucsons-king-of-sting-justin-schmidt-dies-from-parkinsons-disease/

Revisit Schmidt's lyrical descriptions: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/scroller-schmidt-painscale/

He never stopped innovating; in a recent paper he authored in the American Arachnological Society's journal, he taste-tested a giant red velvet mite: https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-21-019

(He reported, "After biting the mite with my front incisors, an immediate, overwhelmingly bitter, astringent, and spicy taste exploded throughout my mouth. Within seconds, I spit out the mite and its juices.")

H/t @corysilas

#entomology #arachnews #news #RIP

Happy #WoodlouseWednesday! Well, Woodlouse-Hunter Wednesday. 14 new _Dysdera_ species from Iran: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/97517

#Arachnews #spiders #taxonomy

Some #OpenAccess :OpenAccess: arachnid research from the ol' Google Scholar alert:

- Gotta love a good arachnids-eating-vertebrates article (and to no surprise, it's reptiles/amphibians). Enjoy the photos of spiders and scorpions eating frogs and lizards in Mexico & Costa Rica. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366953189/

- New silk research out of the Blackledge lab: anchor lines (a feature often left out of spiderweb models/simulations) double how much energy _Micrathena_ orbweaver webs can absorb. https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/doi/10.1242/jeb.245123/286587/

- The pseudoscorpion family Neobisiidae recorded for the first time from Hispaniola, bringing the island's total number of pseudoscorpion families to 14 https://bvearmb.do/handle/123456789/2110

#Arachnews #SciComm #arachnids #spiders #scorpions #pseudoscorpions

Some #OpenAccess arachnid research from ye olde Google Scholar alert:

- Long-jawed orbweavers (_Tetragnatha_) are well-known for building webs near water, but these Australian _Tetragnatha_ webs were actually attached *to* the water! They were catching water striders (Gerridae), too. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eth.13355 :oa:

- Male _Myrmarachne gisti_, like many ant-mimic jumping spiders, sport elongated jaws they use to fight and intimidate each other. Surprisingly, it doesn't make these East Asian spiders any worse at hunting. https://academic.oup.com/cz/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cz/zoac101/6964639 :oa:

- Over the past 15 years, what we know about the reproductive biology of harvesters (Opiliones) has advanced incredibly. This review by Glauco Machado and Mercedes Burns covers asexuality, mating rituals, sex positions, sperm competition, egg-laying, parental care, and more. This is well worth putting aside for a proper read. :oa: https://academic.oup.com/cz/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cz/zoac102/6960847

#arachnews #spiders #opiliones #SciComm #biology

Quick #arachnews roundup from the latest Google Scholar alert…

- 12 new species of Hercules pseudoscorpions (family Feaellidae) in the biodiversity hotspot of Madagascar https://arthropod-systematics.arphahub.com/articles.php?id=90570 :oa:

- Two new ant-mimic jumping spiders from Costa Rica—one is one of those nifty types with multiple colour morphs to mimic multiple ants. https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/view/2005 :oa:

- A review of Hox genes in spider development & evolution https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S108495212200355X :ClosedAccess:

#spider #arachnids #biology #SciComm

checking my latest pan-arachnid Google Scholar alert email…

"The longest-lived [laelapid] can survive more than 500 days, while the short-lived is only in stock for 2 days." This is Extremely My Shit but alas, paywalled ;_;

Zhang, N. A., Xiaoying Liu, Wenzhi Lu, Yanying Tan, Lixia Xie, and Y. I. Yan. 2022. “How Long Do Laelapid Mites (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) Live?” _Zoosymposia_ 21. https://doi.org/10.11646/zoosymposia.21.1.4 :ClosedAccess:

in other arachnid lifespan news, one of those "huh that was weird" papers, about a male _G. rosea_ that lived 8.5 years!

Cortés-Fossati, Fernando, and Irene Martín-Rodríguez. 2022. “On the Life Expectancy of a Male Chilean Rose Tarantula, _Grammostola rosea_ (Walckenaer, 1837) (Araneae: Theraphosidae) Reared in Captivity”. _Revista Chilena De Entomología_ 48 (4). https://doi.org/10.35249/rche.48.4.22.09 :OpenAccess:

#arachnews #arachnids #spider #mites #tarantula

Browsing through my regular Google Scholar arachnid alert…

New issue of Arachnology [British Arachnology Society] is out, but their paywall is absolutely impregnable so I can only see abstracts.

- male Acanthapeira orbweaver controlled by Polysphincta parasitic wasp https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2022.19.3.628
- first record of sternophorid pseudoscorpions in South America https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2022.19.3.604
- new species of Euryopis ant-hunting cobweb spider from Iran https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2022.19.3.632

- from Insects [MDPI]: cardinal spotted sitting on jorō web and stealing bugs from it https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/13/11/1049/htm

(yes, spiders are not insects…shhh…it's mdpi…just go with it)

#arachnews