I almost forgot it was #MiteMonday! Inspired by @zorbama's shot of a running crab spider, clover mite, and midge all together (https://veganism.social/@zorbama/114373000260983349), here's a running crab spider (_Philodromus_) I found feeding on a clover mite (_Bryobia_). I don't actually often find many arthropods feeding on the adults, though I've seen predatory _Anystis_ mites eating the eggs.
A nap ízeltlábúja a pókok keresztespókok családjába tartozó koronás keresztespók - Araneus diadematus https://www.izeltlabuak.hu/faj/koronas-keresztespok/talalatok #koronásKeresztespók #AraneusDiadematus #keresztespókok #Araneidae #pókok #Araneae #CitizenScience
Both my current spiders (cobweb spider and cellar spider) molted this week!
OK, so you know how instead of gradually turning rust-red like iron does, copper turns from, well, copper to light blueish-green, and how copper compounds will turn a flame blue-green? Well, arthropod hemolymph (their equivalent of blood) uses copper-containing proteins to transport oxygen, and so spider "blood" is blueish-green—like how our iron-rich blood is red.
You usually can't see it, but right after molting this spider is unusually translucent (the exoskeleton is still hardening up) and the legs still have a distinct blue-green hue.
Bonus pic: ._.
A Black Corinnomma (Corinnomma severum) spotted at Dairy Farm Nature Park, Singapore on 21 Dec 2024. A member of the Ground and Ant-mimic Sac Spiders, the spider's narrow waist and bulging abdomen make it look like a black ant from far.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/255752282 ].
#SpiderSunday: several of the spiders I met on that one warm day last week! A running crab spider (_Philodromus_), a bold jumping spider (_Phidippus audax_), some kind of crab spider in tribe Coriarachnini (_Bassaniana_?), and a good old zebra jumping spider (_Salticus scenicus_) with what looks like most of a mesh-web weaver (family Dictynidae).
New research from the Hebets Lab at University of Nebraska Lincoln: _Agelenopsis_ grass spiders in noisy urban environments weave webs with built-in noise dampening—as opposed to their rural cousins, who built more sensitive webs when researchers turned up the volume.
From the NYT article linked below:
> “While animal sensory systems can, and do, certainly adapt over evolutionary time to changing environmental conditions, this takes time,” Dr. Hebets said. “Behavioral changes, however, can be immediate.”
This offers an intriguing tangent: webs are part of a spider's sensory apparatus but are constantly re-built, and behavioural plasticity lets them "evolve" much faster—an evolution you can't track by looking at physical traits alone.
Anecdotally, _Agelenopsis_ are masters at adapting their flat sheet webs to even the unlikeliest urban environments! So it's not a surprise they are adaptable in other ways as well.
Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.041 
NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/science/spiders-webs-noise-pollution.html // https://archive.ph/Mu7KJ
Two Gray Wall Jumping Spiders (Menemerus bivittatus), female and male, spotted at Springleaf Park Connector, Singapore on 14 Dec 2024. A common spider, found in both urban areas and parks.
On iNaturalist:
- https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/255061504
- https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/255061505
A Thin-legged Wolf Spider (genus Pardosa) spotted at Ulu Sembawang Park Connector, Singapore on 24 Nov 2024. A common spider, here seen carrying an egg pouch on the abodomen.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/254289654 ].
A nap ízeltlábúja a pókok fürgekarolópókok családjába tartozó bársonysávos karolópók - Thanatus formicinus https://www.izeltlabuak.hu/faj/barsonysavos-karolopok/talalatok #bársonysávosKarolópók #ThanatusFormicinus #fürgekarolópókok #Philodromidae #pókok #Araneae #CitizenScience
A nap ízeltlábúja a pókok ugrópókok családjába tartozó fészkes ugrópók - Macaroeris nidicolens https://www.izeltlabuak.hu/faj/feszkes-ugropok/talalatok #fészkesUgrópók #MacaroerisNidicolens #ugrópókok #Salticidae #pókok #Araneae #CitizenScience #KözösségiTudomány
A nap ízeltlábúja a pókok törpepókok családjába tartozó dudva törpepók - Neottiura bimaculata https://www.izeltlabuak.hu/faj/dudva-torpepok/talalatok #dudvaTörpepók #NeottiuraBimaculata #törpepókok #Theridiidae #pókok #Araneae #CitizenScience #KözösségiTudomány
Got quite the shock just now when I saw my pet _Parasteatoda_ had made an egg sac!!
She has molted since I caught her, so it's not fertilized, she just made it on her own initiative. I didn't think she was full grown! I'm just very surprised. Uh…happy Valentine's Day?
#BREAKING: my pet _Larinioides_ orbweaver is almost certainly a juvenile male! The palps are way too bulbous for a female's, I think.
Anyway, here e is chowing down on eir fruit flies.
A nap ízeltlábúja a pókok eretnekpókok családjába tartozó nagy eretnekpók - Amaurobius ferox https://www.izeltlabuak.hu/faj/nagy-eretnekpok/talalatok #nagyEretnekpók #AmaurobiusFerox #eretnekpókok #Amaurobiidae #pókok #Araneae #CitizenScience #KözösségiTudomány
The #jumpingspider #Pseudeuophrys #lanigera (#Salticidae, #Araneae) is a #species that, according to Heiko Bellmann: (Der Kosmos Spinnenführer.2016), originally was #native to #southwestEurope, but has #spread in #CentralEurope since the 1950s, where it lives in the area of human #buildings. According to L. J. Ramseyer & R. L. Crawford (2017) it occurs in #NorthAmerica as a #neozoon.
© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025
Reference
L. J. Ramseyer & R. L. Crawford (2017): https://doi.org/10.3956/2017-93.4.226
