Comments

  1. Oggie: Mathom says

    I have been cleaning out the basement over the last week. We have about a pickup truck-load of garbage (very little recyclable (mostly wood that has not done well in our perpetually humid basement)) and I had no idea that those tan spiders with the really really long legs, a black spot on dorsal Prosoma, black chelicerae, and an opisthoma that looks kinda like a light creme brule, the ones living (and dying) in the cellar are, lo and behold, Pholcus manuali, the Cellar Spider. They look identical to one of your photos on iNaturalist.

    I wasn’t careful and I learned something new today.

  2. birgerjohansson says

    I am surprised there is enough food around for them, but I assume there is a huge reproductive advantage to being the first out after the winter.
    I am still waiting for you to discover some cool species, like a spider that burrows into your abdomen to deposit ten thousand eggs.

  4. says

    A host of spiders? Is that the official name for a group of spiders? You know, like a murder of crows, a clowder of cats, or a business of ferrets?

  5. birgerjohansson says

    If spiders were fatter, they might seve as a food staple for cats. Then you would have an ecology with two cool predators.

  7. astringer says

    Serendipitously On Topic: Guardian Everyman crossword today: 18D
    “Their web sites hopefully contain bugs!” (7)

  11. birgerjohansson says

    The closely related wossname, the detritivores that look just like spiders, should be getting out in force before the spiders, as there is a shortage of insects but not a shortage of stuff they can digest.

  12. birgerjohansson says

    Opiliones! I got it!
    Anyway, before insects return in full strength, detritivores like this would have a better shot at feeding.