Mary found this Bold Jumper while gardening.
I have moved it into luxurious housing in my lab, along with a few flies and a juicy mealworm.
All of my friends seem to be spiders nowadays.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
That’s a big one! I’m in minneapolis, but I have never seen one here that big.
I was just minutes ago smoking a bowl on the back porch when I spotted a big fat jumping spider trekking across the deck. He (she?) was about 10 feet away when I waved at him, and he immediately reacted and turned to keep an eye or three on me until he crab-walked over the edge into the grass.
Artor, you should have offered flies and a juicy meal worm like PZ, and you’d have a friend for life.
Bold jumpers are the cutest! Where are the shiny green palps though? That and the fuzziness are why I always liked them. Pretty green colors.
I am just reading the latest SF by Neal Asher. The AI combat drones tend to have arachnid morphology, there is a nice one that is a main character.
Here’s an absolutely lovely picture book about a jumper: https://bookshop.org/p/books/jumper-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-backyard-jumping-spider-jessica-lanan/17607765/
This one I haven’t read, but looks fun. A jumper in space! https://bookshop.org/p/books/nefertiti-the-spidernaut-the-jumping-spider-who-learned-to-hunt-in-space-darcy-pattison/8346428/
You might like the movie “Spaceman.” It stars Adam Sandler, along with a really big, intelligent, friendly spider.