We spent another day rummaging about in strangers’ garages, working up a dirty sweat and getting spider webs in our faces. It was great fun! We doubled the size of our data set, so that’s the big news.
The other fun thing is that while mostly the data is repetitive — most garages around here are full of Pholcidae or familiar ol’ Parasteatoda tepidariorum — it’s neat when find a different population. We’re seeing the same species of Theridiidae everywhere, but we walked into one shed today and it was different. Theridiidae, sure, this shed contained only Steatoda borealis. These guys, with many teeny tiny recent hatchlings:
We’re going back here in July to see if that population retains its grip.
Not sure the message you intended to convey, but I see an angry spider in captivity and a dirty penny with the vague image of Lincoln. Something strongly compels me 1500 miles north to rescue spiders from captivity.
Vive la reine
Free the spiders!
Having read a number of these blogs about arachnids, I’m trying to remember whether there’s any actual “science” going on. Maybe it’s just a scavenger hunt for freshmen and sophomores along with some demonstration of factors involved in species survival. Hope the field experience doesn’t interfere too greatly with actual intro biology. I’m remembering an American History course taught by a PhD candidate who was obviously working on a dissertation about the Bendix Air Brake; he made the entire course a seminar on the glories of this railroad technology and attributed every aspect of the Western Expansion to it; no actual history was learned by any.