Category Archives: spider

Opiliones Over Seattle!

Visitors to the Seattle Space Needle will get a special arachnid surprise when they look out over the observation platform! Two humongous harvestman spiders have been painted on the roof of the Seattle Center Armory by scientific illustrator and muralist … Continue reading

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Creeping Countertops

The above coffee tables (and the chandelier clutching at the ceiling) are just a small part of woodworker Michael Wilson‘s beautifully biomorphic collection, but they’re of course my favorites. My heart simply moults for home décor that looks like it’s … Continue reading

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Araneus diadematus invasius!

Here in the Bay Area, we have very few really large insects.  Aside from Jerusalem crickets, most insects and spiders here are small and scarce. But in September and October, the weather heats up, and beautiful huge orb weavers appear … Continue reading

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The Golden Fleece

Like the endless nature documentaries that invariably used a football field as the default unit of measurement for flea-jumping, nearly every educational book or film that mentions spiders always talked about the incredible unrealized potential of spider silk. “Pound for … Continue reading

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Hairy Stills

Though Parisian artist Guido Mocafico has received lots of attention for his beautiful photography of snakes, I love this hairy series of his, collectively called Aranea. His site also has a wonderful collection of jellyfish portraits, and photographs done in … Continue reading

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Manuscript Call for Insects and Art

While I love it when artists talk about science, I really enjoy scientists talking (and publishing)  about art:  Bug Girl has the scoop on an open-access scientific journal called Insects that will have an entire issue edited by Jennifer Angus, … Continue reading

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Katherine McDowell Patterson

Plenty of butterflies and spiderwebs (and vertebrates, if that’s your thing) by Katherine McDowell Patterson

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Time considered as a helix of semi-precious enzymes

Loom is a fantastic animation about a moment that occurs in the fractions of seconds, when a spider attacks a moth. It’s beautiful, dramatic, and poetic. That may seem like jarring adjectives for what looks like an evil horrid spider … Continue reading

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Wonders beneath your feet

This is an absolutely wonderful article about a new discovery: Tarantulas not only posses spinnerets, but have silk glands on their feet. Wired News has a picture-laden article about the whole silky saga. This enables the heavy arachnids to climb … Continue reading

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Maratus voltans, spider supreme!

I’ve been showing this video all week to everybody in range of my computer. It’s simply the most awesomest salticid display, EVAR. And if you know your jumping spiders, you can bet that it’s no mean feat. Watch the entire … Continue reading

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