COMING SOON.

COMING SOON.

COMING SOON.

COMING SOON.

COMING SOON.

COMING SOON.

COMING SOON.

COMING SOON.

*Another game of eye-spy for you here.

Another Pholcid rescued, this time in my room. I was very surprised to see that the long, tube-like abdomen characteristic to most cellar spiders was not present here, leading me to mull over the potentials of a Physocyclus globosus identification for a bit. Though, with some thought, I instead chalked this up to a malnourished Pholcus phalangioides. Hopefully it gets a nice meal. Asked for a name and my friend Ivy responded 'IvyTwo', invocative of AudreyTwo from Little Shop of Horrors... hehe.

But... on the topic of the short-bodied cellar spider, I found an interesting study on their mating behaviors. It is worth it to note beforehand that spider mating is far from the picture the majority of our brains will conjure up upon hearing the word "mating". There's really no male mounting a female or female mounting a male. The best way I can describe it is that the male spider works sort of as a mechanic towards the female spider, using his enlarged pedipalps as tools to insert his sperm into her epigyne. To me, this process is both comical and fascinating for its undeniable oddity-- it is a very different way of doing things. In many species of spiders, including aforementioned Physocyclus globosus, the male inserts both palps into the female instead of just one, likely for efficiency's sake. P. globosus then makes inward and outward twisting motions and squeezes with his palps throughout copulation. It is thought that perhaps the strength behind these movements may play a part in sexual selection, and/or functions as a way for the male to give information to the female.[source]

*For the first image, it's sort of essential to click to see the full thing, as these spindly spiders really blend into the granite out on my balcony. It's like an eye-spy game.

Ahh, the Adam and Eve of many to come. Just kidding, I don't know the sexes of these things. I didn't get a good enough look at the first (dubbed 'Peeping Tom' due to the fact it was watching me from the corner of my shower before I realized its presence) to determine anything, though for the second ('Penny'), I am pretty sure she is a female based on her thin pedipalps. Cellar spiders are very strange in appearance, aren't they? Not even for their legs, in my mind... their abdomens are so tube-like. They remind me of the gray fireplace pellets my dad would get from the farm store when I was a kid.

Here's a helpful tip, both for you and the spider: if you ever happen upon a Pholcid in your home, or any house spider for that matter, leave it be. Of course, you can move it (just as I had) to somewhere out of the way, but placing them directly in the wilderness will often mean the end for these little ones. They simply are not designed for it, seeing as they have evolved alongside us. If you don't want them just meandering about your home, a great solution is to put them out in the garage if you have one. If you don't, something similar will suffice-- in my case, I put them out on the balcony. It offers cover from wind, many crevices and corners, and a dark storage closet. But if you're fine with them in the house, they'll repay you in the form of hunting any pests that may show up!

A rather easy identification, though sex is out the window. The photos I took were rushed, as I had actually caught this one in the shower... while I was showering... But, considering the lack of visibly bulbous and dark pedipalps (which I've noticed is usually rather defined in male sac spiders), it perhaps could be female OR a juvenile male. Who knows. In the second image, you can see the highest set of eyes, which I think is pretty cool. Was named, put as kindly as possible, 'Stubborn Cunt' due to the fact it did not wish to leave the container I trapped it in when I went to release it.

While C. inclusum are incredible and eager predators, it is not as well known that they also utilize nectar to help them along in their very active, nomadic lives. In the cited study, yellow sac spiderlings provided with sustenance in the form of moth eggs and nectar from the Terminalia catappa plant were observed to generally perform better than spiderlings raised on eggs without nectar. Spiders were noted to molt more, grow more and grow faster, and produce more offspring than spiders not given access to nectar, even if the nectar-included group were supplied less eggs than their nectar-excluded counterparts. Most interesting to me is that C. inclusum fed nectar on an only 5-egg diet more easily made it to adulthood while those on the same diet sans nectar did not at all. [source]

The jury is out on how confident I am in this identification. At first, I thought it had to be Trachelas tranquillus, a broad-faced sac spider, or at least some sort of Trachelidae. But after sitting with that for a long while, something felt wrong. While the thorax, fangs, and eyes seemed similar in shape and/or position, the coloring, leg span, bulk, and abdomen were throwing me off. I then realized-- after much too long-- that this subject was literally found dangling above my bed from a string of web... The broad-faced sac spider is a type of ground spider, so that guess (alongside the one I had about it possibly being Clubionidae) went right out the window. After some desperate searching, I finally happened upon the idea of him being a Linyphiid, male given the prominently swollen curled pedipalps. That's what I'm going to choose to stick with for now, but if you have any other ideas, please feel free to comment on my site page or e-mail me at phi1l1y.neocities@gmail.com! He was named 'Loam Surfer The Wiggling' and released without issue after catching him before he could fall upon my head.

While the genus of Diplostyla is monotypic (meaning it only has one defined species within it), small spiders, mainly Linyphiidae, are also known as "money spiders" in parts of Europe and other countries. This is based on the supposed folk myth that if said diminutive spider pays you a surprise visit, it is blessing you with good fortune, perhaps even signaling that it will soon be spinning you new clothes. Because of this, it is said to be bad luck to kill or hurt them.

*This inconspicuous bug was effectively the start of my bug-saving journey, so shout out to her!

A common earwig found crawling up my wall in the morning. I was very close to killing her (I even had the tissue paper ready in my hand), but when I stopped to look for longer than two seconds, I suddenly couldn't do it. I put her in a cup and fawned over her awhile, watching as she cutely pulled one stuck antennae from her pincers with her little legs. Affectionately named 'Murder Baby 7000 The Tormentor (But Also The Lover)', an attempt to get her some status when she goes back to her buggy friends. When I released her she crawled back in my direction, which triggered my motherly instincts and prompted me to force myself back inside as to not act on them. The subject here is female, based on the dull curve of her cerci and the overall length and shape of her body.

Did you know? Male maritime earwigs (Anisolabis maritima) with asymmetrical cerci-- the claw-like appendages located at the end of their abdomen-- have been shown to win fights more typically when pitted against males with symmetrical cerci. While general bodily size tends to be the deciding factor for larger brawling males, smaller males may rely on this asymmetry more often to win their fights. [source]