New news and old news

As you may have noticed dear reader, we are atrocious at keeping up with this whole "weekly" updating thing.  That is not to say that we aren't trying, and we definitely do care about creating new content for your enjoyment... but boy life is busy!  To that end, we will be officially sticking to the weekly schedule, but in reality will probably only post every other week or so.  Now, on to the news!

First, the new news.  Starting this week (the next post most likely) we will begin a new type of posting.  These new posts, which I will hereafter refer to as summation posts, will be reviews and breakdowns of some current papers on jumping spiders and their fascinating ways.  Initially, we will try and focus on the most current findings, but don't be surprised if we review a classic paper every now and then as well.  Also, if there is a particular paper or topic you'd like explored during one or more of these posts, please contact us and let us know!

Now, the old news.  The Salticids of Nebraska book that has been mentioned on this blog before is still a work in progress.  I am sad to say that I do not have anything new to share with you today, but there should be some new photos and possibly other content posted soon!  Keep your eyes, however many that may be, open, I promise it will be worth the wait!

Until next time dear reader, keep on spidering!

New year, New start!

The last few weeks have been rather slow in terms of posting.  Jon and I apologize for this unexpected silence on our end. November and December became inundated with unexpected events and experiments.  However, as the new year starts, new schedules are taking shape and many good things are on the way! 
     The good news for you dear readers is that this coming semester will feature at least one new blog post a week starting around the middle of January.  Why the sudden increase in posting?  Well, long story short, the book the we have been mentioning has been moved off of the back burner and will be getting large amounts of attention this semester.  This means that not only will new pictures be posted frequently, but also that previews of the book's contents will begin showing up on our blog!
     Jon and I are both very excited about these new developments and look forward to hearing what you, dear reader, think and things progress!

Happy New year!

I am Arachnophobic

    Hello, my name is Jon and I am arachnophobic. When I mention that I work with spiders and am arachnophobic many people question how it works. I myself sometimes question how I manage it and why my arachnophobia excludes Salticids. It wasn't always that way; any and all spiders got swift “justice” underneath my foot or beneath a rolled up magazine or newspaper.

 

My slow transformation from complete arachnophobia to working with spiders began sophomore year of college in an Introduction to Zoology class.

   Matt was looking for a student volunteer to help him with his research, somehow I volunteered. My first trip into the field with Matt was an icy shock into the world of spiders. Matt had set up a grid system of marking flags with small vials turned upside down taped to them. The idea is that Salticids, which don't build webs but instead make nests, would use the vials as substrate for their nests and we would come along and coax the spiders out of them. So around dusk, Matt and I arrived at our first set of traps. Matt calmly showed me what we were doing and then let me at it. I will admit, I was deathly frightened that the salticids would jump out and attack me as soon as I turned the flags upside down to tease them out, but I slowly realized that this was mental overreaction. After enduring two months of this “torture” I was finally coming to appreciate the creatures I was collecting.

   Once winter had set in, I was then tasked with identifying what we had collected. Little did I know how much identification I would be doing over the next three years! The dichotomous key was difficult to understand at first as most of the terms were completely new to me (have no fear, we'll make ours easy to understand as you'll see below). Much of my time was spent looking up what the labium was and if it was wider then the sternum or not or trying to keep the names and order of the eyes straight.

Lateral view of Salticid eye locations

   But slowly I became familiar with the key and soon was able to locate multiple morphological features that I would need during my initial inspection of the specimen. From that point on, I rapidly learned the frustrations of working with specimens that were tiny, some only a few millimeters. Trying to tease the chelicerae and fangs open to see if and how many retromarginal teeth were present, is the PME closer to the ALE or PLE, is patella-tibia 3 longer or shorter then patella-tibia 4, how many macrosetae are on tibia 1?

Found on an immature Marpissa.  PS: There are only supposed to be eight macrosetae! (Photo by Jonathan Knudsen)

It was during the first year of identifying that I discovered the two steps that I hated the most: Step 33 and Step 58. These are two steps that require the specimen to be sexually mature, and both involve the shapes and structures of the embolus and epigynum.

   As we begin work on the key for our guide, one of our main goals is to make it easy to understand and use. Instead of using technical jargon and details about each spider, we plan on using easier to see morphological traits and terms to key each species out. In a true dichotomous key, each species keys out in only one place. However, because we plan on taking a broader view of each species, multiple species may key out the same. This may seem like a problem, but we think it will be easier to say, “It may be Spider A (pg. XX), Spider B (pg. XX), or Spider C (pg. XX)” and then comparing our photos to their specimens to make the final species identification. Many of the specimens we've collected are fairly unique looking, so any confusion during the keying process can be sorted out using our photos.

   I have enjoyed being a contributor to this guide and now to this blog. I look forward to continuing our work on this project and keeping you updated as we progress. It has been a fun challenge so far and it will continue to be. Keep you AME's peeled for my next posting!

And the spider marches on...

Dear readers,

In spite of the lack of regular (or otherwise) updates lately, we here at Yours for 8 Eyes are not in fact dead.  What we are though, is incredibly busy.  Two weeks ago I (Matt) and a soon to be new contributor (Jon) went to Cedar Point Biological Station in Ogallala, NE for a little collecting trip.  What we ended up with instead was Matt and Jon's Wild Spidery Ride.  Instead of bring back between 100-150 salticids as we had hope, we picked up nearly that many on our second day!  We even had some days where we were only able to collect for part of the day due to the weather, but still collected more than 100 specimens that day.  Long story short, we ended up returning with ~400 live salticids and several more preserved specimens.

Each row of vials represents a "new" species found at CPBS.

I can hear you thinking, dear reader, "what does this have to do with you and why haven't you been posting more anyways?"  Well, what this has to do with you is that our booklet (mentioned in earlier posts) will now contain more than 40 species of salticid from Nebraska and should be rife with beautiful color pictures of all of the specimens.  As for the lack of posting, lets just say 400 salticids is more than double the amount we've ever had alive in the lab and is turning out to be a ton of work.  Thankfully, we enjoy the work!

Salticus scenicus, an incredibly common species we encountered  at CPBS.

So what's to come then?  Well, the short term plan is to keep posting, hopefully on a weekly basis.  The longer term plan includes getting that booklet done and published, continuing to pursue arachnological outreach through this blog and in person, and even graduating!  It's going to be a busy little while, but stick with us and some exciting things should appear here shortly.

Teaching and Specimen Collecting

I apologize for the delay in posting.  The month long hiatus is due to poor internet availability, poor timing and a generally exhausted researcher.  For the last two and a half weeks, I have been in Ogallala, NE teaching a course on Field Animal Behavior.  Conveniently enough, the area I have been teaching in is also one that is rife with species of salticid that I have yet to find around Lincoln.  So far I have not been able to put too much effort into collecting.  However, in the brief time that I have spent collecting, I've managed to find at least seven species not found in my previous collection attempts.  Unfortunately, I have not had time to identify them to species yet, nor even to photograph the majority of them.  However, the picture below is a nice preview of some of the amazing new species that will now make an appearance in the book.

One of several iridescent salticids found while sweep netting.

I have one more week of teaching to go, and then the posts should resume their "normal" weekly schedule.  Also, be on the look out for more book photos in the near future!

Photo batch round 1!

As promised, here are a few photos of some amazing salticids that will be featured in the upcoming book. While not all of these will necessarily make the cut, the species will all be present.  All photos were taken by Jonathan Knudsen.

Female, unidentified.

Female ant mimic, unidentified.

Male ant mimic, unidentified but different species from the one above.

Male Phidippus audax.

As always, we welcome your feedback!

Spiders have Teeth?!

Sort of...

If you take a very close look at some spiders, including several species of salticid, you will see on their chelicerae (fangs) a few small bumps.

Male,  Salticus sp. arrows indicate cheliceral teeth.  Photo Credit: Shawn Custer

Male,  Salticus sp. arrows indicate cheliceral teeth.  Photo Credit: Shawn Custer

These bumps (red arrows) are known as cheliceral teeth and are used to masticate (chew) prey in much the same way as our teeth.  The major difference being that while our teeth come in a variety of shapes and sizes so that they can be used for different purposes, the cheliceral teeth on a spider are only used to break down prey items into smaller bits.  The particular specimen shown above is a male from the genus Salticus.  In this case it is very easy to determine the sex of the spider as only males have the very enlarged chelicerae, and only when they are sexually mature.  Normally, however, the cheliceral teeth and fangs are not so exposed.  The picture below presents a much more normal view of this same specimen, very much how we would find one in nature.

Male, Salticus sp. Top down view with scale bar.  Photo Credit: Shawn Custer

Male, Salticus sp. Top down view with scale bar.  Photo Credit: Shawn Custer

As you can see from this photo, the chelicera are normally folded up and are frequently covered by the pedipalps (the two small appendages on top of the chelicera in this photo).  As a result, virtually the only people to have ever seen a spider's cheliceral teeth are arachnologists who are trying to identify the specimen, as the presence and shape of the teeth are a diagnostic character used in many dichotomous keys. 

You may have noticed that both of these photos are not only of the same specimen but are also by the same person.  That is because these photos, and the few that follow, are all preliminary photos for the book mentioned in last week's post.  From now until the book is released, we will strive to release at least one new photo a week so that you, dear reader, will have an idea of what is to come.  We hope you enjoy the photos and would love to hear your feedback on them!

Male, Salticus sp. front view.  Photo Credit: Shawn Custer

Male, Salticus sp. front view.  Photo Credit: Shawn Custer

Platycryptus undulatus, Top down view.  Photo Credit: Matt Adams

Face on view of an unidentified salticid.  Photo Credit: Jonathan Knudsen

Face on view of an unidentified salticid.  Photo Credit: Jonathan Knudsen

Exciting things to come!

I am very pleased to announce that one of my collaborators and I have just recieved funding to make a small book on local jumping spiders!  The book (which will be published in pdf form on this blog for free) will feature full color close ups (macro photography), a dichotomous key to species and a few hands-on activities aimed at teaching kids about jumping spiders.  While we have only just started work on the project, we are hoping to have the bulk of the photos taken by the end of the summer and will definitely be posting some of our favorites as we progress.

If there is anything that you, my dear readers, would like to see in the book, please tell us in the comments!  We will make every effort to address all of your reasonable requests.  In the mean time, stay tuned for more Salticid-tastic updates and sneak previews of the book.