Tag Archive | Fall

An Arachtober Spider Outing

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My smartphone sucks, probably as much as my smartphone photography technique!

On a bright sunny Sunday afternoon, Catherine and I made our suburban shopping rounds to keep ourselves fed (downtown Toronto is bloody expensive!), and then headed out to Humber Bay to find some spiders!

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All over the beach we found these awesome gray wolves…Perhaps a Pardosa? Probably. There are a bunch of dark Pardosa in these parts. 

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Getting them to pause for a photo was tough, as they were warm and in the mood to run.

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This Hogna-like wolf spider was much more accomodating! Super pretty as well.

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These spiders are difficult for non-experts to ID…I sent the pictures to an awesome wolf spider identifier I know, but I am not sure if she will respond.

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A juvenile Phidippus audax, with surprisingly orange spectacles!

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We found a few of these araneids, which we figure to be Zygiella atrica, and introduced one from Europe

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Here is the male of Zygiella atrica, which we found adjacent to a female’s web.

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The characteristic orb web of Zygiella. Note the missing sector at the top left.

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A Philodromid looks awesome on a fall leaf.

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Catherine found a few Larinioides hiding out in leaves.

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Near a lighted building, we found our expected plethora of tetragnathids and Larinioides in almost communal webs. We also found a bunch of tiny dictynids, which I did not get any shots of.

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Some of the Larinioides were quite light in colour. We need to collect a few sometime, as there are a couple species here in Toronto.

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We even found a big old Castianeira, who seemed to be doing quite well living under the lights!