Samantha Vibert, Gwylim Blackburn, Catherine Scott and Sam Evans in the midst of examining an unidentified jumping spider.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of ferrying four Vancouver-area spider researchers out to Iona Beach in Richmond for a bit of a Friday-evening ramble in search of spiders. Gwylim Blackburn and Samantha Vibert are old hands at spider observations at this site, Gwilym had studied Habronattus americanus and Samantha had studied Hobo Spiders. Catherine Scott (who studies black widows) and Sam Evans (a recent recruit to Wayne Maddison’s lab) came along as well. This was a Toyota Tercel loaded down with spider talent!
Daisy did not ask for this in her old age, but performed admirably nonetheless.
We arrived shortly after 7 pm, and despite the late hour, we found a few jumping spiders, although Habronattus americanus was already in bed. I only managed to sneak in a couple photos of large Phidippus.
Sam searches among moss and Scotch Broom.
A long-jawed orbweaver male (Tetragnathidae) tucked in with a pupating beetle.
A freshly-moulted harvestperson with exuvium still attached!
A large ichneumonid among pine needles.
A 10-lined june beetle larva under a log.
A wolf spider in her burrow with a freshly-laid eggsac.
Gwylim searches the beach.
Just before the gates were due to close at the park, we spotted a couple of snails, seemingly uncaring of our log-flipping sharing a tender moment. We hope they had a fun night!
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- Sweeping vegetation for terrestrial arthropods as part of the Northern Biodiversity Program survey during 2010. The location is the Skeleton Creek Valley, located just above Lake Hazen on northern Ellesmere Island, and you can see Lake Hazen in the background. Vegetation is particularly lush in these creek valleys, especially compared to surrounding tundra. Students are (from left) Christine Roussel (UPEI), and Sarah Loboda and Meagan Blair (both from McGill). [photo by Donna Giberson]
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- Unknown dipteran parasitized by mites, taken in the Fortuna cloud forest, Panama, March 20, 2012. [photo by Bernie Roitberg]
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- This Libellula lydia (Odonata: Libellulidae) was spotted on Mont-St-Hilaire, QC, having just caught a meal. [photo by Christine Barrie]
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- Acrosternum hilare (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) holding onto blade of grass in Stoneycroft, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC. [photo by Christine Barrie]
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- Larva of Papilio machaon dodi (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae), on Artemesia dracunculus, near Drumheller, AB. [photo by Julian Dupuis]
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- Two honey bees with full pollen baskets, standing on a pollen trap of goldenrod pollen. Pollen was collected for a honey bee nutrition and pesticide research project. At Five Islands, Nova Scotia, August 18th, 2011. [photo by Megan Colwell]
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- Leptoglossus occidentalis (the bug, Coreidae) and a male Agapostemon (the bee, Halictidae) hanging out on Aster sp. in the fall (early October) on the UBC Okanagan (Kelowna) campus. Leptoglossus feed on the seed cones of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir. [photo by Bob Lalonde]
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- A male forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus (Tenebrionidae) displays his ornately haired horns as he lumbers over a piece of bark at Bon Echo Provincial Park, Ontario. [photo by Crystal Ernst]
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What a wonderful way to spend a Friday evening ahead of a long weekend! Nice pics! Especially of the Phidippus.