Research on spider diversity (the number of spider species) in Ohio has been limited. The first major effort was conducted by William M. Barrows (1883-1946) of the Ohio State University, culminating in publications from 1918 to 1924. Barrows listed 306 … Continue reading
This year the American Arachnological Society (the leading scientific society of arachnid biologists in the Americas) is going to be hosting a virtual annual meeting. The meeting events are from 24 June through 1 July 2021. One consequence of a … Continue reading
One of our strangest-looking spiders is Ocrepeira, the asterisk spider. She has an amazing camouflaged color pattern complete with little lumps on her abdomen. She is actually related to our more common orb-weaving spiders, but has a very unusual web. … Continue reading
During the early summer back in 2015 I found that a few leaves of my backyard grape vines were covered with colorful galls. After some research, I identified these galls as “grape tube galls” which were likely created by Cecidomyia viticola … Continue reading
For many, one of the most frustrating things about observing spiders is the fact that most species are not referred to by “common names.” These easy to remember English names have been given to all bird species, butterfly species, as well … Continue reading