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Marc A. Milne

@forthespiders.bsky.social

1.8K followers 1.3K following 110 posts

Spider taxonomist / conservationist / ecologist. Professor of Biology at the University of Indianapolis. Canadian. Lover of metal, cats, and hockey. 🌹

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 1d

Oh my lord! That's terrible.

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 2d

That male was collected in 1912. The female wasn't found until 1943, near Sylvania, 144mi N of the swamp. Even more concerning is that the female was not collected with a male so how did Chamberlin and Ivie know it was this species? 🤷‍♂️Dubious. Hopefully we find both sexes in one catch to be certain.

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 2d

Another spider we are searching for on our Okefenokee NWF journey is Idionella titivillitium. It was first collected in 1912 on Billy's Island at the edge of the swamp, which is where we are traveling to in late October. It was collected, "by sifting decaying leaves in dense shade at edge of swamp."

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 9d

One of the spiders we are searching for on our Okefenokee NWF trip later this month is Ceratinopsis bona. Described from southeastern Georgia, this specimen hasn't been seen since it was collected for that description in 1943. It is reddish brown with black around the eyes with a gray abdomen.

Illustrations of the male palp (left) and female epigynum (right) of Ceratinopsis bona from Chamberlin and Ivie (1944).

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 12d

Okay I will see if I can just change the permit to "arthropods."

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 12d

We will be doing a lot of litter sifting for sure.

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 13d

Really? If you want we will collect all the beetles we find too. I'll just have to update the permit.

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 13d

In three weeks, Mike Draney (U. Wisconsin) and I will travel to Okefenokee Swamp NWF in southern Georgia in hopes of finding some lost spider species. We'll be collecting on Billy's Island and we'll have to travel by boat through the swamp to reach it. It was last sampled for spiders in 1921.

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 14d

You betcha!

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 15d

That's my dream!

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 15d

Thrilled our paper is finally out! A great collaboration between @mcaterino.bsky.social, Ernesto Recuero, and myself. We looked at endemism in spiders in southern Appalachia (largely NC).

This is also likely the most species-rich phylogeny (although just COI-based) of linyphiids yet published!

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 15d

High elevation litter spiders of southern Appalachia show less local endemism than other arthropods - ballooning by spiderlings apparently overcomes geographic isolation. A great collaboration with @forthespiders.bsky.social & Ernesto Recuero

doi.org/10.1636/JoA-... (if paywalled write me for pdf)

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of three representative taxa along the right side, Wadotes hybridus (reddish brown cephalothorax with zig-zag stripey gray and white abdomen), Neon nelli (large-eyed gray jumping spider), and Antrodiaetus sp. (a large-jawed mygalomorph trapdoor spider, light tan with a reddish abdomen.

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Centromerus denticulatus and Centromerus tennapax (both mostly golden brown with gray abdomen, both males with enlarged palps), Bathyphantes bishopi (dark brown cephalothorax, long legs, dark gray abdomen), Tenuiphantes sabulosus (golden cephalothorax, long legs, pale dark-striped abdomen).

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Collinsia sp. and Collinsia oxypaederotipus (both with light brown cephalothorax, pale legs, gray-green abdomen, both males with enlarged palps), Ceraticelus laetabilis (stout, with brown cephalothorax and lighter brown abdomen, palps slightly enlarged), Ceraticelus fissiceps (orange cephalothorax with distinctly enlarged dark snout, lighter abdomen).

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Sisicus n. sp (not yet described, light brown round cephalothorax, with pale abdomen and legs, large male palps), Floricomus praedesignatus (dark tuberculate male cephalothorax, gray-green abdomen, pale legs), Blestia sarcocuon (anteriorly pointed cephalothorax, dark with long yellowish legs, impressive male palps), and Ceratinops carolinus (prolonged elevated, brown male cephalothorax, gray-green abdomen).

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 20d

The scale bar on the bottom is 0.5mm, so the critter is probably ~1.5 - 2.0mm in size. It will likely lay a single egg sac. We don't know how many eggs per egg sac for this species.

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 21d

The Popeye of mites.

Orange mite collected from Eagle Marsh NP, IN

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 21d

This was one super-gravid spider!
I hear people sometimes think spiders look like ticks and usually it seems a bit silly to me, but in this case I can make an exception.
Ceratinella parvula (Araneae, Linyphiidae) from Eagle Marsh, IN.
#arthropod #taxonomy #pregnancy

A gravid dwarf spider with a swollen abdomen.

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 22d

Yessir!

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 22d

It's hard to express to you how beautiful this creature is. It's like a living galaxy. #arthropod #beetle

A beautiful green and blue tiger beetle from Fort Wayne, IN.

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Sep 1

This is their appropriate size. 🙂

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Aug 31

For the last day of #InverteFest, I give you a male of Ceratinops latus (Araneae: Linyphiidae) from Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge in SE Indiana. This lil guy is about 1.5 mm in length.

Lateral view of the male of Ceratinops latus.

Dorsal view of the male of Ceratinops latus.

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Jul 22

"Excluding terrestrial arthropods." 😢

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Jul 20

Man, if only.

A snippet from Hentz's "Araneides of the United States" (1850) describing brandy as the cure to a black widow bite.

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Jun 17

Taxonomy has been asleep for 525 million years.

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Jun 6

I'm pretty sure the Doctor is no longer with us, sorry Derek.

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Jun 6

An infuriating article from U. Rochester school newspaper in 1957 that reflects the scientific attitude at mid-century towards taxonomy, biodiversity, and the perceived value of specimen collections.

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Jun 2

Yeah, I remember that. It's now known that it's a spider. The question now is which one?

Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · Jun 2

A 12-shot stack of the curious silkhenge spider egg sac (more info here: www.rainforestexpeditions.com/we-solved-an...). This is currently being studied by brilliant arachnologists, including the amazing @henriquesbio.bsky.social. It's still not clear what type of spider builds this structure.

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