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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 18h

Of course, we can be much friendlier with our spiders over here. Only a couple can even cause a painful bite and none are particularly dangerous.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 18h

Sometimes a spider turns up in your
kitchen and you have to photograph it before putting it out. This Xysticus sp Crab spider will have been better outside anyway, it certainly won’t do it any harm. #Arachtober

A brown and cream crab spider on a white background. The spider is demonstrating it’s common name with it’s crab like stance, the two front legs are curved around forwards like crabs legs. This is a male as it has enlarged palps.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 1d

As I quite like spiders I have bought some spider cufflinks as well. There are from Becka’s Insects although this specific pair isn’t there anymore. www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Beck... #Arachtober

A spider shaped cufflink in the cuff buttonhole of a white shirt. The spiders legs are crafted from silver wire and the body is a black bead.

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Reposted by Jonathan Bliss

Glennyrodge @glennyrodge.bsky.social · 2d

Big hurrah out to Super League winners Hull KR and all the bobbins fans, particularly @enanem.bsky.social, who effectively said to me a few years ago that they were shit at the time but had plans in place to be brilliant in the future.
(Note, Super League is the European league for proper rugby).

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Reposted by Jonathan Bliss

Shreyas Kuchibhotla @snake-spider-et-al.bsky.social · 4d

#arachtober A-Z:

Day 9: I is for Indoxysticus - a monotypic crab spider genus with a very distinct abdomen pattern
Day 10: J is for Jerzego - an oddly named genus of jumping spiders that seem to mimic ants and hate being photographed

@britishspiders.bsky.social

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 2d

Refactoring undocumented legacy code.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 2d

Date night. Male wolf spiders like this Pardosa sp attract females by waving their palps (adult male spiders have these enlarged palps - “boxing gloves”) in a kind of semaphore. If they get it right they get to mate. This one has her attention. #Arachtober

The image shows two spiders on some rocks. The male is pointing downwards above a crevice with black palps - appendages that look almost like extra legs - spread out. These are raised and lowered and vibrated in a complex dance or signalling system. The female is resting close to crevice, if she is discontented she will back into the crevice where she is unreachable except going through her jaws. Wolf spiders have good eyes and are visual hunters so it makes sense they have visual signalling for mating as well.

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Reposted by Jonathan Bliss

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 3d

We decided the word for arranging Halloween skeletons into various scenes in the front yard is “Necroscaping”

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 3d

I would ask @astrokatie.com who I’m sure will know the current thinking.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 3d

I have no idea why I feel so invested in Nutmeg.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 3d

I would hesitate to identify this one from this photo but perhaps @britishspiders.bsky.social can.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 3d

Whoever is putting up these signs should watch out, apparently Chelmsford council is getting annoyed by their phantom signwriter. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Chelmsford tongue-in-cheek signs must end, says Essex Highways

A council says the prank signs could "mislead residents and cause confusion".

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Jonathan Bliss

Chris Nickson @chrisnickson2.bsky.social · 3d

Welcome to Saturday. Your weekend read says hi, it's waiting for you.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 3d

Yesterday I posted a male nursery web spider, today a female. Pisuara mirabilis. These are lovely spiders and I often seem them in gardens where there is a little bit of wild space. #Arachtober

A close up of a largish brown spider with a whitish stripe along the side of the abdomen. She is resting on a leaf with a tightly woven web near her feet. This is actually part of her nursery web and was full
of spiderlings.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 4d

This is a nursery web spider, Pisaura mirabilis. They build a we in bushes or low grass and the mother guards the babies for the first few days of their lives. This one is a male though and despire the cream stripe is well camouflaged. #Arachtober

A picture of a largish grey spider with a cream stripe on the back. It is resting on a grey branch and blends in well. If you zoom in on the head there are foreward facing eyes and it has large palps which show it is a male.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 5d

She looks like she will be a mini version of my step-daughter’s Luna. (SpringerPoo or Sproodle or something like that)

A cute black do sitting in some long grass looking straight at the camera.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 5d

Depends on who you ask? Apparently the Princess of Wales

Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 5d

With the mention of cells my brain went straight to Excel and it took me ages to work out what was going in here.

Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 5d

#Arachtober A long jawed orb weaver, Tetragnatha sp. These spiders often settle like this looking very long when they have been disturbed.

A long thin spider resting with four legs pointing straight forward and two legs pointing backwards with two to the side. It is on a spiky teasel head, a green one before it has flowered. Usually all four back legs pointing backwards but perhaps that was difficult on the teasel.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 6d

Who would want to lead a team of disparate individuals who cannot work together and don’t even really want to be there …

Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 6d

Identifying baby spiders is difficult but this big ball is probably garden cross spiders, Araneus diadematus. Most of these
won’t make it but the ones that do grow into those lovely spiders that are hanging in webs in your garden, particularly at this time of year. #Arachtober

A ball of yellow spiderlings. Each little spider has a black mark on its bum. If the web is disturbed they will scatter.

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Reposted by Jonathan Bliss

AJCann @ajcann.bsky.social · 7d

Pachygnatha degeeri

#Arachnids #Spiders #VC55 #macrophotography #macro #OMSystem #Arachtober

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 7d

I have no idea if this was eventually eaten but I did wonder, as digestion is outside the body, if some spiders venom and digestive juices neutralise whatever is unpleasant in the ladybird.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 7d

Day 7 of #Arachtober another spider with prey. I thought ladybirds (ladybugs for Americans) tasted foul so aren’t predated but it appears not to bother this one. I think the spider is a lace web spider, Amaurobius sp. They often build these lacy webs in windows of garages and sheds.

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Jonathan Bliss @jonathanbliss.bsky.social · 8d

Day 6 of #Arachtober this is a Flower Crab Spider, Misumena vatia. Fearsome little spiders who lie in wait in flowes and are capable of taking prey much larger then themselves as can be seen here. All these images are from my own photo library.

A small white spider sitting on the pink petal of a flower. It is holding a black and yellow hoverfly vertically. The fly is at least twice the size if the spider.

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