@sderkarabetian.bsky.social et al. developed a metazoan ultraconserved element (UCE) probe set, providing a resource for multiple research groups working on vastly different animal lineages.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf193

#genome #evolution #compbio #phylogenetics

New paper, accepted. Open access. Metazoan UCEs, plus other things like pairwise comparisons of 21 probe sets across 58 genomes and divergence times. Huge group effort on this!

doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

Spider Biology Field Course!! from July 1 - 9, 2025 experience the outstanding biodiversity of spiders and non-spider arachnids found in montane southeastern AZ; taught by Greta Binford, Paula Cushing, & Marshal Hedin

$946 for tuition, room & board. See www.amnh.org/research/sou... for details.

welcome to the world new spider genus Siskiyu. you've been lurking in the dark, magical woods of far northern California for millenia. Now the humans have finally gotten around to telling your story, at least in part

this research was funded by the NSF

OA here

zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1402...

Sci-comm at its finest! @sderkarabetian.bsky.social and I just published a systematic study of arachnids in the Magic: The Gathering card game @mtgarena.com. We discuss classification and evolution of spiders across the multiverse. Check it out here: virginianaturalhistorysociety.com/wp-content/u...

Opilioacarida! Mites that kind of look like Opiliones (hence the name). Found all over tropical and subtropical habitats worldwide, poorly studied. These were the first I've ever seen alive! From south of La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. This is Neocarus bajacalifornicus.

Phrynus asperatipes from south of La Paz, Baja California Sur. This was the first amblypygid I've ever seen in the wild! Second photo is a a full body shot that shows the first pair of legs that are sensory in function and give them the name "whip scorpions"

#Arachtober
Cardwella atar (family Assamiidae), from northern Queensland. The males of this species have this spiny hook on the fourth leg.
#Opiliones

#Arachtober
Gasteracantha fornicata, northern Queensland.

#Arachtober
Bogania advena from Queensland. Found in a woody debris-covered rock pile at the base of a large eucalyptus tree. The bright yellow spot is the ozopore, the opening for the chemical defense gland.
#Opiliones

#Arachtober
Scorpion face. Lychas variatus from southern Queensland.

#Arachtober
The face of a huntsman spider (Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) from northern Queensland, AUS. There were a lot of these out at night and all were quite photogenic.

One of the coolest looking spiders I saw in Queensland AUS (which is saying a lot) was this Ornodolomedes (Pisauridae) guarding her egg sac. Seen during a rainforest night walk in Crater Lakes NP. Amazing colors on this one.
#Arachtober

It's #Arachtober !! To start off, this is an undescribed species in an undescribed genus of Triaenonychidae from northern Queensland, AU. We (@invertebrained and I) found only two at this site, they were a bit hard to find.

During fieldwork in Tasmania earlier this year, found this velvet worm, Tasmanipatus barretti, in one of the best woodpiles I've ever looked through. Seems a little shy. A rare species, listed as vulnerable. With permit. What a pleasure seeing this.
Northeastern Tasmania.

Hello Bluesky!

Do you like Opiliones? I post (mostly) Opiliones, my macro photos, and research.

I’m an arachnologist, systematist, and evolutionary biologist. Expert in Opiliones. (soon to be) Curator of Entomology at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Also, Opiliones.