Kill it before it glows

 

¨

A motley collection of "cryptid" sightings. Some are barely believable stories about bioluminescent spiders and frogs. Others are frankly unbelievable. A glowing lake monster in Lake Erie? A pterodactyl which looks like a UFO? Yeah, that´s likely...

But sure, it´s entertaining.      

Among necrobots and Joro spiders

 

We wrap up today´s crazy science news with a current story and a 2022 item. The current? Colorful Japanese Joro spiders have gone urban in the United States, which could be a problemo unless you have an inverterate fondness for cobwebs 1.8 meters in diameter. In Atlanta, they are probably already on your doorstep, or at least around the interstate! 

The second piece is about scientists reviving dead spiders, turning them into "necrobots". I´m sure that´s perfectly normal. Many humans suffer from arachnophobia, but I wonder how many wolf spiders have humano-phobia?  

Giant, invasive spiders could be poised to take over U.S. cities, scientists warn

Dead spiders reanimated as creepy "necrobots"  

Fire, ice and ugly bovids

"Wild Scandinavia (Fire and Ice)" is a 2023 BBC documentary about wildlife in Norway, Iceland and Svalbard. The two latter aren´t part of Scandinavia as the term is usually understood...at least in Scandinavia! In Swedish, the docu has been titled "Det arktiska Skandinavien" but that too is wrong, since Dovrefjell in Norway isn´t Arctic...

But sure, the wildlife shown is so cool that casual viewers probably don´t care about the geographical naming conventions (or even locations). 

Muskoxen (the bovids at Dovrefjell), arctic foxes and polar bears are featured. So are peculiar birds such as ruffs and little auks. We also get to meet a wolf spider which hunts flies at the outskrits of a hot spring on Iceland! I admit that the muskoxen were my favorites - these large beasts are even uglier than I expected, LOL. For some reason, they don´t show killer whales.

Could be of some interest if you are a nature documentary aficionado, but don´t expect any deeper philosophical insights... 

  

Who´s calling me ugly, boy?
Credit: Charles J Sharp 

Skeleton Coast

 

Credit: BigSugarDaddy

"Namib: Skeleton Coast and Beyond" is a BBC nature documentary in the series "Eden: Untamed Planet". This time the BBC crew did manage to find an area almost devoid of Homo sapiens: the Namib, a coastal desert in southern Africa. Unless I´m mistaken, the docu is taped in the Namibian-Angolan border region. 

For a "desert", I have to say that the Namib is teaming with life, both large and small. Among the larger are lions, enormous flocks of ostriches, oryx, giraffes, elephants, fur seals, jackals and hyenas. The elephants consume seeds containing water, while the jackals and hyenas (unsurprisingly) eat dead seal cubs, the seals themselves of course consuming fish. 

100 days of the year, the sand dunes of the Namib are watered by sea fog, the same fog that makes the coastal area dangerous for ships, earning it the nickname "Skeleton Coast". All kinds of smaller animals thrive on the dunes (and in them): termites, ants, frogs, scorpions...

After seeing this, I wonder whether humans might be the only life form that usually avoids this region! 

"Namib: Skeleton Coast and Beyond" ends with the usual climate change pitch, the temperature in the desert rising, but I somehow suspect that these creatures will survive or even thrive regardless...or simply move. The Namib desert has apparently existed for 55 million years, so it´s not clear to me why it would need "saving" at all. 

Yes, this is Eden.   

Itsy witsy spider

 

A short but perhaps representative overview of "giant spider" sightings from all over the world, plus a discussion on how plausible they are. The conclusion reached is: not very. Apart from the fact that spiders simply can´t grow larger than a certain size, I would also argue that giant specimens are ecologically absurd. 

A breeding population of dog-sized spiders (or even larger) would have a dramatic impact on any eco-system in which they live, and simply wouldn´t be able to avoid detection for long. Also, really wild areas are diminishing by the hour, yet no cryptids found anywhere, dangling out of the last unfelled trees in the jungle...

Note the bizarre story about giant "sea spiders" around Greenland. Probably not true either, given the reality of industrial over-fishing! 

Real conspiracy?

 

Are the Why Files actually anti-establishment? Some scary facts/speculations about United States bio-weapons research, ditto terrorism, weaponized tics (!), and - above all - really bad security.

But COVID isn´t an escapee from a US-financed bio-lab in China, naaah...

Makes me wonder whether the Montauk Monster and similar mutants were just decoys to distract us from the real story! 

Welcome to the crisis

Previously posted on July 6, 2020. Reposted due to the extreme weather conditions all over the world (including Sweden) this summer. 

Erika Bjerström is a Swedish reporter and former environmentalist activist. "Klimatkrisens Sverige" is her recently published book about the climate crisis. Or rather the climate crisis in Sweden. It´s interesting comparing it to Jonathan Jeppson´s "Åtta steg mot avgrunden", reviewed by me elsewhere, another book on the climate crisis published in 2020 by a Swedish journalist. Jeppson´s book sounds apocalyptic, while Bjerström describes the climate crisis as something creeping and gradual. Ironically, this actually makes her book *more* scary than Jeppson´s. Although I don´t doubt that climate change could lead to apocalyptic consequences, the apocalypse meme as such feels old and worn out. We are being sold one every other week, it seems. But what if climate change is instead a slow decline that sneaks up on us, becoming "the new normal", until it´s suddenly too late? (Btw, I don´t believe Jeppson and Bjerström necessarily disagrees on the facts. I´m refering more to the general atmosphere of their respective books.) 

Sweden is warming twice as fast as the global average, since the country is situated very far north. The average temperature has increased with 1.7 degrees centigrade compared to preindustrial times. The climate zones in Sweden are moving north with about eleven meters per day. In the future, the mountain ranges in northern Sweden will no longer have an Alpine climate. The tree line has moved steadily upwards, with 230 meters in 100 years. The pristine Alpine landscape will be turned into an enormous forest of conifers and birches. More rain will make mosquitos and flies super-abundant. One of Sweden´s foremost tourist attractions will be turned into "a shrubby mosquito hell". In Abisko national park, the local Arctic flora and fauna is heading for a mass extinction. The average temperatures in the park have increased with two degrees since 1913. Trees now grow at places where there have been none for 7,000 years! Meanwhile, Swedish glacials have lost one third of their total area since 1916. The growing season in the Arctic has increased with four weeks in a century, according to detailed studies made in Abisko. The plants become higher, the winters milder. When the permafrost thaws, quicksilver leaks out into the food chain. This can eventually lead to detrimental consequences for both reindeer and the Native Sami population. The entire reindeer herding business might disappear, for this and other climate-related reasons. 

Climate scientists predict that the annual average temperatures in Sweden will increase with 3 to 5 degrees until the end of the century. In northern Sweden, the increase might be 10 degrees! There will on average be more rainfall, although it´s possible that some areas will become drier instead. Heat waves will increase in numbers, more people will die of the heat and various diseases which thrive in warmer climactic conditions. Due to disturbances in the jet stream, both high-pressure and low-pressure areas might "get stuck" above Sweden for longer periods than usual, leading to extreme weather. Clean water will become more scarce as groundwater supplies are diminished, lakes turn dystrophic, or becomes poisoned by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Warmer water temperatures means more virus and bacteria. Swedish towns built around lakes and rivers are flooded already today, and this too will only get worse in the future. Of course, water purification and air conditioning will still be operational - but this requires enormous amounts of energy, and might led to higher energy prices. 

Another problem are "invasive species". The author does point out that such species are invasive only from a utilitarian human viewpoint. Nature doesn´t have a "viewpoint" at all, it´s simply out there. Ticks can already be found all over Sweden. More ominous are the "monster ticks" Hyalomma marginatum and Hyalomma rufipes, which can spread dangerous tropical diseases such as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. But Sweden is also invaded by regular tick species from Russia, which live by sucking blood from farm animals, often spreading disease in the process. Aphids are spreading in the new climate. The profitable Swedish forest industry could in the near future be attacked by the emerald ash borer and a moth known as black arches. They could also destroy city parks. Blueberries and lingonberries might disappear from Swedish forests, devastating another local industry. Other plant species will thrive: ferns, nettles or the Asian knotweed, which grows everywhere and slowly kills all other vegetation. 

Swedish agriculture was for a long time in denial about the consequences of global warming. It was rather seen as an excellent opportunity to introduce soy, quinoa and edible maize, three cash crops not grown in Sweden at present. Today, such dreams have been replaced by cold (or rather hot) realities. Climate change will lead to bad harvests. The production of dairy products, meat and beer will also be negatively impacted. Consumer prices will rise. Sweden has a self-sufficiency rate of only 45%, having an extremely globalized economy dependent on international supply chains (including food). A more ironic effect of climate change will be that the most privileged people in Sweden will be hit first by rising sea levels (in the so-called Third World, it´s usually the poorest that are impacted first). The luxury houses at Falsterbo in southern Sweden might be literally flooded at some point in the future, destroying property valued at a total of 70 billion kronor! 

While Bjerström´s book is about local conditions in Sweden, it´s obviously impossible to avoid the global big picture. At some point, the area around the Mediterranean Sea will become literally impossible to inhabit, due to average temperatures around 40 degrees centigrade. And even before that, agriculture will become almost impossible. Millions of people from southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East will move northwards, where the climate - despite everything I just said above - will still be tolerable compared to Mediterranean standards. They will be followed by even larger migrations from the tropics, which will also become uninhabitable. What will happen to Swedish democracy and hospitality when tens of millions of refugees want to get inside, perhaps desperately? One of the scientists interviewed by the author suggests that 50 million people might live in Sweden without any problems! (Today, Sweden has a population of 9 million.) Clearly a pro-immigration fanatic, since 50 million people *obviously* isn´t sustainable given all other facts mentioned in the book (and here above in the blog post). As a good liberal, Bjerström never calls for closed borders, but it´s difficult to see how this can be avoided already at much lower levels than 50 million. The book ends with some comic relief: an interview with an official optimist named Svante Axelsson who believes that of course we can solve all problems, blah blah.

My main take away from "Klimatkrisens Sverige" is that Nature will always find a way, even in the Anthropocene. The real challenge is for modern civilization, or at the very least the human species, to survive the coming storms. As long as the changes are as gradual as described in this volume, it´s still within the realm of the possible to adapt to them. Which doesn´t mean it will be easy! It requires a degree of national solidarity and resolve not seen in this country for a very long time. The problem, of course, is that Sweden ultimately cannot isolate itself from the rest of the world, or the rest of the atmosphere. Indeed, our little country might become a *very* valuable piece of real estate when the tropics and sub-tropics are emptied of human inhabitants, most of them moving north. Another problem is of course that the collapse will come even faster if we really would stop using fossil fuels tomorrow morning, suggesting that it won´t be done. The very same fossil fuels that "fuel" climate change in the first place... 

Perhaps the differences between Erika Bjerström and Jonathan Jeppson aren´t that large, after all. 

Spindelfobiker i alla land, förenen eder!

Jag HATAR spindlar, tycker nog att tanten gott kunde ha fått det tredubbla beloppet! 

Jagades med spindel, spräckte pannan

A world of damselflies

 

"David Attenborough´s Dragons and Damsels" is a wittily titled documentary about dragonflies (Anisoptera) and damselflies (Zygoptera) somewhere in the UK. And yes, the odonate extravaganza is narrated by the apparently ever-young David Attenborough. 

Dragonfly-like insects have been around for a staggering 330 million years! This production shows a wide variety of dragonfly and damselfly species, mostly the latter, come to think of it. If you are a budding zygopterist, this may rock your little world. Damselfly species shown include the Common Blue, the Banded Demoiselle, the Willow Emerald, the Azure Damselfly, the Common Red Eye, and perhaps some others I missed. Dragonflies shown include the "Emperor" and the Common Darter. 

Odonates turn out to be surprisingly highly evolved insects, with complex behaviors surrounding territorial defense, mating and signaling. Their flying capabilities are so extraordinary that human engineers who built a "dragonfly robot" had major problems mimicking the original insect! The documentary shows how Emperor dragonflies laying their eggs inside Common Blue territory are mobbed by swarms of the smaller damselflies. It´s interesting to note that the underwater nymphs of the damselflies are hunted and eaten by the Emperor nymphs, but it´s difficult to believe that the damselflies somehow *know* this. Other natural enemies of the damsels include fish, spiders and "pond skaters" (a bizarre "true bug" that can walk on water). Climate change rears its head with the Willow Emerald, a south European species which has began to spread in Britain, catching the attention of scientists and odonate aficionados alike. The Willow Emerald lays its eggs inside the bark of trees (rather than in the water) and is believed to have colonized the UK due to changes in weather patterns. 

"Dragons and Damsels" ends with winter coming to the anonymous lake, killing off all remaining specimens of Odonata...except the nymphs, which survive deep under the lake surface, only to re-emerge as adults in the spring. As they (perhaps) have done for 330 million years. 

Well, actually...

"The Scorpion King" (2002) is a somewhat frivolous fantasy flick featuring a Schwarzenegger-Van Damme cross-over look-alike, but with more tan. Small wonder, since Mathayus (as the muscular warrior is named) runs around in a desert landscape that´s supposed to be ancient Egypt, but looks more like a stereotypically Orientalist Mideast bazaar. Mathayus, who is said to be Akkadian (an ancient Semitic people), is one of the few people who *doesn´t* look Hollywood Semitic. A few East Asian types have been thrown in for good measure, too, while the bad guy, Memnon, looks like a Roman commander! Yepp, it´s fantasy, alright. 

And while there is a gorgeous half-nude "sorceress" (what else?) in this production, starred by a former fashion model, most of the plot concentrates on the heavy fighting between Mathayus and faux Arabic hordes. Come to think of it, there doesn´t seem to be much else happening in "The Scorpion King" *except* sword fighting or archery?! More sword than sorcery, if you ask me. Unless you count the cobras, LOL.

The title of the film is inspired by a real Egyptian Pharaoh, simply known as Scorpion (or perhaps Scorpion II or King Scorpion), but I suspect the real guy would be somewhat surprised by this latter day barbarian reinterpretation of pre-dynastic Egyptian history. Apperently, "The Scorpion King" is also somehow a prequel to a series of mummy horror movies, but I frankly don´t understand the connection, even apart from the perhaps salient factoid that this production features no mummies! There are a few scorpions, though. (And cobras.)

That being said, I´m not saying you shouldn´t watch Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson flex his biceps, show his ware and rough up some phoney Nabateans in a sword-and-sorcery extravaganza. After all, I just did, and I´m still standing. Just don´t except any deeper insights into Sothic dating, Manethan chronology or Hamitic pre-history from this one!

The Cosmic Eros hard at work

 

Not sure what the pic above is supposed to be, some kind of creepy wasp attacking an equally creepy spider. Now, how on Earth (pun may be intended) did these critters even *get* here? There are some possibilities...

1. God refashioned the entire world in a truly bizarre manner after the fall of Adam and Eve. However, one day, his Son will return, and then the wasp and the spider will become friendly towards each other.

2. It´s a product of blind evolution, following a bizarre chance event during which "life" emerged just like that, from dead shit. Another line of evolution gave rise to "Homo sapiens".

3. God did it on purpose, and now he´s just laughing at us all. Hard!

Hmmm... 

My arachnophobia just got worse

Another link to Karl Shuker´s crypto-zoology website, this time about supposed observations of giant spiders. And I do mean huge - the size of a dinner plate, a chihuahua or...even larger.

Of course, we all "know" that such creatures are impossible in Earth´s present atmosphere, since spiders (and insects) breath through trachea, which imposes absolute physiological limitations on their size. 

OR SO WE ASSUMED UNTIL KARL SHUKER DID MORE RESEARCH ON THE MATTER!!!

It turns out that one oversized arthropod, the coconut crab (a crustacean) has evolved a novel organ for breathing, since it lives exclusively on land. 

So why not spiders?

My arachnophobia just got worse. Let´s hope all the reports detailed in the linked blog post below are drunken tall tales or misidentified frying pans, chihuahuas or coconut crabs... 

Giant spiders: monstrous myth or simply mayhem?

Welcome to the crisis

Erika Bjerström is a Swedish reporter and former environmentalist activist. "Klimatkrisens Sverige" is her recently published book about the climate crisis. Or rather the climate crisis in Sweden. It´s interesting comparing it to Jonathan Jeppson´s "Åtta steg mot avgrunden", reviewed by me elsewhere, another book on the climate crisis published in 2020 by a Swedish journalist. Jeppson´s book sounds apocalyptic, while Bjerström describes the climate crisis as something creeping and gradual. Ironically, this actually makes her book *more* scary than Jeppson´s. Although I don´t doubt that climate change could lead to apocalyptic consequences, the apocalypse meme as such feels old and worn out. We are being sold one every other week, it seems. But what if climate change is instead a slow decline that sneaks up on us, becoming "the new normal", until it´s suddenly too late? (Btw, I don´t believe Jeppson and Bjerström necessarily disagrees on the facts. I´m refering more to the general atmosphere of their respective books.) 

Sweden is warming twice as fast as the global average, since the country is situated very far north. The average temperature has increased with 1.7 degrees centigrade compared to preindustrial times. The climate zones in Sweden are moving north with about eleven meters per day. In the future, the mountain ranges in northern Sweden will no longer have an Alpine climate. The tree line has moved steadily upwards, with 230 meter in 100 years. The pristine Alpine landscape will be turned into an enormous forest of conifers and birches. More rain will make mosquitos and flies super-abundant. One of Sweden´s foremost tourist attractions will be turned into "a shrubby mosquito hell". In Abisko national park, the local Arctic flora and fauna is heading for a mass extinction. The average temperatures in the park have increased with two degrees since 1913. Trees now grow at places where there have been none for 7,000 years! Meanwhile, Swedish glacials have lost one third of their total area since 1916. The growing season in the Arctic has increased with four weeks in a century, according to detailed studies made in Abisko. The plants become higher, the winters milder. When the permafrost thaws, quicksilver leaks out into the food chain. This can eventually lead to detrimental consequences for both reindeer and the Native Sami population. The entire reindeer herding business might disappear, for this and other climate-related reasons. 

Climate scientists predict that the annual average temperatures in Sweden will increase with 3 to 5 degrees until the end of the century. In northern Sweden, the increase might be 10 degrees! There will on average be more rainfall, although it´s possible that some areas will become drier instead. Heat waves will increase in numbers, more people will die of the heat and various diseases which thrive in warmer climactic conditions. Due to disturbances in the jet stream, both high-pressure and low-pressure areas might "get stuck" above Sweden for longer periods than usual, leading to extreme weather. Clean water will become more scarce as groundwater supplies are diminished, lakes turn dystrophic, or becomes poisoned by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Warmer water temperatures means more virus and bacteria. Swedish towns built around lakes and rivers are flooded already today, and this too will only get worse in the future. Of course, water purification and air conditioning will still be operational - but this requires enormous amounts of energy, and might led to higher energy prices. 

Another problem are "invasive species". The author does point out that such species are invasive only from a utilitarian human viewpoint. Nature doesn´t have a "viewpoint" at all, it´s simply out there. Ticks can already be found all over Sweden. More ominous are the "monster ticks" Hyalomma marginatum and Hyalomma rufipes, which can spread dangerous tropical diseases such as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. But Sweden is also invaded by regular tick species from Russia, which live by sucking blood from farm animals, often spreading disease in the process. Aphids are spreading in the new climate. The profitable Swedish forest industry could in the near future be attacked by the emerald ash borer and a moth known as black arches. They could also destroy city parks. Blueberries and lingonberries might disappear from Swedish forests, devastating another local industry. Other plant species will thrive: ferns, nettles or the Asian knotweed, which grows everywhere and slowly kills all other vegetation. 

Swedish agriculture was for a long time in denial about the consequences of global warming. It was rather seen as an excellent opportunity to introduce soy, quinoa and edible maize, three cash crops not grown in Sweden at present. Today, such dreams have been replaced by cold (or rather hot) realities. Climate change will lead to bad harvests. The production of dairy products, meat and beer will also be negatively impacted. Consumer prices will rise. Sweden has a self-sufficiency rate of only 45%, having an extremely globalized economy dependent on international supply chains (including food). A more ironic effect of climate change will be that the most privileged people in Sweden will be hit first by rising sea levels (in the so-called Third World, it´s usually the poorest that are impacted first). The luxury houses at Falsterbo in southern Sweden might be literally flooded at some point in the future, destroying property valued at a total of 70 billion kronor! 

While Bjerström´s book is about local conditions in Sweden, it´s obviously impossible to avoid the global big picture. At some point, the area around the Mediterranean Sea will become literally impossible to inhabit, due to average temperatures around 40 degrees centigrade. And even before that, agriculture will become almost impossible. Millions of people from southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East will move northwards, where the climate - despite everything I just said above - will still be tolerable compared to Mediterranean standards. They will be followed by even larger migrations from the tropics, which will also become uninhabitable. What will happen to Swedish democracy and hospitality when tens of millions of refugees want to get inside, perhaps desperately? One of the scientists interviewed by the author suggests that 50 million people might live in Sweden without any problems! (Today, Sweden has a population of 9 million.) Clearly a pro-immigration fanatic, since 50 million people *obviously* isn´t sustainable given all other facts mentioned in the book (and here above in the blog post). As a good liberal, Bjerström never calls for closed borders, but it´s difficult to see how this can be avoided already at much lower levels than 50 million. The book ends with some comic relief: an interview with an official optimist named Svante Axelsson who believes that of course we can solve all problems, blah blah.

My main take away from "Klimatkrisens Sverige" is that Nature will always find a way, even in the Anthropocene. The real challenge is for modern civilization, or at the very least the human species, to survive the coming storms. As long as the changes are as gradual as described in this volume, it´s still within the realm of the possible to adapt to them. Which doesn´t mean it will be easy! It requires a degree of national solidarity and resolve not seen in this country for a very long time. The problem, of course, is that Sweden ultimately cannot isolate itself from the rest of the world, or the rest of the atmosphere. Indeed, our little country might become a *very* valuable piece of real estate when the tropics and sub-tropics are emptied of human inhabitants, most of them moving north. Another problem is of course that the collapse will come even faster if we really would stop using fossil fuels tomorrow morning, suggesting that it won´t be done. The very same fossil fuels that "fuel" climate change in the first place... 

Perhaps the differences between Erika Bjerström and Jonathan Jeppson aren´t that large, after all. 

Get ready for the ants

Weirdly, this came up when I searched for "Ready for Ryan" (i.e. the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan). I know Trump's supporters don't like him, but surely Terro T300-2 is taking it a bit too far...?

Seriously, my family had a huge ant problem when I was a kid, probably started by me after I accidentally spilled lemonade from our balcony. Then it was snack time as far as the ants were concerned (at least three species, to boot). At first, I tried to be humane (or whatever is the ant equivalent) and just flush them off the balcony with clean healthy water, but they just kept coming back. So yes, the next step was to go on a murderous killing spree with insecticides. I do think they suffered, by the way. Could be a moral-ethical-philosophical problem for vegans who want their vegan lemonade for themselves!

For whatever reason, they eventually stopped climbing "our" house. Winter? Swarming? No idea. A curious thing: I never been afraid of ants, not even when they stormed our castle. Yet, I'm almost phobic towards all other Arthropoda, including spiders far smaller than the average ant. Not being afraid of Formicidae makes me feel almost macho...

Perhaps I was an ant-eater in a previous life?

A kindle in the dark

Just for fun, I downloaded free samples of three field guides to my Kindle, covering (respectively) butterflies, dragonflies and spiders. The samples from the first two didn't show any color plates. The sample from the spider book, by contrast, *only* showed the color plates! Suddenly, things weren't so funny anymore. Yes, I'm practically arachnophobic. Just about the only bugs I can stomach are, ahem, butterflies and dragonflies…

So thank you NOT Mr Kindle!

That being said, I don't doubt that this is an excellent field guide to spiders, although part of me hopes they're not as common as the title implies. Nor do I understand why anyone would want to buy a work of this kind on Kindle for 70 dollars, when you can get a used copy of the actual hardcover for a lower price? How many people run around in the bushes (or their backyards) with a Kindle device in search of Arachnida?

If you only want the free sample (to scare somebody with, perhaps), brace yourself for some quality color illustrations of trapdoor spiders, tarantulas, hackled orbweavers, the “toadlike bolas spider”, garden spiders, cellar spiders and, of course, the black widow. There's even a “false black widow”, so who knows, maybe those 70 buck will save your life? Or the life of a poor common spider…

Five stars. Very reluctantly.

Well, I told you DDT was dangerous...

SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING!

"Kingdom of the Spiders" is the kind of film that probably scared you stiff as a kid. Even as a teenager, you probably liked it - provided you were a somewhat uncool teen around 1977, when this classic (starring William "Captain Kirk" Shatner) was originally released.

The plot is relatively simple: a quiet small town somewhere in Middle America is besieged and attacked by thousands of tarantulas gone mustang. Apparently, DDT has killed off their natural prey, so the hairy arachnids band together in ant-like colonies, preying on cows, pets and (surprise) humans. Weirdly, they also have five times more noxious venom.

All the usual stereotypes are in there: the cold female scientist warmed up by the local hero, the silly mayor who refuses to listen to science, vicious attacks on cute kids and nice grannies, and the final mega-attack on the town itself. The only thing missing is the happy ending. "Kingdom of the Spiders" ends with the *spiders* winning, spinning a gigantic cocoon all around the town, and (presumably) planning new excursions into the rest of Arizona...and the world?

This production is too slow paced for my tastes, but I'm willing to give it the OK rating. Besides, I *told* you DDT wasn't good for our collective health, didn't I? :D

Stay at home, stay alive

A review of U.S. postage stamps showing insects and spiders. 

A positively creepy collection of insects and spiders, courtesy of the United States Post Office. Talk about guilty pleasure if you never left your bug period. Or potential law suit if you get anxiety attacks every time your bug-raptured friends send you post cards with these. I know I would! I mean, get real, we're talking black widow spider, dung beetle, assassin bug, velvet ant and jumping spider! And, of course, bombardier beetle. No doubt a nod to the State of Kansas Board of Education. Still, thanks to the kind-hearted man (or woman) who also made the bug-enamoured artist include the monarch butterfly, the ladybug and the cicada…

Waiter, there's a Xixuthrus in my soup

“The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Insects” by Dr V J Stanek is precisely that! I've heard somewhere that the Czech original was published by a publishing house specializing in books for tweens and teens. Or was that the Slovak translation? Be that as it may, you need a strong stomach (or a prolonged bug period) to sift through this. Most photos are in black-and-white, but the insects look stunningly disgusting anyhow. Some myriapods and a whole bunch of arachnids have been thrown in for good measure, as well, despite not being Insecta.

Indeed, the work starts off with a huge, scary photo of an Indian scorpio (Ptolamnaeus fulvipes). Next out is Euscorpius carpathicus, a “wood scorpio” found in Central Europe and Britain. Ouch! Suddenly, I became less motivated to take a walk in those woods… As for the bugs sensu stricto, there are surprisingly few ants in this volume, despite being one of the more well studied insect groups. But don't worry, Dr Stanek compensates for this by showing us assorted flies, fleas, lice and bird lice. There are also a lot of butterflies and macro-moths, although their beauty is somewhat diminished by the black-and-white photos.

The only insect believed to be hunted to extinction by man is featured: Xixuthrus heyrovskyi, found on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Apparently, this large long-horn beetle was so delicious that the islanders literally consumed every single one. However, about 20 years after the publication of this cyclopaedia, Xixuthrus was rediscovered, once again proving that the island gods love beetles, so I suppose the feast can continue…

There are a few colour plates, and while some of them do show butterflies, the crazy Czech editor has given over one huge colour photo to the Hog Louse, and another to a fine collection of tropical tics!

And yes, the written presentations of each bug are very short. But then, this is the pictorial encylopedia of insects….

Mites, mites, baby

My faux review of "Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behavior". Sorry, couldn´t help myself...

The authors start off be railing against something they call "vertebrate chauvinism". OK, so just because Proctor and Walter didn't get their research grant this year, just because they are stuck in their bug period, just because the world at large finds apes, lions and Timothy Treadwell a trifle more interesting than ticks, we are VERTEBRATE CHAUVINISTS.

Nice try, Walter.

Next, we are treated to an extremely technical, non-popularized book filled with weird words no human vertebrate can possibly memorize. I feel sorry for the anti-chauvinists who have to sift through this at their evening classes.

No, this is definitely not a good book, unless you're grandmother was a tick. Which she wasn't (trust me).

Great bird-lice illustrators and their spiders

Ashtar Command self-portrait 

"The Great Bird Illustrators and their art 1730-1930" is a book by Peyton Skipwith. It features Audubon, Edward Lear, John Gould and Archibald Thorburn, among others. Apart from reproductions of their bird-related art, there are short biographies and presentations of each artist.

My favorite: a certain Eleazer Albin, an 18th century painter, writer and naturalist. Time and place of birth: unknown. Apart from books about birds, he also published "A Natural History of Spiders", including a chapter on bird-lice! A true generalist and Renaissance man, yes?

Overall, however, Skipwith's book is less interesting than Maureen Lambourne's "The Art of Bird Illustration", reviewed by me elsewhere.