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

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

"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... 

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! 

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. 

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?

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…

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.

The devil had a good day

The devil had a good day when he created the spiders. Personally, I spent most of my childhood running away from them. And from harvestmen! As a teenager, I realized that spiders (but not wasps) could be efficiently disposed of with the aid of my father's vacuum cleaner. Identification key? Not in my house, Anansi! The poor harvestmen went the same way.

I suppose Michael Roberts chased spiders with something else. Let me guess. A pooter? As Michael so aptly describes it: "The pooter is the single most important piece of apparatus for the arachnologist. It enables you to suck up spiders quickly and efficiently without damaging them and then blow them into a container for examination or preservation".

Sounds almost like a vacuum cleaner!

Jokes aside, "Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe" is a field guide to around 450 different species of spiders found in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, Finland, Germany, Benelux and northern France. The small money spiders are excluded, but all other families found in the region are covered. The field guide is fairly advanced, and probably not suited for beginners. It's not the spider version of Michael Chinery's classic "Insects of Britain and Western Europe".

The guide includes identification keys, presentations of both families, genera and individual species, and 32 colour plates. The spiders are illustrated in a somewhat unnatural, pinned position, with all their legs stretched out. Even so, the quality of the plates is really good. The text pages also include illustrations of genitalia, since many spiders can be definitely identified only by looking at these under a microscope. There is also a long introductory section dealing with spider collection, preservation, and general biology. Naturally, I immediately read the section on spider bites. Fortunately, no species in northern Europe is dangerous to man. Tell that to my brain! Where's that vacuum cleaner of mine, by the way? Finally, there are shorter sections on the identification of spider webs.

I don't think absolute beginners will like this book. It's for advanced students only. But then, identifying spiders isn't like identifying birds or mammals. If you really want to know what's creeping below your pillow, you need to become a collector, catch the creature and spend some time with your microscope and this field guide. Still, it would be great fun if somebody could make a field guide to spiders and other arachnids which look more like Chinery's book on insects (which incidentally include some spiders). Such a book might at least give these bugs a better reputation!

But you can't convince me the Evil One isn't behind this one...