New paper on bark spiders, who build the largest webs made out of the toughest silk. We show that their extremely tough silk, which is potentially metabolically costly, is limited to large females. Juveniles and males use inferior silk.

Come and work with us in our new home @bristolbiosci.bsky.social ! This fully funded PhD opportunity is open to anyone interested in spiders/eyes/light pollution/evolution/development! 🕷️👀 ⏰Deadline 15th December, online info event TODAY @2pm! Link in the PhD advert👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Among other things we are interested in how Portia performs in hunting spiders after sleep disruption. #spider #sleep

A pair of golden orb weavers from S. Africa (Trichonephila inaurata) mating back in 2016. #Arachtober

Postdoc position available at Ruder Boskovic Institute in Zagreb, in the field of genomics and NGS data processing. Check out the call: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/376320

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

Our journal congratulates @ortizmovliavc.bsky.social l for her award at @35theca2025.bsky.social ! Her work, “Winter warming increases metabolic stress and mortality in an overwintering spider,” got her a free publication in a @pensoft.net journal. zookeys.pensoft.net/news/993

In a new publication, we focused on the little-known African spider Megaraneus gabonensis, in which females are 4x larger than males. We provide an overdue taxonomic description, phylogenetic placement, and reconstruct the evolution of sexual size dimorphism. www.ezlab.si/post/taxonom...

In a new review, we dig deep into possible explanations of the evolution of female cannibalism in spiders and various male strategies to mitigate it. www.ezlab.si/post/female-...

Why do female spiders eat their mates, and how do males fight back? 🕷️ Our new review unpacks the evolutionary dynamics of sexual cannibalism and the astonishing male strategies it has shaped — from nuptial gifts to remote copulation. Open access in Integrative Zoology 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1749...

Spiders have personalities—and in Pisaura mirabilis, opposites might attract: adventurous males and cautious females mate longer, revealing hidden personality-driven patterns in romance. Lead by @cristinatuni.bsky.social Read more here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New research on spider personalities, led by Cristina Tuni. In Pisaura mirabilis, opposites might attract: adventurous males and cautious females mate longer, revealing hidden personality-driven patterns in "romance". Read more here: www.ezlab.si/post/in-pisa...

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

It was an absolute joy sharing this amazing web of brilliant people here in Zadar. Thank you all for coming and making it so special! 🕷️❤️

Today we covered themes related to systematics & phylogenetics, evolutinary biology & genomics, and faunistics & distribution. From Nemesiidae, Salticidae and Theridiidae to scorpions and pseudoscorpions: our lecturers gave their best and gave us insight into their research.

Our plenary talk today: Unraveling Sexual Size Dimorphism in Spiders: Current Insights and Emerging Frontiers by Simona Kralj - Fišer

Spiky or smooth: How should widow spiders construct their egg sacs? By Valeria Arabesky

Our amazing sponsors are the real MVPs! • @pensoft.net : cutting-edge biodiversity publishing • @peerj.bsky.social : high-quality peer review in biology & health Thanks for making this congress possible!

🕷️#Arachnews alert! 🦂 New Foelix (the definitive reference for general spider biology, a must-have for every arachnologist & arachnophile) just dropped. Now called Spider Biology, this is an completely rewritten & updated version of the Biology of Spiders (2011). link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Thanks to ‪PetaPixel‬ for spreading the word about AI photo theft. I know it is like a drop in the ocean and unlikely to change much, but it can at least encourage people to be more critical when viewing photos online. petapixel.com/2025/08/07/a... bsky.app/profile/wize...

So happy to have this published: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

🎓 #PhD in Animal Metabolomics & Ecology @unigreifswald🇩🇪 Sexual and non-sexual communication in a widow spider 🕷️⚗️ DFG-funded | 3 years | behavioral ecology & chemical ecology Details: bit.ly/widow-phd Apply by Sept 24, start in February 2026 #AcademicSky #pleaserepost

Tiny #spiders, huge impact! Meet #MermessusTrilobatus – a North-American dwarf spider that has stormed across #Europe in <50 yrs. We follow every silk thread of its success story 🕸️✨ Swipe through this thread for the highlights! #InvasiveSpecies #Ecology

Arachnid of the week is Troglochthonius doratodactylus Helversen, 1968

Birds are such a strange kind of dinosaur, we would be astonished by them if they weren't around us all the time. Goblin-like puppeteers behind a screen of feathers, as described by Gary W. Kaiser in his book The Inner Bird.

We're still finalizing the logistics of it, but, yes, new section of Behavioral Ecology coming soon!

Update! — Mesquite 4.01 released, fixing a few small and one substantive bug (for details see response post). New: NINJA (for neighbour joining), new merge taxa options, node spots, Google Earth mapping. www.mesquiteproject.org 🧪 #evolbio @bembidion.bsky.social

Our arachno-colleague, Dr. Peter Jaeger, has the ambitious goal of running an inclusive and low-budget scientific conference: the Asian Conference of Arachnology (ACA) 2025. All donations will cover travel and conference expenses for students and ECR from low-income regions in Asia. #arachnology

Is it too late to give Sacha Baron Cohen an Oscar for this? Not a damn lie told. 🇺🇸

Interested in arachnid silk structures? Read this editorial by our @matjazgregoric.bsky.social, @dinrao.bsky.social, and André Walter, and see what articles appear in the new research topic at Frontiers in Arachnid Science. www.frontiersin.org/journals/ara...

Arachnid of the week is Euscorpius biokovensis, 2020

🕷️🌍🕸️ Spiders aren't creepy crawlies—they're ecosystem heroes! From pest control to biotech inspiration to key figures in our collective culture, a new review reveals the many services spiders provide: 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/brv.... (drawing by @jmalumbresolarte.bsky.social)

Look. At. This. (!). A fungus spore landed on this weevil. Grew inside and caused it to climb to the top of this plant- while the fungus killed it. Consumed its body. Used that energy to shoot up a red fruiting body to release more spores. To zombify more weevils. A mind controlling killer fungus.

Free fish book for you nerds www.researchgate.net/publication/...

European arachnology meeting in Croatia: registration is open!

New publication! Bark spiders (Caerostris) are known for extremely large webs and toughest silk. Due to cryptic diversity, a recent genome assembly was misassigned. We redescribe valid species and newly describe the species used in the genome assembly. www.ezlab.si/post/bark-sp...

Our #InverteFest community project uploads have started trickling in! I'm seeing animal photos from Australia, Indonesia, Austria, USA, and Canada. Show us what your country has to offer! www.inaturalist.org/projects/inv... (also, let me know if you need help using the site)

My 8-yr old's submission to the #Invertefest art book. He titled it: Angry bees attacking Stickman (Shared with permission)

Fresh from the oven!

New pub! A short report on a sequence of unusual male behaviors observed in the spider species Nephila pilipes (family Nephilidae), a sexually size dimorphic tropical spider species. www.ezlab.si/post/to-mate...

On Thursday, the XXXI. "Generations of Science" were held at ZRC SAZU. Among the awardees was our Simona Kralj-Fišer, who received the ZRC SAZU Gold Award for top scientific research results. The award was presented to her by the former awardee and colleague, our Matjaž Kuntner. Congratulations!

Here are 3 incredibly beautiful mantids that I saw last month. Toxodera fimbriata Paratoxodera meggitti Hymenopus coronatus

⚠️Alert! Registrations for ECA2025 are officially open from today! Early bird registration is until May 25th, while registration closes on June 20th. Hurry up to book your place! 🕷️All the details are on our webpage: event.fourwaves.com/eca2025/pages

LOOOOOOK at her MOON egg sack!!!! 🌕🕷️

Why do we fear some animals more than others? 🕷️🐍🐊 Check out our study in @peopleandnature.bsky.social with @karlzlr.bsky.social on danger and fear in shaping human biophobia. Fear isn’t just danger—social & cultural factors matter! 🔗 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... 🌐🧪🌍🦤

Truly groundbreaking and fascinating work. Here's an article in Science from 2021. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨 New Paper Alert! 🚨 🐜 How did ants evolve their highly specialized queens and workers? With @adriatica.bsky.social, we reveal a key evolutionary innovation: adult control over larval feeding unlocked extreme caste dimorphism and complex societies. 🧵👇 🔗 Read in @pnas.org: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Can art help protect subterranean ecosystems? 🎨 🦐 🦇 🕷️ In our new study in @pensoft Subterranean Biology, we explore the power of art in subterranean conservation. 🔗 Read more: subtbiol.pensoft.net/articles.php... w/ @veronanni.bsky.social @ivanjaric.bsky.social & more!

What makes a spider a successful urban adapter? Check out the latest PhD review paper by Nik Willmott 🕷️: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1... #BobWongLab 📸 www.flickr.com/photos/wikiw...

This katydid from Ecuador has been affectionately named by photographers "candy-cane katydid". The truth is... we are not sure which species it is. One possibility is a Harroweria nymph, but until someone witnesses the transformation into the adult stage it will remain a mystery.