This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

2023 January 31

2023 January 31

 

  Rosemary Jorna writes: I met this little spider way out in the forest near Tugwell Creek on January 30. He  was quite lively in spite of the ice crystals on the leaves around him.

It was provisionally labelled here as a theridiid, but Dr Robb Bennett writes: I noticed an error  with respect to the 30 January spider of Rosemary Jorna –  nice image. Catherine Scott pointed out to us that it’s not a theridiid. For one thing, it has macrosetae (large moveable “spines”) on its legs which, characteristically, theridiids lack. So we had another  look and agree that it is a linyphiid, probably  Pityohyphantes rubrofasciatus.

 

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Immature male Pityohyphantes (probably rubrofasciatus)   Rosemary Jorna