Dolomedes fishing spider biology
Dolomedes may easily be considered to be among the most charismatic spider taxa. Known colloquially as fishing or raft spiders, this...
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Sep 3
Reviving an an endangered European butterfly
In this study, we focus on Coenonympha oedippus , an endangered butterfly species protected under Annexes II and IV of the EU Habitats...
Sep 2
Nephila male preference for female size and web clusters
Sexual size dimorphism theory predicts biased operational sex ratios (OSRs) and an uneven distribution of males among certain females. We...
Aug 30
Spider kleptoparasites on orb web resource patches
The ideal free distribution (IFD) theory predicts that individuals are free to move among habitat patches and distribute among them...
Aug 19
Spiders manipulate and exploit firefly signals
Predators often search for prey while moving through the environment, but there are important exceptions, including the way sedentary...
Jul 15
A spider, an ant, and a termite walk into a bar
Ants and termites are insect groups that make up most of the insect biomass in tropical ecosystems. Due to their social structure and...
Mar 25
DNA barcoding insufficiently identifies European wild bees
Noticeable declines in insect populations have become of concern. Among the system services that functioning ecosystems provide,...
Feb 27
A 400% increase in Dolomedes diversity on Madagascar
Madagascar is well known for its diverse and unique biota. The combination of a unique geological history of Madagascar and its long...
Dec 6, 2023
Behavioural sex differences in the raft spider
We delved into the fascinating world of Dolomedes fimbriatus, a spider species with significant size differences between females and...
Nov 29, 2023
Mating plugs: for mating or sperm protection
It is generally thought that mating plugs, where present, impede or reduce the possibilities of female subsequent mating. However, mating...
Oct 18, 2023
First stygobiotic form of Garra in Iran
We report the first finding of the stygobiotic form of the cyprinid fish Garra rufa (Heckel, 1843), discovered in a single locality in...
Oct 10, 2023
A new intertidal trapdoor spider species discovered in Taiwan
Spiders are successful predators that inhabit nearly all kinds of terrestrial and even freshwater habitats. However, only a handful of...
Sep 14, 2023
Sex-specific trait architecture in a spider
Sexual dimorphism (sex-specific trait expression) may evolve when selection favours different optima for the same trait between sexes -...
May 10, 2023
Improving family-level classifications
Named higher taxa, for example genera and families, must be monophyletic to be phylogenetically valid. Ranked taxa above the species...
May 3, 2023
Island and Rensch’s rules do not apply to Asellus aquaticus
Body size is a trait of fundamental ecological and evolutionary importance that is often different between males and females (sexual ...
Apr 25, 2023
Postdoc on sexual size dimorphism
Where will your career take you after your doctorate? What will you delve into? Are you interested in sexual selection? How can the sexes...
Feb 16, 2023
Evidence for lekking in a new kite spider
Spiders are notoriously solitary and cannibalistic, with instances of colonial or social lifestyles in only about ~0.1% of described...
Dec 12, 2022
Next-generation biogeography
Historical biogeography is an integrative scientific field critical for testing evolutionary hypotheses pertinent to organismal...
Dec 6, 2022
7 grand challenges in arachnology
This perspective identifies the grand challenges in arachnid science: 1. Grasp the arachnid species diversity. 2. Standardize arachnid...
Nov 3, 2022
New scientific journal on arachnids
On 2 November 2022, a new journal was launched titled Frontiers in Arachnid Science (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/arachnid-scienc...
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