SalticidsRock

Joined: Aug 8, 2016 Last Active: Jul 16, 2021 iNaturalist

Biologist & arachnophile. Helping people see spiders for the amazing creatures they are is just about my favorite thing. But I love invertebrates of any sort. I benefited from the time & efforts of my teachers/professors and am happy to give back on this site to citizen scientists! Plus I get to learn some things, too.

Jumping spiders are my favorite arachnids and I am probably of most help for ID of those in particular, especially in the Eastern US, but can likely help point someone in the right direction for other spiders, too. My day job keeps me pretty busy so feel free to drop my username on a page where you'd like an extra pair of eyes & I'll take a peek. I peruse the "needs ID" pages when I can, but not nearly as often as I'd like...

Some things that are particularly helpful for spider ID: (1) images of the back side of the spider so the patterns are visible on both the cephalothorax (head) and abdomen and (2) a length measurement/estimate of just the body (head & abdomen). Images of the eyes when possible are helpful in determining the family for similar species because different families have different eye arrangements. And any ecological notes like whether it was found in a primarily wooded area, grassy area, at the edge of a lake or riverbank, etc.

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