excellent paper on Dolomedes

[aaarg]

this is an impressive review of just about everything we know about the genus Dolomedes, soon to belong to the family Dolomedidae rather than Pisauridae.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/arachnid-science/articles/10.3389/frchs.2024.1501653/full
one of the authors shared it today on bluesky

lots of great info about these wonderful arachnids.

here's one of my favorite nuggets -
"The hydrophobic nature of Dolomedes can be used by wasps to ride them as rafts, sometimes propelling themselves along the water using their wings"

 

[Ramen]

"The hydrophobic nature of Dolomedes can be used by wasps to ride them as rafts, sometimes propelling themselves along the water using their wings"

I'd love to see footage of something like this in the future.

 

[Brewser]

I Love Anything to do with Water.
Combine Water with Spiders, You've got My Undivided Attention.
Especially A Spider Angling for Fresh Fish, and other assorted Delicasies.

 

[goofyGoober99]

Finally got around to reading this. Super interesting!

 

[aaarg]

I Love Anything to do with Water.
Combine Water with Spiders, You've got My Undivided Attention.

have you ever heard about Wendilgarda? they attach their webs to the surface of slow-moving streams!

'The water film can be pulled upward by the thread into the shape of a cone, strongly suggesting that there is some sort of interaction between the silk and the water film.'
https://repository.si.edu/bitstream...ior_of_Wendilgarda_spiders_Theridiosomati.pdf

the paper is from 1980 (and its frequent use of the term 'web site' is funny to me), but there are a couple observations of the web on iNat:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/166327617
the horizontal lines are not sticky, but the vertical lines that connect to the water are.

i'd love to see those. and Argyroneta (diving bell spider) of course!

i don't like water, but i love spiders lol