Happy International Jumping Spider Day

I can hardly believe we are one third of the way through October already, but at least we can celebrate International Jumping Spider Day on October 10. This is the ninth anniversary of the "holiday," which was founded by Shaham Tamir, a macrophotographer, in 2017. It is also known as National Jumping Spider Appreciation Day.

A male White-jawed Jumping Spider, Hentzia mitrata, from April of this year, Wyandotte County Lake Park, Kansas.

The annual #Arachtober event is also in progress on social media, and the photosharing site Flickr, where it originated. I am privileged to know both of the Arachtober founders, Joseph Connors and Ashley Bradford. As the name implies, Arachtober honors not only spiders, but mites, scorpions, harvestmen, and all other arachnids.

An immature female Golden Jumping Spider, Paraphidippus aurantius, has taken down a soldier beetle in our Leavenworth, Kansas back yard, in June.

Jumping spiders have become wildly popular in both the pet trade, and in pop culture in recent years. It is an encouraging example of how attitudes towards spiders can be changed through creative and, well, relentless, approaches. It helps that the members of the spider family Salticidae are often fuzzy, with one pair of very large, forward-facing eyes that give them a much more endearing appearance than most other spiders. There are now jumping spider plush toys.

Studio portrait of a male Bold Jumper, Phidippus audax, from our back yard in Leavenworth, Kansas, in May of this year.

Salticids are also the subject of research in many disciplines, especially animal behavior. Some species, such as those in the tropical genus Portia, exhibit the ability to plot their attacks on prey to avoid detection by their intended victim. Courtship behavior in jumping spiders is also complex. Males and females are frequently sexually dimorphic, to the degree that the sexes can be mistaken for different species.

This tiny, adult male Attinella concolor, was the first of its kind I had ever seen. June of this year, Leavenworth, Kansas.

Jumping spiders are the most diverse family of spiders, with a collectively global distribution, save for Antarctica, and are among the easiest spiders to find. They hunt on foot, without the aid of a web, but deposit a silken dragline for safely returning from a missed jump.

You can probably find one hunting on the exterior of your house right now. Approach slowly, as they have keen eyesight and are exceptional at detecting motion. I have had many a jumping spider escape beneath the siding of our home because I moved a little too fast. The underside of leaves, on tree trunks, and on the ground are other places to search for them. Sometimes they stray indoors, too.

There are some jaw-dropping ant mimics among the jumping spiders, like this male Synemosyna formica that I found on the outside of a neighbor's house here in Leavenworth, Kansas in early May.

Since Heidi and I were on a road trip to and from Tucson, Arizona at the start of the month, I have decided to participate in Arachtober using images from my iPhone 14, much as I did for National Moth Week this year. Spiders are a challenging subject for even those who are most accomplished at phone photography, so my results may be....mixed.

Phone pic of a female Green Lynx Spider, with American Snout butterfly prey, and her egg sac at right. Madera Canyon, Arizona, last week.

Please leave a comment telling us how you celebrate Jumping Spider Day, and/or Arachtober. Did you have a phobia that you were able to overcome? Do you make art involving arachnids? Maybe you have a pet spider? While I do not accept unsolicited images here, you are welcome to include a link to images you have elsewhere. Enjoy the rest of the month!

Did I Mention My YouTube Channel?

This post is not an advertisement. I am trying to put a positive spin on news I received from Blogger, the Google host for this blog. I received an email recently announcing that they will be taking down certain videos from blog posts, including a whopping twenty-one (21) of mine. This will render about twelve of my blog posts essentially useless, until I can reload the videos in a different manner. If I can figure out how to do that. This is the latest in a long series of joy-sucking events affecting this blog.

The affected posts are old, especially by evolving digital standards, and I suspect that the Blogger platform simply stopped supporting the video format I was using, and/or created a way to load videos separate from images. I’m going to try and insert a video here from my YouTube channel, to see if that works.

This video plays for me, hopefully for you, too. A flower fly, genus Eristalis, grooming itself.

Ideally, I want to update the affected blog posts, but, failing that, I will take them down. Turns out the internet is more ephemeral than we think it is anyway. Many websites come and go, on the whims of their creators, as a result in changes in technology, and for other reasons.

That reminds me of another evolutionary episode in my writing career. Several years ago, I was paid to write educational and topical posts for the Insectlopedia web page, an online service for After Bite® products from Tender Corporation. Tender Corp was subsequently bought out by Adventure Ready Brands in June, 2020, and all communication ceased. Emails went unanswered, and eventually they removed all the posts I had written, or most of them.

My articles for Insectlopedia still exist on the “Wayback Machine” of Internet Archive, but they are difficult to search out and link to.

If you go to the “More” tab at the top of my blog page, you will find non-functioning links to those old Insectlopedia posts. I will eventually get around to removing those, too, but may recycle some of them in the context of this blog. Apologies for the current inconvenience.

To all followers who are also struggling bloggers, I see you, and empathize with you. Well-intentioned people will say to you “Does anybody even read blogs anymore?,” and otherwise offer bits of discouraging wisdom. I can tell you that yes, people do read blogs. They want genuine, reliable, accurate content, especially now with the contamination of commercial sources by Artificial Intelligence (AI). They want perspectives not dictated by the vagaries of Wall Street and corporate agendas. Carry on, you are a soldier for good things.

Good News and Bad

Lately, I have not been motivated to write, but two recent events in particular prompt today’s post. Neither has happened yet, actually, but both have been announced. One of them invites your participation, and the other erases future opportunities to enjoy a visit to a renowned institution.

Butterfly Big Day is September 12, 2026. Captive butterflies in butterfly houses don't count, though.

The other day I was approached by a colleague, via a social media messaging channel, and asked to promote the first “Butterfly Big Day,” taking place on September 12. This is an attempt to take an almost literal snapshot of global butterfly abundance and diversity through community science. The one-day project is sponsored by a variety of organizations and working groups, including The Urban Butterfly Initiative, which created the event.

Participation in the Butterfly Big Day involves joining the iNaturalist project, and uploading your photos of butterflies seen on that day to the platform.

World Wasp Week is September 20-28.

In the process of joining the Big Butterfly Day project, I learned that World Wasp Week is also coming up fast: September 20-28. The same procedure exists for that undertaking as well: Join the iNaturalist project, then upload your images of wasps, bees, ants, sawflies, and related members of the order Hymenoptera, seen during that time period. Autumn, in the northern hemisphere, is typically a great time to see wasp diversity. Don’t forget the tiny ones. In fact, that is where the greatest wasp variety exists, and none of those little creatures sting, either.

Don't forget the tiny wasps, like this diapriid, for World Wasp Week!

Flowers are the logical place to observe and record wasps, but it also pays to look at aphid colonies. Aphids secrete copious amounts of a sugary liquid waste called honeydew, and wasps, ants, bees, and other insects crave it. Turn on your porch light at night, because a surprising number of wasps are nocturnal. Many of those are very small, but there are some large ichneumon wasps that will likely visit, too.

There is another date looming that is, unfortunately, not so full of joy and excitement. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia just issued a press release announcing that the museum will be closing to the public as of September 27. This abruptly ends a nearly 200-year run of existence for the museum, which was its own entity, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, until 2011, when it became an affiliate of Drexel University. Coincidence? Maybe.

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, in Philadelphia, USA.

The statement that was broadcast cited the Covid pandemic as a major factor in decreased attendance, from which the museum has apparently never fully recovered from. The museum administration claims that it maintains a commitment to public education and engagement, but is consolidating resources to protect the large and historically valuable collections housed within the facility.

The letter also asserts that they are not underestimating the impact this decision will have. Oh, but they are underestimating that. The repercussions for museums across the entire United States, and also abroad, will be anxiety-inducing at best, and drastic at worst.

What the average person hears in the media statement is “We value a vault of dead organism specimens over the education of living human beings.” It affirms the existing beliefs of many that science is elitist and exclusionary.

I have to bite my tongue when I hear friends and colleagues praising the museum for prioritizing the collections. I get it. I have worked in collections myself, including the Smithsonian Institution (on private contract in the 1980s). They are invaluable and irreplaceable. The problem is, we have done a terrible job of communicating that value to people who don’t work in museums. Science is suffering from public distrust enough as it is, without closing a major portal to understanding it.

I have friends who have worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences, and others in Philadelphia who know the museum intimately. This is beyond gut-wrenching for them, and is arguably a slap in the face to their years of employment, volunteerism, and patronage. I have never been to the museum myself, but am deeply mourning the fact that I will never be able to.

Enough. Go out there and document the butterflies, wasps, and other creatures, while you still can. Visit museums and nature centers while they are still open to you. Take nothing for granted, but do your best to guarantee a future that is better than our present.

Jewel Beetle Spring

As I write this, Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, is under an (checks notes) “extreme heat warning,” expected to last for another two days at least. It has been an excessively hot summer, and I am recounting memories from spring more than I am making new discoveries. One thing that stands out was the diversity of jewel beetles, family Buprestidae, that I found during the month of May this year.

Blue Spotwood Borer, Agrilus acutipennis

Jewel beetles are also known as metallic woodborers for their often brilliant, iridescent colors; and called flathead borers for the flattened larval stage. The adult beetles are frequently alert, dashing or flying away at the first hint of potential danger, making them a challenge to photograph. Others are exceptionally cryptic, relying on camouflage and stillness to avoid detection in the first place. Some species exhibit all of these characteristics and behaviors.

Emerald Ash Borer from May 30, 2021, Leavenworth, Kansas.

Yes, some species can be pests, namely the Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis, but that is a species native to east Asia. It is extremely problematic where it has been introduced. Most jewel beetle species are kept in check by parasitoid wasps, predatory beetles, and other natural controls.

Unidentified Agrilus sp. from Weston Bend State Park, Missouri.

On May 4, Heidi and I went across the river to Weston Bend State Park in Missouri, one of our favorite haunts during spring bird migration. It turned out to be pretty good for insects, too, including some jewel beetles. I spotted one of the many species of the genus Agrilus that can be found in our neck of the woods. These are small, usually well under ten millimeters, very narrow and elongate, and more often than not have muted colors. They are most often seen on foliage in sunny spots in the forest understory, or along forest edges.

Texania campestris, Weston Bend State Park, Missouri.

Heidi, while taking pictures of moss or mushrooms on a stump, suddenly exclaimed that she saw a huge buprestid. Indeed, she found a big specimen of the Hardwood Heartwood Buprestid, Texania campestris. It is very likely the largest species of jewel beetle in our immediate area, ranging from 20-30 millimeters. It can be confused with the pine-boring genus Chalcophora that is found elsewhere in Missouri.

Texania campestris

T. campestris occurs east of the Great Plains, but is more common in the southern U.S. than elsewhere. Known host plants for the larvae include American Beech, American Sycamore, maples, and Black Willow.

Texania campestris

Closer to home, I visited Havens Park here in Leavenworth, on May 13. It is the closest thing to a “wild” park within walking distance. It is a hilly park, at the top of which is something of a plateau. There, at the summit, more or less, is a degraded glade habitat, more xeric than the surrounding forest, dominated by Eastern Redcedar, and some of the hardier oaks.

Blue Spotwood Borer, Leavenworth, Kansas.

I found a handful of jewel beetles flying around, and landing on, some oak saplings in one sunny spot. They turned out to be the Blue Spotwood Borer, Agrilus acutipennis, infrequently to rarely collected, according to one recent source. This is a spectacular species for the genus, at 7-10 millimeters in length, and vivid metallic blue with white scales highlighting the edges of the pronotum (top of thorax), and the sides and venter of the abdomen.

Blue Spotwood Borer

The Blue Spotwood Borer is found east of the Great Plains, well into Canada. Larvae are known to bore in Eastern White Oak, and Overcup Oak, but the adult beetles alight on all kinds of other oaks, hickories, and walnut.

Brachys ovatus, Havens Park, Leavenworth, Kansas.

In contrast to that showy species, I also noticed a Brachys ovatus, doing its best impression of a dried-up leaf edge. At only 4-7 millimeters, it is easily overlooked despite how relatively common it is, throughout eastern North America. Oddly, males of this species are rarely seen, and it may reproduce by parthenogenesis. Larvae bore in Northern Red Oak.

Common Hackberry Agrilus, Havens Park, Leavenworth, Kansas.

I also found an unusually lethargic Common Hackberry Agrilus, Agrilus lecontei, also on an oak leaf. I thought it might even be dead, a victim of a robber fly or other predator. I collected it into a vial, and by the time I got home it was apparent it was very much alive.

Common Hackberry Agrilus alive and well!

This is another small (4-7 mm) species that is supposedly uncommon, despite its widespread distribution east of the Great Plains.

Redbud Borer, Leavenworth, Kansas.

We have several Eastern Redbud trees “volunteering” in our yards, so it was not surprising to discover a Redbud Borer, Ptosima gibbicollis, on one of them on May 18.These little beetles are only 4-7 millimeters, but black with bright yellow markings, so they are easy to see.

Redbud Borer

On May 20, I was surprised and delighted to spot a Two-lined Chestnut Borer, Agrilus bilineatus, on a leaf near our front steps.

Two-lined Chestnut Borer, Leavenworth, Kansas.

Despite the name, this beetle uses a variety of oak species as host trees. It is a widespread and common species east of the Great Plains, but this is the first time I have seen one. It is 4-10 millimeters long.

Two-lined Chestnut Borer

I walk our neighborhood regularly, weather permitting, but on May 22 I took only my phone with me. Naturally, I found a lovely specimen of Anthaxia cyanella on a leaf in a hedge adjacent to an open field.

Anthaxia cyanella, Leavenworth, Kansas.

This brilliant blue beetle is only 4-5 millimeters long, and is apparently infrequently encountered. Larvae are known to bore in Eastern Redbud, Honeylocust, Downy Serviceberry, and River Birch. Adult Anthaxia species in general are usually seen on flowers, especially composites.

Beech Borer, Leavenworth, Kansas.

On May 26, once again with only my phone at hand, I noticed a Beech Borer, Agrilus obsoletoguttatus, in the little butterfly garden along one exterior wall of our local library.

Beech Borer from blacklighting in Leavenworth on June 10, 2021.

This beetle, 4-8 millimeters in length, is quite common east of the Great Plains. Larval host trees include Dwarf Chinkapin Oak, Northern Red Oak, Ohio Buckeye, Eastern Hophornbeam, and Honeylocust, among others.

Heidi and I hiked the VA Trails, another mostly wild park along the Missouri River on the Kansas side here in Leavenworth, on May 27. I didn’t see any jewel beetles until we came back to the parking lot and I noticed a large, recently-downed limb of an oak tree about fifty yards away.

Chrysobothris sp., VA Trails, Leavenworth, Kansas.

Storm damage provides woodboring beetles of all sorts with fresh resources that they quickly locate and oviposit into. Among the more reliable arrivals will be jewel beetles in the genus Chrysobothris. The bad news is that they all look very similar and are extremely challenging to identify.

Sure enough, I found several of these cryptic gems running over the bark of the tree limb. The Chrysobothris femorata species complex is probably what this one falls under. The species is named the Flatheaded Appletree Borer, but there is a wide range of deciduous trees used as hosts. These are probably opportunistic generalists that take advantage of storm damage and logging operations. Chrysobothris are midsize jewel beetles, ranging from 7-16 millimeters in this particular instance.

Chrysobothris sp. Males thump their butts on the log to get the attention of females.

Jewel beetles can be found during most of the warmer months, but spring, even early spring, is perhaps the best time to be looking for them. They are well worth pursuing, and you can help add to our collective scientific knowledge by sharing your observations on iNaturalist, Bugguide, and elsewhere. Happy Hunting!

OK, BYE-E-E-E!

Sources: Paiero, Sten M., et al. 2012. Field Guide to the Jewel Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) of Northeastern North America. Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 411 pp.
Solomon, J.D. 1995. Guide to Insect Borers of North American Broadleaf Trees and Shrubs. Agriculture Handbook 706. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 735 pp.