Spider Sunday: Spiders 'R' Us

Yesterday, the people who brought you SpiderIdentification.org launched literally a “brand” new website, Spiders.us. The new website will have an expanded range of more traditional content, not the interactive forum of its predecessor. Not to worry, you can still post “mystery spiders” to the Facebook page for SpiderIdentification.

Spiders.us is dedicated to being your headquarters for everything “spider” in the United States and Canada. The aim is to be accurate above all else, for there exists so much misinformation, contradictory information, and downright myth, superstition and urban legend that it is no wonder so many people are fearful of spiders. We empathize and promise to put the squeamish and scared at ease as best we can.

We will also defend spiders for the important roles they play in nature, pest control, medicine, engineering and other economic and cultural realms. Here you will find:

• Help in identifying the “mystery spider,” or even its web, in your home, office, yard, or garden.
• Help in avoiding and preventing spider bites.
• The latest news on spiders from the scientific community.
• Educational resources from online articles to scientific papers.
• Articles on the positive impacts of spiders on human culture.

We also look forward to hearing from you about how we can make this website more user-friendly and comprehensive. While we see our audience as people with little or no prior knowledge of the arachnid world, you will also find material that is more sophisticated, suitable for naturalists, librarians, teachers, and even scholars.

I am personally looking forward to this new venture, creating content for the site and learning new things myself along the way. Won’t you join me?

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