arachnids – Alison Pearce Stevens

Dancing peacock spiders

Alison — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:10:13 +0000

A 22-year-old researcher in Australia just discovered 12 new species of spider, seven of which are colorful peacock spiders. Not only are peacock spiders beautiful (their name reflects their colorfully patterned abdomens), but they are also exceptional dancers. Males wave their legs, wave their abdomens, and put on quite a show when there’s a female in the area.

Did you know? The brilliant blue on these spider’s hind ends is created by teeny-tiny nanostructures on the scale-like hairs located there. source

Want to know more? Find out how peacock spiders’ colors create an optical illusion at National Geographic.

Slingshot spider

Alison — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 14:48:55 +0000

You thought cheetahs were fast? Meet the slingshot spider. This resident of the Peruvian rainforest nabs a meal in its web like most spiders. But instead of waiting for the food to come to it, this spider takes its web to the food. It weaves a cone-shaped web, anchored in the middle by a single strand of silk. Then, when tasty-looking prey wander near, it releases the anchor. Spider and web fly through the air to make contact. Lunch!

Did you know? Some spiders nurse their young with “milk” just like mammals do! Who knew these amazing creepy-crawlies were such good moms? source

Want to know more? Slingshot spiders can out-accelerate a cheetah. Find out just how fast they are at Science News for Students.

First book signing!

Alison — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 18:50:09 +0000

Last week was a huge one for me. First we got the outdoor classroom installed at my kids’ school. Then on Saturday, I had my first book signing at the Bookworm Book Store in Omaha, Nebraska–and sold out of books in 10 minutes! (Okay, truth be told, the big box of books they ordered didn’t arrive on time, so there weren’t all that many copies to begin with, but it sure sounds impressive.)

Showing this enthusiastic bunch some of my favorite stories.

Signing books for my young fans. Oh my goodness: I have fans!

Lucky for me, I was part of an Exotic Animals Day, so there was lots to keep everyone entertained even without enough books on hand. We had four tarantulas (three different types), three scorpions that glowed under a black light, a thelyphonid (AKA whip scorpion), a brown recluse, and an amblypygid (AKA whip spider).

When you run out of books, it’s always handy to have some cool critters on hand to share with curious kids. Showing these two how the thelyphonid lost its tail.

An amblypygid is featured on page 94 of Weird but True Ripped from the Headlines 2, thanks to my good friend, arachnologist Eileen Hebets (who also provided many of the critters for the morning’s activities).

Thanks to the Bookworm for inviting me to be part of such a great event!