I am overwhelmed sometimes by the sheer diversity and quantity of Spider species I encounter. So many! I take a ton of photos and bring them up on my computer hoping to try and identify a couple, and maybe write about who I am seeing out there, but the precious few who I have been successful in identifying are just that, the precious few. Not many at all.
It has been hard to find a good field guide to Spiders. A friend at the University of Guelph Arboretum was/is? working on one, and there is a pamphlet put out by the City of Toronto, but I was having trouble finding one with good images, and a good glossary (I need these things - I do not know the nomenclature yet).
When I recently I received a copy of Spiders of North America by Sarah Rose I got stoked. It is a hefty book. 624 pages of high quality images from differing angles, details Spider life histories, species profiles of just over 500 species, and range maps. It’s full, and a bit of weight which may inhibit some from bringing it into the field with them, but I do like how many species it covers and the information it offers. One of my main critiques though, is that it is not larger. I don’t know if anyone has ever made a part 1 and part 2 of a field guide before, but Spiders would be a good topic to try that with someday.
Sarah Rose and I spoke about her work as chair of the American Arachnological Society’s Common Names Committee, about Spider behaviours such as molting and ballooning, Spider diets, how to photograph Spiders so we can later identify them and bit on range expansion due to climate change.
If you haven’t already, check out Princeton University Press’ other field guides in their series. The titles include guides to Caterpillars, Dragonflies and Damselflies, Bees, Flower flies and so many more.
To learn more :
Spiders of North America (Princeton University Press website)
The American Arachnological Society
Spiders of Toronto (pdf of pamphlet/magazine)