Quite familiar with humidity issues (live in northern Michigan, hello neighbor ;) ). But never would have thought it was a factor in spider reproduction. Sounds like a paper to publish sometime.
To be fair, the spiders who hang out in the same room as humans in flagrante are probably also tapping their legs wishing we would hurry up and stop making the air and materials in their environment vibrate so much. To also be fair, the pairs who turn away and ignore each other are demonstrating the kind of etiquette that quite a few people could really learn from, really.
I am so happy to find this topic in my feed.. and it's from PZ Myers! --Who knew? I live in Thailand and am surrounded by jumping spiders for which I have become rather crazy about over recent years.. I have noticed something I didn't know was possible.. --the 3 legged spider! Okay, okay, sometimes they have 4 or 5 or 6 or even 7 legs... but many, many of the wild spiders I encounter are missing legs or parts of them. Can you point me to any research into the survivability of these spiders under such conditions? One remarkable female example lost all four legs on one side of her body, yet was obviously adapting well enough.. amazing stuff! -- enjoyed this update so much thank you for all you do!
My son is in Thailand right now, for a few weeks. I told him to catch a few spiders for me, but I doubt that he will, since mailing live animals to Minnesota right now is rather difficult.
