It’s that time again! Spiderday - your monthly linkfest of all the best Arachnid stories from the past month.  Let’s get started…

A wolf spider (genus Rabidosa). This photo by Sean McCann related to some daydreaming I’ve been doing, about collecting spiders.

• This is my read and view of the month: Time to celebrate the diversity of Amblypygi, by Gil Wizen (inspired by this paper that described new species of these awesome arachnids)
• A very good news for spider conservation: the Horrid ground-weaver has been found elsewhere, and photographed.
• Some not-so-good news on spider conservation: the critically endangered peacock Tarantula
• A day in the life of a spider lab. Yup. Lots of spider feeding to be done…
• Here’s a very important paper for Arachnology, on the phylogenomics of spiders: notable is the ancient origin of the orb-web. Here’s a write-up on the story too (although the title is misleading…)
• A study on Arachnophobia: “highly fearful participants overestimated the spider size“
• A great guide to common house spiders in the UK (many of the species found in other parts of the world)
• Spiders… long intertwined with art, culture and jewelry:

• There was LOTS of press about this one: researchers looked into the taxonomy of Tarantulas in the USA, and one of the results is the “Johnny Cash” spider. Here’s another write-up from the BBC. Here’s the original paper.
• More taxonomy: this female jumping spider has finally been described.
• How to take a photo of a very venomous spider.
• Um… spider kills snake?
• It was “Darwin Day” earlier in February. Don’t forget, he observed and wrote about ballooning spiders.
• A paper about zombie spiders 
• When your lover could just EAT YOU UP. A spidery Valentine’s day post.
• Will your pets get bitten by spiders? What does science tell us about spider venom and our pets?
• Wow: check out this Art by Thomas Shahan:

• Ancient Arachnid erection enshrined in Amber. Yup. Gotta be an Opiliones!
• Spiders that look like beetles. It’s true.
• On the importance and conservation of the Georgia Basis bog spider. Wonderful piece.
• Bad news: a new bacteria causing Lyme disease.
• This certainly leads to the question: is it possible to love Ticks…?
• Hee hee: a Valentine’s day message from Catherine Scott, spider style.
• I’ll end with this very zen-like video of an Opiliones: