Expiscor is back! Here are some discoveries from the past week. I hope you enjoy!
- Over on unpopular science, a nice write-up on peacock spiders. Yeah, these little critters are just awesome.
- Poetry, spiders and Dr. Suess. To name a jumping spider and a connection to the Lorax. Wow. And for more: here’s a video about Lapsias lorax. (big thanks to Dr. Dez for this one, and to Morgan for link to the video)
- Looking up: How about a jumping spider that lives in the Himalayas?
- As Spider Joe pointed out on twitter the other day, it’s been known since 1944 that two joints in spider legs extend via hydraulics and not muscles.
- I know you are ready for it… a spider photo! This one, an amazing photo of a trapdoor spider by Matt Bertone (thanks Matt, for permission to post here!)
- Creepy or cool? How about anal phoresy in mites? Check out this twitter conversation for some fascinating biology; thankfully a blog post was written to wrap it all up.
- More creepy or cool, with a summer twist: blow fly maggot in a bikini, anyone?
- What is summer without a celebration? Happy Moth Week, everyone!
- Some big news in the world of parasitoid wasps – Roger Latour posts a story about Sceliphron curvatum arriving in Montreal (poor little spiders, though…)
- Speaking of the lovely city of Montreal, there’s beekeeping on the rooftops! (thanks McGill for tweeting that story)
- Epic video of spruce budworm moths flying in Quebec – truly a stunning video that depicts the beauty of population ecology. (Thanks Chris MacQuarrie for that link!)
- Colour changing leaf beetles, a nice blog with some very lovely beetles.
- Speaking of beetles, here’s a story of a rare tiger beetle on New England beaches.
- On the topic of conservation, we ought to pay attention to the smaller creatures of the world (by Simon Leather)
- And the tweet of the week goes to Lab & Field – commentary on being a post-doc and multitasking!
- Jonathan Franzen on the plight of songbirds in the Mediterranean.
- BIG NEWS in the world of science last week – the drop of pitch finally landed.
- The macabre beauty of medical photographs, via the Smithsonian.
- In honour of the completion of this year’s tour de France, here are some amusing quotes from one of the more colourful riders, Jens Voigt. e.g., Having things organized is for small-minded people. Genius controls chaos
- Tour de France, 1973: My how things have changed:
- And to finish, I agree with Bug Girl: this is one of the nerdiest Entomology videos out there. Wow.
Arthropod Ecology 
Today, I went to the beach front with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear
and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.
She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is entirely off topic but I had to
tell someone!