Spider ID wanted.

[Ken L]

In my professional opinion as a highly qualified (if not practicing) biologist, that wants KILLING WITH FIRE!

You big meanie. It's only a little wolf spider. They eat lots of bugs and don't come in the house. You're most likely to see them on cracked clay or rocks when you're fishing and they're very quick.

[chesters1]

Anthing with more that four legs including many things with four legs would swiftly turn into a smudge if my mrs spotted it ,only daddy longlegs are exempt...... if they behave!

[ayjay]

Anthing with more that four legs including many things with four legs would swiftly turn into a smudge if my mrs spotted it ,only daddy longlegs are exempt...... if they behave!

If it might bite me (and make me itch) or eat my garden veg I'll probably attempt to kill it, otherwise I leave them alone.

 

 

The single-minded urge of many people to kill anything flying/fluttering/crawling just for being there really saddens me.

[Steve Walker]

You big meanie. It's only a little wolf spider. They eat lots of bugs and don't come in the house. You're most likely to see them on cracked clay or rocks when you're fishing and they're very quick.

I know, I wasn't serious.

 

I'm not a huge fan of spiders, but generally I leave them be and vice-versa. If they're daft enough to come in the house, the cats eat them! The wife has a phobia of moths. I'm afraid they often get squished, even though personally I quite like them.

[Vagabond]

If it might bite me (and make me itch) or eat my garden veg I'll probably attempt to kill it, otherwise I leave them alone.

 

 

The single-minded urge of many people to kill anything flying/fluttering/crawling just for being there really saddens me.

Agreed, we have hosted a family of tree bees in the garage roof this year, and wasps in the past. In addition to teaching my grandchildren to fish, when they stay during summer , we run an improvised moth trap for at least one night - then they spend part of the next day identifying and releasing the catch.

 

An interesting by-product of that activity is the number of bats and toads that are attracted to th moth swarm (especially if we run the "trap" two or three nights running) - enough bats and toads to support a charge of witchcraft !

 

Unfortunately the species list produced has got shorter as the years pass - likewise the garden butterfly list, in spite of a big stand of buddleia.

[kirisute]

I'm a strange one here! I'm arachnophobic but find them superb creatures to watch and know about!!

maybe it's subconscious research for when they mutate and hunt mankind to the brink of extinction!!

[chesters1]

 

If it might bite me (and make me itch) or eat my garden veg I'll probably attempt to kill it, otherwise I leave them alone.

 

 

The single-minded urge of many people to kill anything flying/fluttering/crawling just for being there really saddens me.

Its kept mankind alive for millions of years ,i doubt the urge to kill insects will threaten any of them theres plenty of them! the four legged types though tend to thin out if concentrated on enough

[ayjay]

Its kept mankind alive for millions of years ,i doubt the urge to kill insects will threaten any of them theres plenty of them! the four legged types though tend to thin out if concentrated on enough

 

Its kept mankind alive for millions of years - I think there may be more pertinent factors involved in mankind's survival.

 

i doubt the urge to kill insects will threaten any of them theres plenty of them - So, pretty pointless then, other than fulfilling some peculiar urge to kill things?

 

the four legged types though tend to thin out if concentrated on enough - It's been done certainly, and mankind has never been too bothered about how many legs a species has before it wipes it out, it doesn't make me proud.

[chesters1]

Four legs and whether they survive is down to commercial reasons nowadays but..

And before general interest in insects was a "hobby" when decent microscopes became common few took interest in them so to protect themselves from the few insects that can cause harm our ancestors treated them all as enemies ,the same for the larger four legged animals that could harm us ,plenty of cows but no wolves or bears in england today.

I put up with them even wasps in their own territory but the mrs treats anything (bar well behaved daddy longleg spiders) as in 'her' territory so they become smudges.

In our ancestors minds fire kept out the nasty four legged beasts but only smudging dealt with the smaller annoyances and they had a point most people are killed by smudgeable critters than four legged ones

I am sure most people even today in england recoil from critters with no legs at all ,certainly learnt from our ancestors ,others who know what they are treat them differently just like knowledge of insects etc ,far safer to kill them than to make a mistake and it kill you ,revelant from our times in caves and in certain places still valid

 

As far as i know no insects arecon the endangered list in england so my wifes smudging complex does no harm at all in the wide term of life on earth ,i read somewhere 98% of ALL life that ever existed on earth is extinct so whatever we do is irrelevant in the long term.

You may love everything that crawls on earth but if you eat ,wear clothes or live in houses some critter suffers because you exist ,if we all became vegetarians what use would there be for cows etc

 

You may look down your nose at my mrs's squishing but you will kill far more beasties cutting your lawn once than my mrs has in her lifetime

Edited July 15, 2014 by chesters1

[Steve Walker]

they had a point most people are killed by smudgeable critters than four legged ones

About 600,000 a year by mosquitos.

 

There is some evolutionary psychology theory, and some evidence, that the revulsion people have for snakes and spiders is innate and instinctive. It's controversial, though.