Wednesday, November 2, 2016

25-Oct-2016 Burlington, Washington

Site location map. Click to enlarge.
A very rainy October slowed my hunt for the introduced crab spider Ozyptila praticola (Thomisidae), but I was finally able to get in one solid day of searching before turning the page on the calendar.  My destination was the Burlington metro area, which includes Mt. Vernon to the south and Sedro-Woolley to the northeast.

Fallen Pinus nigra cones
In total I tapped 52 spiders from 380 pine cones (Pinus nigra, P. sylvestris, P. strobus or monticola and P. ponderosa) across 7 sites.  As readers of this blog know, I usually describe the catch from each sampling site separately.  But the results were so unremarkable and typical of what I find in fallen cones in the Interstate 5 urban corridor that I'm just going to provide a combined summary this time.

The only thomisids I found in these cones were a few juvenile Xysticus.  Thus, no Ozyptila. Tenuiphantes tenuis and Tachygyna vancouverana were the most common identifiable species present, while juvenile Enoplognatha probably-ovata and Philodromus were numerous and widespread.  A mishmash of other juvenile linyphiids, theridiids and agelenids made up the rest of the combined sample.

Rain showers and sunshine created this beautiful rainbow in Sedro-Wooley

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