Classifying and Identifying Spiders - Spider Basics: Beyond the Eight Legs, Episode 4

Episode 4 in the Spider Basics series explores how spiders are classified into different groups at different levels, and how those groups and levels help with actually identifying them. We learn how to start with spider guilds and work our way down through the taxonomy to get to genus and species. Also discussed are taxonomic vandalism and spider field guides. Guest appearances from ‪@MyWildBackyard‬ and ‪@SciBugs‬ , as well as ‪@SpiderdayNightLive‬ !

Unless otherwise credited, all photos and footage are my own.

Get your Less Wronger is More Better mug at the Spiders in Your House Shopify store!
https://spidersinyourhouse.myshopify.com

Support me on Patreon (and get exclusive content)!
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=86046992

Follow me on Twitter:
https://x.com/travismcenery

Grab "Spiders of the United States and Canada" for your backpack!
https://shop.adventurewithkeen.com/pr...

Want to learn how to identify LOTS of spiders? Check out Sarah Rose's "Spiders of North America", the first book I reach for when identifying spiders (I earn a small commission if you purchase through these links).
If purchasing from the United States: https://amzn.to/3OGznzN
If purchasing from Canada: https://amzn.to/44Wz5dR



References:

Cardoso P, Peka´r S, Jocque´ R, Coddington JA (2011) Global Patterns of Guild Composition and Functional Diversity of Spiders. PLoS ONE 6(6): e21710. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021710

Echeverri, Sebastian. (2024). Spiders of the United States and Canada. Adventure Publications.
Kaiser, H., Crother, B. I., Kelly, C. M. R., Luiselli, L., O’Shea, M., Ota, H., Passos, P. Schleip, W. & Wüster, W. (2013) Best practices: in the 21st Century, taxonomic decisions in herpetology are acceptable only when supported by a body of evidence and published via peer-review. Herpetological Review 44, 8-23.

Naish, Darren. (2013, June 20) “Taxonomic vandalism and the Raymond Hoser problem.” Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/bl...

Sahagun, Louis. (2022, September 23) “Bumblebees can be classified as ‘fish’ under California conservation law, court says.” Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-bumbleb...

Rose, Sarah. (2022) Spiders of North America. Princeton University Press.