Spiders of Ivvavik National Park

It is slowly getting to that stage of feeling excited and overwhelmed at the same time about the upcoming field season. I am excited about this new season, but there's still so many things to be done before that; for example, finish posting the photos that I took this past field season.

Here are some spiders I photographed in Ivvavik National Park. Without the kind folks at BugGuide, I probably couldn't come up with the identification at all.

Possibly Xysticus sp. in the family Thomisidae


Araneus yukon


Araneus yukon in the orb weaving family (Araneidae)

This is probably one of my best shots in the summer. It may be another Xysticus sp., but the photo couldn't provide any distinguishing features and so the higher-up people in BugGuide classified it as "frass" and deleted shortly after. That's the difference between a nice looking image and a scientifically useful one.

Note: all of these spiders were found on my study plant, soapberry (Shepherdia canadensis).