Like science? Want to help contribute to actual scientific research? This is a great Citizen Science
Like science? Want to help contribute to actual scientific research? This is a great Citizen Science opportunity! **Note: if you are in CA and want to participate, it may be a good idea to contact her ahead of time- we want to be sure if you collect for this research that you are not collecting unintended species. Or another option is to collect live and release if incorrectly ID’d. Hi! My name is Sakina and I am a 4th year undergraduate student from UC Berkeley. I am currently doing a research project on the populations of three color polymorphic spiders in California, the invasive Enoplognatha ovata & E. latimana and the native Theridion californicum.These spiders share an analogous yellow and red color polymorphic system as well as the same microhabitat on the underside of broad leaves. My project aims to observe when E. ovata & E. latimana invaded California, their distribution over time, and their potential impact on the native T. californicum.The most recent published distribution of E. ovata & E. latimana shows these spiders only in the very northwest of CA, however, museum records show E. ovata further south in California as early as 1973.If you have specimens of Enoplognatha ovata, Enoplognatha latimana, and Theridion californicum collected in California, I would highly appreciate the date & locality information. If you have any other collection data, especially original color morphology, I would appreciate it as well. This information will help in creating a distribution of these spiders and ultimately aid in understanding the potential impact of these invasive spiders.Please contact me via email: [email protected] you,Sakina Isadibir -- source link
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