Project overview
The goal of this project is to document the diversity of spiders in British Columbia. We suspect there may be as many as 1000 species of spider (Order Araneae) inhabiting British Columbia, Canada, and there are still major gaps in our knowledge. So, in conjunction with our field work, we would like to integrate our own findings with the records we can incorporate from iNaturalist through the creation of this project.
Many spiders are incredibly difficult or impossible to identify from photos, but not all species. For those species that we can confidently identify without needing to look at the specimen under a microscope, we will augment our records through the sightings contributed here. Additionally, there is a related project, the Royal BC Museum Vouchering Project, where the specimens are submitted for identification after they have been photographed. If you are interested in either of these projects please get in touch to get involved. Let’s work together to figure out what species occur in BC and where they occur.
If you are reading this and wondering what we already know about spider distributions then please visit the current version of the checklist: http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/2020/07/07/checklist-of-the-spiders-araneae-of-british-columbia/
Bennett, R., D. Blades, G. Blagoev, D. Buckle, C. Copley, D. Copley, C. Dondale and R.C. West. 2020 Checklist of the Spiders (Araneae) of British Columbia. In E-Fauna BC: Electronic Atlas of the Fauna of British Columbia, edited by Brian Klinkenberg (Vancouver: Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, 2020).
So - borrowing heavily from the Beetles of British Columbia Project- here are our project goals:
1) amass representative photos of BC spider taxa,
2) collect habitat and distributional information for BC spiders,
3) connect people interested in the Araneae of BC,
4) provide taxonomic resources, and
5) foster an appreciation for this diverse group of arachnids in the province of BC.
All like-minded parties are encouraged to contribute observations and photos to this project. Thank you in advance for your collaboration and dedication to the Spider Diversity of British Columbia Project!
Projects Leads:
Robb Bennett, Royal BC Museum Research Associate: Robb Bennett did his doctoral degree in spider systematics and is interested in spider taxonomy and faunistics. He has described many new species and is considered a leading expert in the family Cybaeidae in North America and Canadian spider fauna in general.
Darren Copley, Royal BC Museum Vertebrate Collections Manager and Mammal and Bird Preparator: Darren Copley’s research interests span many taxa, from invertebrates to vertebrates, and he has particular expertise in spider taxonomy and identifications. His skill in the field at collecting invertebrates is matched by his ability to document, by song or call, the various bird species encountered during fieldwork, which dovetails naturally with his career as a vertebrate collections manager at the Royal BC Museum.
Claudia Copley, Royal BC Museum Entomology Collections Manager and Researcher: Claudia Copley has been interested in “the little things that run the world” since childhood and is interested in furthering this knowledge, whether it is through her own work or facilitating the research of others.
less ↑