by Eric Neubauer
Nature doesn’t recognize manmade boundaries. During a recent visit to Tennessee, I stopped in northern Alabama to photograph and collect some spiders very similar to some seen a few places in Texas. The most recent literature suggests spiders west of the Mississippi River are Pardosa mercurialis and those to the east are Pardosa lapidicina. The literature also postulates mercurialis may be a subspecies of lapidicina. Both are extremely variable and share several distinctive forms. Their DNA would help answer the question, and that is our intention. This particular form is one of the most spectacular among wolf spiders. It camouflages them well along rivers bordered with limestone rocks and sand. These are small spiders that could easily sit on a dime with room to spare.
This year on the blackland prairie was a lot like 2019 with lots of tall sunflowers. In October there was a profusion of yellow flowers and tiny asters.
