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Published: April 23, 2012

200 species in "LinEpig" Dwarf Spider gallery

Nina Sandlin, Associate

With the recent loans of specimens from museums in Alaska and Canada, the "LinEpig" ID gallery now has more 200 North American species of Dwarf Spiders posted online.

With the recent loans of specimens from the University of Alaska Museum and the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, the LinEpig gallery now contains more 200 North American species of Dwarf Spiders. This online photo gallery -- which provides easy reference to the anatomical structures needed for spider identification -- is designed to help museums around the country identify the female Dwarf Spiders in their collections. These spiders (subfamily Erigoninae) are a notoriously difficult group due to their small size and the large number of species that have a similar appearance.

When the rest of recently received material is processed and posted, the gallery will comprise more than a third of described North American erigonine species.

Thanks to Brandi Fleshman and Derek S Sikes, University of Alaska Museum; Claudia Copley of the Royal BC Museum and Darren Copley of the Saanich Environmental Education Office; and Sarah Loboda and Chris Buddle of McGill University for helping us reach this milestone.

Visit LinEpig

Nina Sandlin
Associate

Nina's spider work at the Field Museum started in 1998, with identifying collection specimens in the Nearctic backlog and updating the taxonomic and biogeographic organization of the material. She worked on the Swallow Cliff diversity study, helped compile the Midwest spider list, and reorganized the museum's holdings of the six-eyed goblin spiders (family Oonopidae) in preparation for a Planetary Biodiversity Inventory grant.

After encountering many specimens of the tiny and poorly known sheet web weavers (family Linyphiidae), she began focusing on ways to aid identification of this group, particularly the dwarf spiders (subfamily Erigoninae sensu lato). Since 2007, she has been compiling the LinEpig visual reference gallery, one of the very few identification tools available for female erigonines, which are the only spiders in North America without a key to the genus level. This post in the Scientific American blog describes her work.

Nina Sandlin
Spiders - Zoology
Field Museum
1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA
LinEpig gallery

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