Escalante Meza lab: Changing our notion of daddy long-leg spiders
Dustin Weidner, chicago.wildlife.photography
Researching arachnids in Camp Pine Woods
Changing our notion of daddy long-leg spiders
Ignacio Escalante Meza’s UIC’s Behavioral Ecology & Biomechanics lab recently conducted research on daddy long-leg spiders, a species of Opiliones. While much research exists on larger animals like birds and mammals, there is less on bug-sized creatures. The lab wants to change that! Hopefully, the extra knowledge about these arachnids, who participate in nutrient cycling because they eat many types of food and are preyed on by many animals, will add to the appreciation of a creature that is often overlooked and a source of “gross-out” for many. He is assisted in this work by first year Bios grads, Sage DeLong and Noah Skelly.