Herbert Walter Levi

I found an interesting spider up on Mount Rainier a few years ago. The pale blue egg sac caught my attention. I guessed it was in the wolf spider family, roaming around at 1800 meters (6000 feet). I snapped a few photos and continued on to botanize.A few months later, I added an observation on iNaturalist. I know this was a wolf spider (family Lycosidae) but not much more. After a few hours,someone suggested this spider was in genus Pardosa.

A few years later, confirmed the ID at the genus level and noted that in Western Washington, only this genus has blue egg sacs. I then asked Rod about how to get to a species level ID. I asked them to recommend a good beginner's book on spiders. They suggested Spiders and Their Kin by Levi et al. I ordered a copy of the book, and when it arrived, I noticed it was a Golden Guide, which I had thought of as a children's book. I was wrong! This book was a perfect introduction. It covers land arthropods other than insects, including spiders, scorpions, harvestmen, mites, centipedes, millipedes, and wood lice. The book starts with the classification, anatomy, and behavior of spiders and their kin.

The book's core is an illustrated review by family of spiders, spider relatives, myriapods, and land crustaceans. It has worldwide coverage. The length of each section varies based on the number of species. For example, orbweavers (Araneidae) cover 19 pages, about 12% of the book. This section was helpful, especially a two-page spread on how orbweavers build their webs. The unit on wolf spiders (Lycosidae) helped me understand the behavior of the genus Pardosa.

This book will sit beside me while working on my iNaturalist observations of spiders and their relatives. It's a good introduction in 160 pages. One caveat is that this isn't a detailed species identification guide but should be helpful to classify down to the family level.… (more)

Possibly the best little guide on spiders/arachnids I've ever come across. Compact, small, handheld, pocket-sized and easily portable and doesn't take up that much space at all. Wonderfully presented information coupled with detailed, accurate illustrations. It doesn't provide every species of spider, but it does chronicle spider relatives, spider lifecycles, and numerous species. The text is not too challenging at all and serves as a fine reference point for enthusiasts, readers, researchers and artists alike.… (more)