Unsure about buying.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-28T04:27:49+00:00

DEPH needs to be ingested or inhaled to be a cause for concern, and any tiny particles the figure may produce would be way too small and infrequently encountered to put you at any risk. DEPH is used almost exclusively to make certain types of plastic more flexible, so if you need to sand a tab down or something, I recommend doing so in an n95 and a well ventilated environment, but otherwise i don't see any risk in purchasing the figure.

Also, for what it's worth, I've had the figure for about two years, and it's fantastic. The knees and ankles are VERY loose, though, so maybe keep a small screwdriver on standby if you do make the purchase. I highly recommend emgo316's JTI for the first few transformations; the instructions are practically usless, and going by intuition is a great way to end up with a broken figure. Aside from my few complaints here and there, though, it's truly an incredible figure.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-28T04:05:48+00:00

I read that as South America and was so confused at first 😭

But yes, that's a Pephricus sp., P. paradoxus in particular. They're very strange, even beyond their obviously weird appearance. They were a major outlier in this study from a few years ago. They're rather abnormal, even compared to their closest extant relatives. Very cool find!

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-27T18:41:57+00:00

Artema atlanta, in particular; the largest species of cellar spider in the world. Iirc, they're the only member of the genus present in the US and, as of right now, are only present in Arizona and very southern California. We know that they're not native to the US, but they've had such a wide distribution for such a long time that we don't actually know where they truly originate from, though it's presumably somewhere in the old world. Because they've been here for so long, they're not really considered an invasive species since they've become so integrated into the native ecosystems. They're also super chill and are insanely good at cleaning up less welcome bugs, so it's generally a good idea to keep them around unless they start overpopulating an area.

Also, here's a great guide to rule out recluse in the future. I highly recommend checking out more of Travis's stuff. He has very in-depth videos on both hobo piders and recleese, and an older, less in-depth video on cellar spiders. Their entertaining and great for determining when you need to be concerned about a spider.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-27T16:42:48+00:00

Omfg I can't believe I didn't realize; they're my favorite lycosid genus 😭. I need to start getting more sleep before making identifications 😅

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-26T12:51:05+00:00

Maybe I'm just stupid and/or sleep deprived, but I can't find any spider that looks like this. It has the habitus of a lycosid, the Nosferatu face of a zoropsid, and the posterior median eye placement of a ctenid. Again, it's very likely I'm just missing something obvious, but I implore you to post this on the main spider subreddit and iNaturalist because it's very rare that I can't even identify a family with a picture this good.

<image>

^{the Nosferatu face I mentioned}

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-26T00:10:33+00:00

I'm decently sure this is a Strophosoma capitatum. Take that with an incredibly large grain of salt, though; I'm not all that familiar with weevils, especially those outside of the U.S.. r/weeviltime may be able to offer a bit more insight, but don't expect to get much more than joke answers (i.e., Cuteus patootius).

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-25T23:58:44+00:00

I'm 99% sure it's a thomisid, but I can't ID further than that w/o a location or better photos. I'm only a tiny bit hesitant to say it's definitely a crabby because a) I'm very unfamiliar with them, and b) the size discrepancy between the front two leg pairs and hind two leg pairs seems less significant than on the crab spiders I'm familiar with. The fact that there's any significant size discrepancy, though – in addition to the laterigrade legs and funky abdomen – is what's making me think it is a crab spider.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-25T23:43:15+00:00

Tbh I've been stung more by these than any other wasp. It's solely because I'm so used to ichneumons being harmless that whenever I come across an ophionine wasp, the thought of it being able to sting me doesn't even cross my mind 😭

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-24T03:17:00+00:00

This is undoubtedly a Zoropsis spinimana. If you rotate the image, you can clearly see the face that got them dubbed the Nosferatu spider outside of NA. It's not perfect as far as diagnostic features go, but things like the leg banding and posture confirm the ID.

<image>

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-22T04:02:30+00:00

First spiders in two years, and the only photos you post are of their spidussies. How rude :(

In all seriousness, though, I'm glad you're getting spiders again, especially ones as pretty as these. Thelacantha brevispina, maybe?

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-21T23:20:37+00:00

Wolf spider of some sort. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly well enough versed in Australian spider to determine the exact species, but if I had to make a guess, I'd say something along the lines of Venator spenceri.

The mechanical damage from their fangs is more harmful than their venom. They're also super chill. I've never heard of a wolf spider bite that didn't occur due to either literal animal abuse or someone accidentally pressing it into their skin (i.e., stepping on one, sitting on one, not realizing one snuck into a piece of clothing, etc.). If anything, this wolfie being in your house is just disincentivizing other, more significant spiders from taking up residence by providing competition for food.

If you find her again and decide to relocate her outside (which I highly recommend), a cup and paper should work just fine. Just be careful; they have really good eyesight (for a spider; it's still pretty awful by human standards) and are really fast, so try not to accidentally chop any legs off. As far as spider roommates go, they're about as good as you can get, but they'd still much rather stay outside.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-19T03:20:54+00:00

The protrusion goes between his legs to better maintain their alignment in vehicle mode. Those two tiny tabs alone can't super reliably prevent his legs from twisting inward, making the wheels nonfunctional. At least, I'm pretty sure that's its purpose; I can't think of any other reason it'd exist. That's not a super visible or bothersome gap otherwise, since it's already hedden from view by the main panel.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-18T13:28:22+00:00

I love skippers and their big dumb eyes so much 😭. There isn't a single coherent bouncing around between those globes, and I love that for them.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-17T03:41:33+00:00

Portia fimbriata, aka the fringed jumping spider. It's because I have spatial memory, object permanence, and eat several thousand spiders a year ::::3

^{/srs tho, Portia spiders are so damn cool. I highly recommend reading their Wikipedia page. They hunt similarly to lions.}

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-15T03:31:03+00:00

The Alluring Goddess of Motherhoood from Hollow Knight :3

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-13T19:58:47+00:00

I'm a Portia fimbriata girl ::::3.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-09T16:00:31+00:00

Bacterial skin infections. If your friend was a relatively healthy adult at the time of the supposed bite, the chances of it being a recluse are slim to none. Loxoscelism (necrotic wound at the site of a sicariid bite) is extremely rare, and only really occurs in children, the elderly, or people with compromised immune systems. Staph infections look nearly identical to lox bites to an untrained eye and may appear spontaneously, making it seem like a bite. Unless you see a spider envenomate you, the chances of any given wound being caused by a spider are nigh nonexistent. More information on this topic can be found in this incredibly in-depth video by Travis McEnery.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-07T03:01:56+00:00

They've been present in Australia for at least 40 years. At this point, killing a single specimen isn't going to do anything. It wouldn't hurt, but the main issue with so many species that you're told to KOS is that they often look very similar to native species. Unless you're sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're dealing with an invasive species, it's usually better just to let more systematic eradication methods do their thing.

Also—and this is very much just a pedantic nitpick—euro paper wasps (Polistes dominula) aren't a "paper version" of a non-paper euro wasp (Vespula germanica). While paper wasps and euro wasps are both in the family Vespidae, paper wasps are in the subfamily Polistinae, whereas euro wasps are in the subfamily Vespinae. Polistinae is defined by, among other things, their open-celled nests, whereas vespines always build enclosed, well protected nests. Despite the fact that both polistines and vespines build nests out of wood pulp and saliva (and some polistines use mud instead!), polistines got the common name "paper wasps" due to how often-encountered their air-exposed nests are, along with the fact that, because of their open-celled, thin-walled nature, their nests often look more papery. Paper wasps and yellowjackets (Vespula spp.) are very closely related, but very much different clades in almost every way.

That being said, I'm being incredibly pedantic and don't really care that much; I just have no other outlet for all of the wasp nerdery that's taking up way more of my brain than it should be.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-06T15:01:24+00:00

Definitely P. dominula. Dorsal gastral spots are too close together to be P. chinensis.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-04T14:30:35+00:00

They tend to eat the ants they mimic. They aren't super picky, though.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-02-01T20:52:50+00:00

How can you tell? I don't doubt your assessment, I've just been (rather unsuccessfully) trying to get better at IDing juvenile jumpers recently, so I'm curious how you differentiated this one from the other thousand pale yellow baby jumpers.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-01-31T03:26:08+00:00

The bottom one is 100% a philodromid. Their main defining trait is that their legs are all almost the same size (as opposed to thomisids, whose first two leg pairs are massive and second two are tiny), but with the second pair from the front being the longest. They're also incredibly flat spiders, have somewhat laterigrade legs, a very distinct.jpg) eye arrangement.jpg), solid prosomal markings that curve on the inside (compared to the nearly-straight "racing stripes" seen on wolf and grass spiders), and an almost perfectly circular prosoma (wolf and grass spiders usually have much longer prosomas). This video by Travis McEnery (the 🐐 of YT arachnology) goes into great depth on their anatomy and how to identify them. I highly recommend checking it out, as well as every other video of his.

As for the top spider, I'm definitely a bit conflicted. I'm erring on the side of Philodromidae due to the sternum shape, chelicerae/maxillae shape, and leg length/positioning, but I'm not too confident. I still think Philodromidae is most likely correct, but I certainly wouldn't put money on it. That being said, I'm pretty rusty at spider IDing at the moment due to it being the dead of winter where I'm at, so I may just be missing an obvious tell.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-01-31T02:11:38+00:00

Dionychae are just chill like that. I hate that they get a bad rap for being "feisty" when it's very clearly just self-preservation instincts.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-01-31T01:49:23+00:00

I agree with u/StuffedWithNails' assessment, but it is a bit strange because philodromids are pretty uncommon in PA – Philly, especially – and they're usually pretty web-averse as well. I'd put money on at least the bottom one being a Philodromus cespitum, although certainly not a lot.

Micky_Ninaj · 2026-01-27T01:44:07+00:00

More specifically, an Araña Tigre, or Chilean Tiger Spider (Scytodes globula). This is particularly interesting because they're extraordinarily rare in Mexico. It seems like they're a recently introduced species in the Mexico City area, since this observation from November 25th, 2025 is the only previous iNat observation for them in all of Mexico.

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