Hi George. That must have been good to watch! Up here your spider could be Eratigena duellica, which is the new name for gigantea.

These spiders can be hard to tell apart - 3 sps were
lumped into E. atrica. I'm not sure if they have been split out again. There were certainly disagreements.

Thanks Joanie. Not much to beat a fresh from pupa Herald! Had my first HH at the weekend :-) Nothing yet in Roslin Glen though.

Nice pictures! And good to see you. I think you can see a caddis larva in the background of one of them

Thank you, Gustav. @ashwhiffin.bsky.social one of mine too.

Who knows what will be in 100 yrs time, but your name should definitely be there too!
Thank you 😊

Interesting! I have never seen similar despite a lot of Herald counting over the years. I now have my specimen in the freezer. If I ever find out, will let you know. 🙂

😁

Thanks 😊I have had one entomopathenogenic fungus sequenced by a 'friend in the right place'. It was Isaria farinosa. He has moved elsewhere now. I also have a freezer with several 'interesting' fungus infected moths in, awaiting a person with a suitable lab. I will add this to that collection.

Thank you. I also wondered if it looks different to 'normal' as it is hanging down from the host/substrate. It was impressive to see, even without being sure what it is.🙂

Thanks! It is a very damp site. I need to go back and poke it some more. I wondered if the fact it was hanging down, made it look more impressive than it might if growing on a cadavre on the ground.
Cool to see, whatever it is 😎

Hadn't come across this book! Looks interesting... Thanks for posting.