Resources
Spiders of North America: an identification manual, by Ubick, Paquin, Cushing, and Roth (eds.) 2005.
The best and most up to date manual for identifying spiders. Buy it if you are serious about identifying spiders. It contains much good information including the natural history and distribution of various groups. This manual is published by the American Arachnological Society (AAS).
The AAS is open to all interested in arachnids, holds a national meeting every year and publishes the Journal of Archnology. At the meetings you can attend talks by various experts and go on field trips to collect arachnids. For more information go to: http://www.americanarachnology.org/
Field Guide to the Spiders of California and the Pacific Coast States by R.J. Adams. California Natural History Guides, Univ. of CA. Press.2014
This is a “must have” book. Excellent natural history information for all families of spiders as well as many species. The book contains splendid illustrations by Tim Manolis. Clearly, Adams has scoured the professional literature for his facts.
Bradley, Richard. 2013. Common Spiders of North America. First ed. Univ. of Calif. Press. 271 pp.
The magnificent illustrations of spiders pop out of the book. Solid basic biological informati0n is provided for all the spider families found in N.A. A “must have” for anyone with more than a passing interest in spiders.
Foelix, R. 2010. Biology of Spiders. Third ed. Oxford Univ. Press 432pp.
Great book that covers all aspects of spider biology. Some parts are very technical. Can be had in paperback.
Gertsch, W. J. 1979. American Spiders, second ed. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 274 pp.
This excellent book contains a lot of accurate natural history and basic biology and is written for the layperson.
Kaston, B. J. 1978. How to know the spiders, third ed. Dubuque, 272pp.
Out of date taxonomic names but still worth having.
Prentice, T. R., et al. 1998. Spiders from Diegan coastal sage scrub. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 74(4): 181-202.
Prentice, T. R., et al. 2001. Spiders from Riversidian coastal sage scrub with comparisons to Diegan scrub fauna, Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 77(2): 90-122.
Tom Prentice and his crew did extensive and thorough collecting in the coastal sage scrub surrounding much of Orange County. The above papers by Prentice provide the best indication of the spider fauna that might be present in our natural areas.
