TRIGGER WARNING: Spiders!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
There are nearly a hundred thousand species of insects and spiders in North America. Sadly, we know very little about their conservation needs. Which mini-beasties need to be protected?
Wes Walsh and Laura Figueroa at the University of Massachusetts crawled the databases…
And? We have no idea how many species are at risk of extinction. Within the ones known to be at risk, only around five percent are protected by law. And the law easily forgets about the unpopular bugs.
But just because they’re icky doesn’t mean they’re not important.
So next time you see a spider at home, don’t kill it. Take its census info!
Reference: W. Walsh, & L.L. Figueroa, Data deficiency, taxonomic bias, and economic interests curtail insect and arachnid conservation in the United States, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (10) e2522779123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2522779123 (2026).