Available From UC Press

With over 40,000 described species, spiders have adapted to nearly every terrestrial environment across the globe. Over half of the world’s spider families live within the three contiguous Pacific Coast states—not surprising considering the wide variety of habitats, from mountain meadows and desert dunes to redwood forests and massive urban centers. This beautifully illustrated, accessible guide covers all of the families and many of the genera found along the Pacific Coast, including introduced species and common garden spiders. The author provides readers with tools for identifying many of the region’s spiders to family, and when possible, genus and species. He discusses taxonomy, distribution, and natural history as well as what is known of the habits of the spiders, the characters of families, and references to taxonomic revisions of the pertinent genera. Full-color plates for each family bring to life the incredible diversity of this ancient arachnid order.

R.J. Adams is a special education teacher and wildlife tour leader in Monterey, California. He has a BS in biology from Humboldt State University, California and an MS in biology emphasizing entomology and host-parasite coevolution from the University of Utah.

Tim D. Manolis is an artist, illustrator, and biological consultant. From 1986 to 1990, he was the editor and art director of the magazine Mainstream. His papers on birds and his bird illustrations have appeared in many journals and magazines. He is the author of Dragonflies and Damselflies and illustrator of Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions.