Excellent news! The genome of the Fen Raft Spider - Dolomedes plantarius - has now been sequenced #25genomes #nhmukinverts Natural History Museum

The Fen Raft Spider is a beautiful animal which is extremely rare and protected by law. It is semi-aquatic and lives in unpolluted lowland wetlands in England. Due to excellent conservation efforts, new populations of this species have been established in E. Anglia Natural History Museum

Old specimens of the Fen Raft Spider in the NHM collection have previously been used for DNA studies, thereby contributing to conservation efforts Natural History Museum

Spiders are not just for Halloween! They are for all year round Natural History Museum

Spider workshop participants #IDTrainers, volunteers and NHM staff Natural History Museum

I met a lovely family at Parasites Day in May and the kids were so interested in arachnids, I invited them behind the scenes :) Natural History Museum

I was impressed how much the Khan children know about arachnids - in fact, I might just have to have them as my assistants! Natural History Museum

Chatting with Mackinley, a future scientist (aged 5) at the #WildlifeGarden autumn event Natural History Museum. Move over Sir David Attenborough!

Please people! Don't automatically assume that any skin lesion you have is due to a spider bite Natural History Museum

I had to do an ID of a spid which was accused of biting & causing necrosis, just because it was 'in the vicinity' :( Natural History Museum

Win someone's heart on Valentine's Day by taking inspiration from this gorgeous peacock spider male performing a courtship dance :)

Copyright Jurgen Otto - time.com/4359750/peacoc…

I've just done some prep of a tarantula for CT scanning. The images or 3-D scan will be used in our Venom exhibition (open Nov) Natural History Museum

We used some high-tech equipment - wooden toothpicks (!) to hold the specimen in place rather than metal pins to prevent sparks New Hope Middle-London

These are some of the scan images that are being 'stitched' together to form a 3D result. How cool is that?! New Hope Middle-Arachnida New Hope Middle-London

Here's a notorious female spider for International Women's Day - the black widow (Latrodectus mactans) #IWD New Hope Middle-London

We are very excited to get the dried horseshoe crab collection back on site after 18 years away! #nhmukinverts Natural History Museum

Securing the precious horseshoe crab collection for the journey to South Kensington #nhmukinverts Natural History Museum

The horseshoe crab collection's new home