SANTA MONICA —On February 20, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will present a lecture by Jan Kempf, of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum.  The event will take place at 2 p.m.

 

Visitors who find themselves running from house spiders, dodging spider webs on the trail, or who enjoy studying and learning about the many different spider species that live in the Santa Monica Mountains and Los Angeles regions are encouraged to attend.  The Los Angeles County Natural History Museum has conducted a spider survey in the greater Los Angeles area for several years, working with trained researchers and citizen scientists to identify and catalog spider species.  During the previous year, the spider survey had expanded to include the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area.

 

Those who decide to attend the lecture can anticipate updates about the Brown Widow, a recent arrival in Los Angeles.  The audience will also learn more about spider biology and spider behavior, find which spiders are most likely to be found on local trails, and discover how to assist as a citizen scientist in the spider survey.  Participants may also have a chance to view live spider specimens in plastic containers.

 

The address of the National Park Service Visitor Center is at 401 West Hillcrest Drive, in Thousand Oaks, California.