The 2026 Annual Meeting of the AAS was a blast. Held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, hosted by Eileen Hebets and the Hebets Lab, the gathering attracted more than 150 attendees, including a dozen meeting volunteers from the Hebets lab.
More than 50 of the meeting attendees signed up to volunteer at a pre-meeting “Eight-Legged Encounters” workshop, attended by droves of both kids and adults.
Three thought-provoking plenaries explored why rarities are often critical moments in research rather than annoying outliers, how spiders deal with the geometric challenge of declining surface area to web volume, and how to work on the taxonomy of those darned Linyphiidae.
The 60 talks also included an early-career symposium of promising early career work presented by researchers selected by the their early-career peers; there were 43 poster presentations. An inaugural science communication panel lunch discuss the benefits of creating STEM Arachnid/ Insect Festivals, and the practicalities of organizing them.
Social events included a welcome social, graduate student/early career gathering, and LGBTQ+ Community Event, drinks and snacks during the poster session - and even arachnid-themed cornhole games available during the breaks.
The banquet include silent remembrance for longtime members Joe Warfel and Petra Sierwald, with a slideshow of images from their lives.
Forty-two attendees signed up for a post-meeting BioBlitz at Reller Prairie, a natural watershed where three stream branches join at the headwaters of Salt Creek, where UML maintains a field station. Helping document the biodiversity of the region, 29 observers recorded 741 observations(as of 4 August) at iNaturalist, with 283 species (49 species of arachnids and 157 of insects).
The meeting also featured the first-ever AAS soccer match! (The Araneomorphs beat the Mygalomorphs 4-3.)
