7.03.2009

Spidey Sense

Treebeard and I went for a walk today as I had the day off. We went down a trail that hasn't had much use in a while and as a result it was criss-crossed with numerous spider webs. We did a lot of bobbing and weaving and sometimes outright crawling to avoid destroying the webs. Despite the fact that I am having camera focusing issues at the moment, I did try to snag a few shots of some of the more interesting arachnids to share with you. Sorry they're a little fuzzy...

A spined micrathena (Micrathena gracilis) munching on a yellow fly that got caught in its web. Man, I love it when that happens!! Just in case you are blissfully ignorant of the nature of yellow flies, those suckers BITE. Go spidey!

A personal favorite, the spiny-backed orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis). It is gracious enough to decorate its web with little fluffs of silk making it much easier to see and thereby avoid walking into.


Tucked away in the top of a shrub rather than stretched across the trail, was this labyrinth orbweaver (Metepeira labyrinthea). It has a complex little web, usually with a dead leaf in the center for shelter.

Coolest spider of the day is in the picture below.
Take a look and see if you can spot it before you scroll down to the caption...





Did you see her?
It's a northern black widow (Lactrodectus variolus). Her cobweb was just above the leaf litter beside the trail. We probably wouldn't have noticed her....
...if she hadn't had a web full of little ones!
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4 comments:

Jacqueline Donnelly said...

Holy Mackerel! Those are SOME spiders! Those horned ones, especially. Do we get those kind up north? What a find, those tiny Black Widows and their mom! Do the babies have a venomous bite when they are that small?

TAAVEEKUN PERAK said...

spiders can be spiderman.nice n cool.tq

nfmgirl said...

That shot you got of the babies looks like a shot I got a few months back. Don't have any clue what kind of babies they were. We didn't see a mother around. But they were reddish in color like the ones in your pic.

I saw one of those spiny-backed orbweavers in my yard awhile back. They are very pretty in person.

Ellen Rathbone said...

Stupendous Spid pics! The lady at the bottom - what a find! Thanks for sharing!