December 4th, 2006
favourite moments # 1 – the spider and the cicada
I thought it might be fun to write the odd post about favourite moments of nature observation that have occurred over the past couple of years. It’ll help to pass the time spent indoors this winter as I wait to be back out observing insects, spiders, frogs and others. I have such an archive of photos that there’s no danger of it ever becoming exhausted, so this will be a nice way of sharing some of those images. This is the first in this series of posts.
On August 21, 2004, while hiking along a trail at Murphys Point Provincial Park in eastern Ontario, I stopped to shoot a few photos of a Dogday Harvestfly cicada exuviae found clinging to the underside of a Common Milkweed leaf. While I was working to get shots from different angles, I noticed something moving about inside the hard but fragile shell of the exuviae. Gradually, something began to appear in the split that occurs in the dorsal area of the exuviae when the adult cicada emerges. Notice something tiny just beginning to emerge from the cicada in the above photo (click on image for larger view).
I turned the leaf and exuviae to get a better look at whatever was inside, and to my surprise and great amusement, a small female Jumping Spider (Salticidae) peered back at me from inside her unique refuge. At first, she was a little nervous and would back far inside the exuviae when the camera came too near, but after a time, she became a little bolder. If I backed off for awhile, she would advance so that she could get a better look at what was going on outside her home. At one point, she even climbed out and stood beside the foot of the exuviae to look around (see below). She reminded me a little of someone coming outdoors to stand on their doorstep while watching something happening down the street. When I moved in closer for a couple of better shots, she quickly scurried back inside the safety of her refuge. It was truly an enjoyable moment of nature observation.
Tags: Salticidae, Jumping Spider, Dogday Harvestfly cicada, Tibicen canicularis