July 5th, 2008
coming apart at the seams
Yesterday, an hour or so before sunset, I went for a walk in the fields to check for signs of life on the milkweed plants. Apart from the Monarch caterpillars, I had a couple of interesting finds.
The first was a Katydid in the process of molting – click on the above photo for a much larger view. Whenever I find a molting grasshopper or katydid, they always look a bit uncomfortable — as though they are struggling to peel off a pair of very tight leotards. They hang upside down, slowly extricating themselves from their exuviae, before moving off to spend some time resting. In the past, I’ve noticed that grasshopper legs seem sort of rubbery and wobbly right after they molt. I guess it probably takes awhile for them to dry out and harden after the molt.
The other find was an Oblong Running Crab spider (Tibellus oblongus) with an egg case. Any time I see a wrinkled or folded milkweed leaf, I check it to see if there is a spider egg case hidden beneath. Several species of spiders seem to choose milkweed leaves for securing their egg cases. I suppose that it’s a practical choice — milkweed plants are often loaded with all kinds of insects, so a good potential “hunting ground” for the spiders, and later on, for their young. As I’ve written about several times before, I have a particular interest in female spiders that guard their egg cases and young spiderlings. This is one of the species that I most often find, engaged in egg case guarding behaviour.
Tags: Katydid, molting, Oblong Running Crab Spider, Tibellus oblongus