August 29th, 2006
spider love
Yesterday, while checking the garden for insect and spider activity, I spotted this pair of mating Funnel Web spiders (Agelenopsis sp.) on one of the rugosa rose bushes. The male is the smaller spider that is resting atop the much larger female. All that you can see of her is the abdomen and the spinnerets which extend well beyond its tip. The spinnerets are where silk is released when a spider is spinning its web.
In this case, you can distinguish the male from the female as he is quite a bit smaller, but also because he has enlarged pedipalps — the short, curved pair of appendages that are positioned between the front pair of legs and the jaws of the spider (click on both of these images for larger views). While the pedipalps of the female are usually thin and of the same diameter along their length, on most species of spiders, the males have pedipalps that appear to have swollen ends, rather like they’re wearing mittens. I believe that should be visible in the top photo.
When mating, the male spider uses the tips of this pedipalps to deposit semen on the female’s genital area which is on the underside of her abdomen. In order to avoid being eaten by the female, he will ususally attempt to mate by staying atop the female’s back.
Funnel Web Spiders (Family Agelenidae) are recognized by the type of webs that they build — a sheet of silk with a funnel or tube-shaped retreat where the spider hides while waiting for prey to wander near. Last summer, I photographed a particularly nice funnel web and spider on another of the rugosa rose bushes in the garden. Here’s a post and photos that I wrote about that spider.
August 29th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Wonderful photos, Bev, and great timing on those shots. I’ve been thinking about spiders lately, and not doing any research to answer any of my questions about their behavior. Here’s what I’ve been wondering: How long between mating and egg drop? Do spiders have reproductive seasons? In the case of this Funnel Web spider, isn’t it late in summer to be producing eggs? When will the babies hatch? How long can a spider live? We have one that lives in the corner of a window in our bathroom. Every now and then I see it when it crawls out from below the space where the window slides along its runner. I have been watching this spider for two years. I have cleared away its web, and it always rebuilds. I have never seen any other spiders there, no mates and no babies.
August 29th, 2006 at 7:11 pm
Robin – Great questions. I’ll try to answer them as best as I can and will be relying quite a bit on Larry Weber’s nice little field guide, Spiders of the North Woods.
Q: How long between mating and egg drop?
A: Larry Weber says it’s about a week.
Q: Do spiders have reproductive seasons? In the case of this Funnel Web spider, isn’t it late in summer to be producing eggs?
A: Yes, most species have a certain time of the year when they lay eggs and hatch. Some species, like the big Argiope spiders make egg cases later in the summer. Other spiders make egg cases in spring. Apparently, some species have two hatch seasons a year. A lot seems to be dependent on habitat, how quickly the spiders grow, and how they overwinter.
Q:When will the babies hatch?
A: I think most late summer or autumn eggs don’t hatch until spring. Then the young spiderlings spend the spring and summer growing and breed in late summer. The adults probably die in the autumn. Other species overwinter as adults and lay eggs in the spring. Again, a lot seems to be tied to how the spiders overwinter — whether as eggs, or as adults.
Q: How long can a spider live? We have one that lives in the corner of a window in our bathroom. Every now and then I see it when it crawls out from below the space where the window slides along its runner. I have been watching this spider for two years. I have cleared away its web, and it always rebuilds. I have never seen any other spiders there, no mates and no babies.
A: I think most of the late-summer egglayers probably die sometime after the egg case has been made. For example, that would be the case with the Argiope spiders. Larry Weber’s book mentions that indoors spiders may live longer. I haven’t got much in the way of data on spiders living beyond the egg-laying time except for one Black Widow spider that I’m aware of — that remained captive in a big jar for quite a long time — probably about 2 years. The person who kept it supplied it with insects. The spider didn’t reproduce during that time, so perhaps that’s part of the key to why certain spiders might live for a long time. Weber does mention that most spiders have a lifespan of a year or less, but that there are some species that probably live a couple of years.
August 29th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Good job, Bev! We have quite a few funnel spiders around here, and I spent no little amount of time trying to photograph them but they’re so *shy*. They run back into their funnel neck the moment they spot me. So *my* photos consist of these smudgy big things crouching at the ends of their funnel webs.
Yesterday I was weeding the microstegium in the Big Gully, which necessitates getting down into it and progressing the 100 feet from the mouth to the top. By the time I’m halfway there the top of the ground is 3m above me, and the sides of the gully are about the same distance apart. There was an *enormous* funnel web stretching all the way across and the neck of the funnel was probably 10 cm wide. I couldn’t see the spider at all.
August 29th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Wayne – Thanks! Yes, you’re right about the funnel web spiders being shy. It’s not easy to get a good shot of one. They’re very quick to disappear regardless of how carefully you approach.
There was an *enormous* funnel web stretching all the way across and the neck of the funnel was probably 10 cm wide. I couldn’t see the spider at all.
Uhm…ah…Wayne…. I think maybe you should be *glad* you didn’t find that spider. ;-)
August 30th, 2006 at 11:27 am
Or that it found me! This web was far more extensive than any I’ve seen around the house :-)
I do like funnel spiders. I probably wouldn’t if I lived in Australia.
January 26th, 2007 at 12:38 am
HI, GREAT PIC’S I AM STILL TRYING TO GET CLOSE UP’S OF SPIDERS, THEY USUALLY RUN BACK TO THEIR FUNNEL AS SOON AS I GET MY CAMERA.
January 26th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Eunice – Funnel web spiders are about the most difficult to photograph as they are usually very shy. I’ve gotten a few nice photos, but mostly I get a photo of a web with no spider!
February 18th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
The spiders are great but could you please post a photo of your rosa rugosa bushes. I’ve been considering planting them for several years but was unsure of how they really look.
February 18th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Kelly – I guess I don’t have too many photos of my rose bushes. I have several different rugosa bushes around my place. Most of them get to be quite large … about shoulder height. I like roses with “old rose” type blooms. In white, I have several Blanc Double de Coubert bushes. They have fairly dark green leaves with big, double white blooms. They have tons of old rose type fragrance. The thorns are quite prickly though. If you don’t mind periodically deadheading the spent blooms, this bush will bloom like mad throughout the season. Here’s a page with a description of some of the rugosa roses. Jens Munk is quite nice… beautiful pink blooms, pretty steady blooming on a large bush that can grow quite tall. Therese Bugnet is nice, but tends towards a smaller, less robust bush, at least, in my garden. It is almost thornless. The nicests of the pink to mauve pinks, in my opinion, is a rose named “Delicata”. Very nice. I have a William Baffin, which has single pink flowers, but that bush grows large canes with a lot of thorns… not nice to work with. If you like deep red-purple coloured roses, Hansa is really nice. Rosa rugosa rubra is another very hardy rose that will bloom profusely if you can do at least a little deadheading. I have a few others, but the ones I’ve names already are the nicest.