June 4th, 2007
beautiful spiders
I guess the best way to describe this weekend was that it was a blockbuster as far as spider and insect activity is concerned. All of a sudden, there is motion everywhere in the fields and woods here at the farm. Yesterday, I photographed several species of spiders — a couple of them new to me. All in all, it was pretty exciting and I’ve had a difficult time choosing just a few photos to highlight here. Which ones? New spiders? beautiful spiders? Spiders doing fascinating things? Hmmm. I decided to go with a little of each for today’s post, but I think you’ll probably find at least one more spider post appearing in the next few days.
The first spider is new to me here at the farm. I’m quite certain it is Hypsosinga pygmaea. The coloration and striped markings reminded me a little of a potato beetle. I noticed the spider ascending a blade of grass along the trail in the woods, so I stopped to observe and take a few photos.
There was another nice surpise in store a moment later when she moved inside of this wonderful structure formed with silk and a curled blade of grass. You can see her inside — that dark area to the left of the refuge. The silk seems to have been formed in two layers spun on opposing diagonals. I’m thinking that this would create a good deal of tension that would result in structural stability.
The next spider (above), while not new to me, is of interest as it’s one of the flower crab spiders that I enjoy observing here in our garden. It’s a Northern Crab Spider (Misumenops asperatus) in its bright yellow phase. Like the Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) which I’ve occasionally written and posted photos of, it can change its coloration from white to yellow and even a greenish shade in order to conceal itself from its intended prey.
The next spider, a female Zebra Jumping Spider (Salticus scenicus), is beautifully patterned when seen up close. She’s also one of the spiders being tracked on Spider WebWatch, so I was pleased to find her among the Hydrangea leaves, carrying what appears to be a tiny and rather unfortunate ichneumon wasp. I’ve posted the sighting and it now appears on the Salticus scenicus Observations page on Spider WebWatch. If you’re seeing this or any of the other 9 species being tracked, be sure to submit a report.
Next up — I revisted “the chair” to see what was happening with the Eris militaris jumping spiders that I wrote about last week. I was in for a couple of surprises this time. First, I found a male Eris guarding the refuge with the female spider once again seen upside down by what I can only conclude are egg cases — the granular-coated little cases which I described last week. When I approached with my camera, the male spider moved about to glare out each of the two small openings into the refuge. His message was quite clear — Go away!
I complied, but not before photographing the second surprise on the chair — another new-to-me spider — this time, another species of jumping spider, a male Tutelina similis (see below). He was just tiny, but so elegantly marked, with dark lines down each leg, and deep purple pedipalps held up boldly as he scampered from one part of the chair to the next, occasionally crouching down into the patches of lichen where his coloration made him next to invisible.
Well, that’s not the end of yesterday’s spider observations, but I’m guessing that it I might be boring the non-arachnophiles among us, so I’ll quit for now and post some more another day. However, for those of you who have not had quite enough of invertebrates, get yourself over to Mike Bergin’s 10,000 Birds blog for the 21st edition of CIRCUS OF THE SPINELESS!!
Tags: Hypsosinga pygmaea, Misumenops asperatus, Salticus scenicus, Eris militaris, Tutelina similis
June 4th, 2007 at 10:52 am
WOW! there sure are some strange looking spiders. I have 7 species in my garden now.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Fantastic spider pics, Bev. I imagine you were grateful for an explosion of arthropods this past weekend!
The Hypsosinga actually looks like a bridge between a spider and a tick, to me! It’s definitely odd-looking.
I’ve been watching for crab spiders, but with so few flowers in evidence this spring have probably missed a lot. Later in the summer, maybe, when we have our major warm season flush of flowering.
I’ll keep an eye out for the Zebra jumper – quite a handsome spider. We still see lots of Twin-flagged here, but when I find one I’ll submit to Neartic Spider Watch. I’m also keeping an eye out for the others on that list. It looks like Georgia needs some representation there. :-)
There are times when I’ve thought I’d just be better off foregoing any prose other than mere identification (or speculation as to i.d., in my case) and just post photos. The documenter in me says to do that, but the writer says I should do more.
June 4th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Jimmy – Yes, a couple of them are a little unusual looking, aren’t they?!
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Wayne – Thanks! Yes, I’m very grateful for the arthropod explosion. I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to happen! The Hypsosinga does look weird and tick-like in that photo, but I think part of that is the defensive pose that the spider has taken. When it’s on the move, it looks more spiderish. Still, I gave it a second look at first thinking much the same. I think it’s the shape of the body and that very dark brown and white (tick-like colours).
Regarding the crab spiders, I think the first of the season are quite small and easily missed, but by now, in your area, I would think the spiders would be of a size that would make them easy to spot. As you say, it could very well have something to do with the lack of flowers at this time. The Zebra jumpers are very handsome – they don’t look that flashy to the naked eye, but seen through a macro lens, they are beautifully marked. And yes, I’ll be pleased to see some “Georgia representation” on WebWatch at some point. I guess that late summer is really the time to see and photograph spiders as they’re usually mature and easier to spot them. However, yesterday’s good showing of spiders proved to me that I can find nice spiders even earlier in the season.
As for your documentatin and photos, I for one am very *glad* that you are doing both – I really think that’s the way to go as far as record-keeping. You get the descriptive field notes, and the photos function rather like voucher specimens, or at least, that’s how I see it.
June 4th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
My husband and I stumbled upon this place you have here and we are IMPRESSED! We very much enjoy your photography, as we are lep-freaks and avid nature photographers ourselves. He even has a little butterfly and moth blog (http://beaumontcalifornia.blogspot.com) that he updates every once in a while with his pics. We dug through your archives and we really loved your caterpillars, very cool. Keep up the good work!
June 4th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Whether you love spiders or not – I don’t think you could ever find these pictures ‘boring’. I just don’t know how you’re able to capture these shots. You must be a combination hypnotist/contortionist. Do you talk to these critters to get them to comply with your intentions? – kind of like a ‘spider whisperer’?
I’ve always wondered how long it takes to mutate (I’ll bet that’s the wrong word) from one color to another. Minutes?
Hours? Days?
Great pictures, Bev.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
jessie – Thanks! I’m glad you found your way to my blog.
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Cathy – I’m sometimes asked how I get insects and spiders to “cooperate”. It feels a bit like a zen thing — I just try to stay focussed on the creature and pick up on its behaviour — if it feels like it’s getting ready to fly, drop to the ground, or whatever. As for the contortionist part, I use the smaller Nikon CP4500 for most of my spider shots. The side of the body with the LCD screen swivels separately from the side with the lens, so it’s the camera that’s doing the contortionist thing.
Regarding the spider colour thing — according to Douglass Morse’s new book, Predator Upon a Flower, the colour change is gradual, taking from 2 to 7 or more days. That’s why it’s not unusual to find a white spider on a yellow flower, or yellow on a white flower.
June 4th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Thank you. Really. That color change business has ‘bugged’ me for years. So one needn’t fret that if you had stayed just a few seconds more – you might have witnessed the miraculous change. On the other hand – think how awesome a time-lapse of this color morphing would be.
June 5th, 2007 at 9:56 am
BEV!!! That zebra jumping spider is absolutely gorgeous. What a find. These photos make me want to run outside and look under every leaf and chair. Spectacular frenzy of spider activity there. How fantastic.
June 5th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Cathy – No, you would need plenty of patience to watch one of these flower crab spiders changing colour. I think it’s best described as a sort of chemical effect where pigmentation moves from one layer into another, and then has to disperse again after. It’s not too quick. And yes, time-lapse would be cool if you could keep one of these spiders under the lens for a couple of days or so!
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robin – I love the zebra jumping spider too. It’s a gorgeous little creature. I took some other shots of it that are in my pbase galleries. You can see her body better in this one. I feel the same way about these spider photos. I get indoors and download my camera and after I see what I got, I’m anxious to get right back outside to see what else I can find. It’s a great time of the year!
June 5th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I particularly like the photo of the jumping spider. Fascinating to see one up close and in detail. As an adult, I’m finding an appreciation of spiders I lacked as a child.
June 5th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
The WebWatch ID page doesn’t say how large Salticus scenicus typically is — they’re fairly small, aren’t they? Now that I look at that picture, I’m almost sure some of the less-than-1-cm-long jumping spiders I’ve seen skipping about are that species; one that paid a visit to my computer monitor last week seemed to have stripes like that, although it wouldn’t stand still long enough for a proper look.
June 6th, 2007 at 4:15 am
Wren – Although I like all spiders, the jumping spiders are my favourites. They have keen eyesight and are very aware of what’s happening around them. Also, many are so beautifully marked. As they’re quite active, the’re a lot of fun to watch.
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Vasha – Yes, Salticus scenicus is one of the very small jumping spiders. They’re also seen just about anywhere and are frequently found around homes, so I would say it’s highly likely that the striped spiders you’re seeing would be them.