#spidersofmastodon — Public Fediverse posts

she's back

#SpiderSunday #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #JumpingSpiders #spiders #Araneae #Salticidae

I almost forgot it was #MiteMonday! Inspired by @zorbama's shot of a running crab spider, clover mite, and midge all together (https://veganism.social/@zorbama/114373000260983349), here's a running crab spider (_Philodromus_) I found feeding on a clover mite (_Bryobia_). I don't actually often find many arthropods feeding on the adults, though I've seen predatory _Anystis_ mites eating the eggs.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Acari #Acariformes #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae #Araneae #Philodromidae

#SpiderSunday: several of the spiders I met on that one warm day last week! A running crab spider (_Philodromus_), a bold jumping spider (_Phidippus audax_), some kind of crab spider in tribe Coriarachnini (_Bassaniana_?), and a good old zebra jumping spider (_Salticus scenicus_) with what looks like most of a mesh-web weaver (family Dictynidae).

#ArthroBeauty #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #JumpingSpiders #Araneae #Salticidae #Philodromidae #Thomisidae #Dictynidae

#SpiderSunday: Look who molted!

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Araneae #Pholcidae

#SpiderSunday: a tantalizing glimpse inside the abdomen of the _Pholcus_ cellar spider. ???

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Araneae #Pholcidae

The cellar spider (_Pholcus_) under the radiator in my bedroom, enjoying a hand-delivered flightless fruit fly (with a second course wrapped up nearby). Note the distinctive eye arrangement: ( ∵ .. ∵ )

I'm simply amazed by how well these spiders can survive in very dry environments with extremely little food!

#SpiderSunday #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Pholcidae

This little huntsman came on a bike ride with me across town, waited 3/4 of an hour while I did things, then hung on again until safely home 💕 🕷️ #SpidersOfAustralia #SpidersOfMastodon #australia #wildlife #huntsman #spiders

#Arachtober 17: gotta delete old photos on my phone to free up space, so, from early June, here's a couple of rather unlucky running crab spiders (family Philodromidae) who don't even have eight legs between them!

As I explain in a blog post (https://nevillepark.ca/2024/05/24/i-can-put-my-leg-back-on-you-cant-how-spiders-regrow-limbs/), spiders can regenerate detached legs when they molt. But typical spiders (basically, not tarantulas, trapdoors, purse-webs, etc.) stop molting once they become sexually mature. If they lose a leg after that, they're stuck that way. And this often happens with highly mobile spiders like running crab spiders.

(The male in the second picture has regenerated his back right leg recently. If he still had molts left, it would gradually gain colour and become longer and eventually indistinguishable from its counterpart.)

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Araneae #Philodromidae

Update: managed to get a look at the spider that made the wonky web. It's hard to see from these photos (didn't have my macro stuff on me), but it has only one leg on the right side!

That could account for its messy web, I think.

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiderwebs #SpiderSilk • #Araneae #Araneidae

you ever see a spiderweb that makes you go "girl are you ok???"

(second photo is what the web's supposed to look like. A _Zygiella_ missing-sector orbweaver.)

obligatory "spiders on drugs" video, before you all send it to me: https://youtu.be/sHzdsFiBbFc
and the Travis McEnery video about how orb webs are made, including the backstory of the real "spiders on drugs" experiments: https://youtu.be/8U5KKdhXsgA

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #spiderwebs #SpiderSilk • #Araneae #Araneidae

BTW, here's what a long-jawed orbweaver egg sac looks like when complete. (I had to go home before our gal upthread was completely finished with hers, but got a pic of this fresh one by a spider who was making hers at around the same time.)

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Araneae #Tetragnathidae #SpiderSilk

Final update: the once-four-legged running crab spider has been released, exactly where I found it, after another fruit fly meal and a nearly successful escape attempt.

It definitely only has 7 legs, so maybe I was just seeing things the other day? I couldn't get a *great* look at it.

Anyway, upon release it immediately caught a bug and began racing around, so I think it will be fine.

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Araneae #Philodromidae

#BREAKING: a few days after eating a second fruit fly (a very large meal), the once 4-legged, then 7-legged running crab spider molted again and is now back to 8 legs!!! (You can't really see it in the photos but it's there, just small and pale.)

I'll give it a couple days to harden up and eat another fly, then I'll take it back to the park and release it where I found it.

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Araneae #Philodromidae

Got some footage of a mesh-web weaver (family Dictynidae) back-combing her silk to make it fuzzy!

It doesn't just tangle up insects; several years ago research showed the silk melds with the waxy coating of some insect cuticles on the molecular level. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2017.0363 :OpenAccess:

https://youtu.be/UvYdfoO4tZE

#DailySpiderVid #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Dictynidae #cribellate #SpiderSilk

Hurray! The seven-legged (previously four-legged) running crab spider easily caught a flightless fruit fly.

I threw out the rest of the forbidden McFlurry (short for Macerated Fly Slurry).

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Araneae #Philodromidae

The four-legged running crab spider molted!! It now has seven legs. (The last one must have been lost too recently to make the cutoff.)

I might keep it till it gets the last one back, since I have plenty of fruit flies for it.

Before & after pics included.

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Araneae #Philodromidae

The Garden of the Greek Gods (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_the_Greek_Gods) is always a pleasure to visit. I love examining the limestone for tiny fossils. I also found this running crab spider (_Philodromus_) sunning itself on one of Pan's horns.

#DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #arachnids #spiders #Araneae #Philodromidae

Good lake visit today

1. Scenery
2. The _Bryobia_ clover mites are loving the warm weather.
3. A linyphiid, I think? Else a theridiid?
4. A slow-moving (for once) lithobiomorph centipede.

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #SpidersOfMastodon #Mitestodon #bugstodon #arachnids #spiders #mites #centipedes #Araneae #Acari #Myriapoda

Went down to the lake for lichen pics, but found tons of running crab spiders (family Philodromidae) out and about!!

#ArthroBeauty #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Araneae #Philodromidae #macro