This Hawaiian Garden Spider spent a few days on the front door, waiting for prey. I didn’t see it catch anything, though I heard it had a bit of a tussle with a Jehovah’s Witness one day.
Posted for Becky’s Squares: Simply Red. See more responses here.
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 200. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
The Asian Spiny-backed Orb-weaver Spider (Thelacantha brevispina) is an introduced species. Here, they’re known as crab spiders, which is how I’ve always referred to them, but they’re quite different to true crab spiders.
These are two different spiders, but give a good view of how they look, top and bottom.
Spiders know a thing or two about geometry, getting their lines and angles and circles perfectly organized to produce webs that are both practical and beautiful.
Posted for Becky’s Squares: Geometric. See more responses here.
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 169. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
On a recent rainy morning I saw this web outside the window. The spider was hunkered down in the center and did not appear much interested in finishing the job. Perhaps it was holding a tiny unseen placard demanding better working conditions.
Seems like the webs and spiders would be enough to keep most people out. Happy Halloween.
At work recently, I was alerted to the presence of an odd wasp, with a ‘sac’ under its body, trying to get into a small hole in the window frame. I grabbed my camera, opened the window, and took photos.
It quickly became clear that the ‘sac’ was a spider, and not a tiny one either. What was less clear was whether the wasp would succeed in its quest. I assume the hole is a drainage outlet, but what the wasp was up to was less clear. A little research cleared that up.
The wasp is a Yellow-legged Mud-dauber Wasp (Sceliphron caementarium). Not sure what kind of spider it is, but I do know its days are numbered. Sadly for the spider, it will not be a swift end. According to Wikipedia, “After building a cell of the nest, the female wasp captures several spiders. The captured prey are stung and paralyzed before being placed in the nest (usually 6-15 per cell), and then a single egg is deposited on the prey within each cell. The wasp then seals the cell with a thick mud plug. After finishing a series of cells, she leaves and does not return.” Notice that the spider is paralyzed, not dead. Got to have fresh food for the kids!
Posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.
