Phlocidae Mother and Babies

I went to reach for a nursery flat for some of my little plants and saw these. Aren't they lovely?

A close up of one of the babies. Looking at the first photograph, it looks like there's some little exoskeletons down there, so they're not even in their first growth.

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And a close-up of the mother. I was hoping she'd do a profile turn for me, but she was more interested in trying to shuffle for the corner.

It's too bad I probably tore the web when I pulled the frame out & left some babies fending for themselves. I tucked these back behind the shed again when I'd finished photographing them. I can wait for the frame.

I've seen lots of other spiders lately while gardening, but it's been all messy gardening with lots of water and mud, the sort you don't take cameras out for.

Funnel Web Spiders

Some old pictures from the fall. I'm not really sure why they didn't publish then.

Badumna longinqua AKA Lace Web Spider

I noticed these because of their webs which were a shape I had not noticed before, a sort of loose lace-like weave spread out over the cacti at the Sherman Gardens.


Naturally, I asked at bugguide.net, and they were quickly identified as Badumna longinqua, also known as Spotted Spiders, and ALSO known as Lace Web Spiders.  They're imports from Australia, it seems, and nasty, though non-lethal, biters.

Largest Fossil Spider Found!

I'll put a permalink up if I can find it, but today's Yahoo news included information on a large fossil spider. It would be even more fascinating if the spider were supersized, but it's only about as big as today's biggest spiders (big enough to be enormous, but not horror-movie fare).

Oh, and, yes, I have a new pic or two to post soon.

Eight Legs

Hm. Well, I was going to go walk out back and photograph spiders, but instead I found myself watching two hours of octopus shows on the Science Channel (The Amazing Octopus and Deep Sea Aliens) and went online to learn that a new octopus species has been discovered.

Ah well. Fascinating, has eight legs, injects a paralyzing poison into the prey, sucks the dissolved flesh out..

No webs, though, and they don't live in my yard (probably just as well).

Spider Molting

I was out taking pictures and saw this little beauty molting. Look at that lovely, translucence and the beautiful brown striping

Jumping Spider

This was running up our wall. She wasn't terribly cooperative about posing for pictures, and was almost too small for my camera to deign to notice (about the size of an ant). Still, I got a couple. I'm quite proud of myself for correctly identifying her as a jumping spider (never mind what kind!)

I'm always surprised when I look at the pictures. Many of the spiders that look, to the naked eye, to be completely smooth and shiny turn out to be fuzzy. This one has adorable big eyes as well.

Another Cellar Spider for the House?

Yesterday, I found a delicate little green, long-legged spider dangling from my arm. I thought cellar spiders were usually brown, but in other ways, this resembles the ones I've seen elsewhere, including some delicate etchings on the back.

Spider Byte

Kill a spider and bad luck yours will be,
Until of flies you've killed fifty-three.
          English folk-saying as recorded in The Book of the Spider by Paul Hillyard

Argiope argentata

An Argiope Argentata posing beautifully at Bolsa Chica. Look at that lovely silver tracing.