The First Spiders of the Year

A bit of snow and ice doesn't seem to discourage this young female Dolomedes striatus from getting off to an early start on the season. About 10 mm in length, if she survives long enough she will double her size, attaining a length of 20 mm or a bit more. The clearly defined bands on the abdomen and distinctly striped femora distinguish this Fishing Spider from its relatives.

A female Shore Spider (Pardosa milvina) was also active nearby, hunting for any insects bold or hardy enough to venture forth. The spiders were encountered along the shoreline of a marsh, the ambient temperature was a seasonable 15°C.

They haven't topped the record this tiny Long-jawed Orbweaver (Tetragnatha sp) moving around on the snow on January 13th, with the thermometer hovering around 5°C.

Striking Spiders

Striking – arresting the attention and producing a vivid impression on the sight or the mind, attracting attention by reason of being unusual, extreme, or prominent, conspicuously attractive or impressive.

A dazzling Dark Fishing Spider, arresting the attention of an observer by virtue of her size, from the cephalothorax to the tip of the abdomen she is a mere 20 mm in length. Dolomedes tenebrosus can attain a body size of up to 26 mm with the legs spanning 90 mm but this one is deflated after laying her eggs. Like most Pisauridae (a.k.a. Nursery Web Spiders) she stands guard over her brood until they a bit older and better able to fend for themselves.

The spiderlings have already been through one molt and the pale exuviae can be seen littering the nursery.

A couple of closeups of the female, with one of her offspring clinging to her abdomen in the second photo.

A friend brought this wondrous Wolf Spider to me for identification, but unfortunately for the spider it was DOA when it arrived. The body length of this particular female Tigrosa aspersa was 23 mm and the legs measured 70 mm across, however, these "wolfies" can reach a respectable 30 mm.

The spider did indeed produce a vivid impression on the sight and the mind – the person who killed it woke up in the night and found the spider crawling on them; I wasn't informed what part of their anatomy. They immediately dispatched it (this was not the intent or one of the definitions of "striking" in the title), but under the circumstances it's pretty hard to fault a person for being startled ...

The arrangements spider's eyes are unique to each family, and this one's eye pattern is typical of the family Lycosidae.

A marvelous Marbled Orbweaver, in my opinion this is by far the most beautifully colored and patterned spider I have ever encountered. Araneus marmoreus is small compared to the foregoing two spiders, the body measures about 20 mm and the legs are relatively short, but it makes up visually what it lacks in sheer bulk – conspicuously attractive or impressive indeed!

The Marbled Orbweaver featured above is a female, and she's gravid and ready to lay her eggs any day to start the life cycle of her kind anew. On the other hand the female Longjawed Orbweaver (Tetragnatha spp) in the following photo won't likely get her chance to pass her genes on to the next generation, that opportunity now belongs to the small wasp, only about 3 mm in length, that's clinging to the underside of the spider.

The image was acquired under poor lighting conditions and is a bit out of focus but the wasp's ovipositor, ready to deliver its egg (or eggs?), is clearly visible in the photo. It's interesting to note that the wasp is in a "safe zone" and the hapless spider cannot reach it with its jaws.

The picture has been uploaded to BugGuide.Net where hopefully someone can identify the wasp. As of now I have no idea as to the wasp's species (Ichneumon, perhaps?) or life cycle – does it lay one egg per spider, or more? Will the spider be paralyzed by the hymenopteran's venom, or will it continue to go through the motions as the wasp larva (or larvae?) consume it from within? Whatever the story may be, like everything else in the world of nature we can be certain it's fascinating and compelling, possibly even (from our human viewpoint) bizarre ... which are all synonyms for the word "striking".

Spider Snapshots

Several species of jumping spiders (family Salticidae) are extant in our area. The spider in the following four images is a female Bold Jumper (Phidippus audax), about 15 to 20 mm long. The three white (less frequently red, or orange as in this specimen) spots on the abdomen and iridescent blue-green chelicerae are typical field marks. Juveniles often sport orange spots.

Bold Jumpers come by their name honestly as they have been known to leap at photographers who have approached too closely. This spider was obviously feeling threatened by my presence.

There isn't enough detail in the next two images to determine if this is Eris flava or Eris militaris. For anyone interested here's a link to more information at BugGuide.Net. (EDIT: one year later, and lot more research ... I now believe this jumper is more likely genus Pelegrina).

I'm not sure as to the identity of the less vividly marked jumping spider in the next two images.

No collection of jumping spider images would be complete without the including photos of the ubiquitous Zebra Jumper (Salticus scenicus).

Sparking up the color scheme a bit: a female Black and Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantiae) that has nabbed a paper wasp.

The following image is out of focus because the spider is shaking its web, and by no small amount, the spider was displaced by about two inches. I've observed this reaction in other orb weavers if they are approached too closely for their comfort. Is the purpose of this to make the spider a more difficult target for a potential predator?

Six-spotted Fishing Spiders (Dolomedes triton) are common along the north shore of Stoco Lake. The female in the image below is about 20 mm long. In the complex tangled web of life even large predators are not invulnerable; a smaller immature spider of this species has been captured by the Blue Black Spider Wasp (Anoplius sp.) in Life's a Beach.

As a rule Fishing Spiders are found on the shoreline or floating water plants. This is the first time I've seen one was making a web in the vegetation a few feet off the ground. The spider assumed this posture whenever I brought the camera up close.

Many species of Hymenoptera are parasites of spiders, but when I turned over a stepping stone in the garden I chanced across a scene where the tables were turned and found a Wolf Spider (Lycosa sp.) with an unlucky ant in its grasp.

Gardens host a variety of spider species; the spiders are attracted to the insects nectaring on the flowers. A Ground Crab Spider, probably Xysticus sp., assumes its characteristic ambush pose on an iris leaf.