Cucumber Spiders

Araniella sp - Cucumber Spider. Golden egg sac off to the right.

Araniella sp - Cucumber Spider

Araniella sp - Cucumber Spider

Araniella sp - Cucumber Spider

Araniella sp - Cucumber Spider

Lace-webbed Spider

Lace-webbed spider - Amaurobius similis(?)

A fuzzy little house-spider - this species is fond of setting up webs around windows, but this one is just hanging from my bathroom wall.

Four-spot Orb-weaver

Araneus quadratus - four-spot orb-weaver

Araneus quadratus - four-spot orb-weaver

I found this four-spot orb-weaver in my bedroom after it stowed-away on my raincoat. 

Araneus quadratus - four-spot orb-weaver

Araneus quadratus - four-spot orb-weaver

It's now back in the garden, where it belongs.

O Hai!

Siler cupreus - aoobihaetori

Small, brightly coloured jumping spider says "hi!"

Gomigumo

The gomigumo - rubbish spider - Cyclosa octotuberculata - disguises its presence by arranging the husked carcasses of its prey around it in its web.

Gomigumo - rubbish spider - Cyclosa octotuberculata

Gomigumo - rubbish spider - Cyclosa octotuberculata

Gomigumo - rubbish spider - Cyclosa octotuberculata

Gomigumo - rubbish spider - Cyclosa octotuberculata

Lynx Spider

Lynx spider - Oxyopes Spp.

Male Ant Mimic

Here is the male counterpart to the female ant-mimic jumping spider from this previous post. Can you spot the difference?

Wakabagumo

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes - green leaf spider: a crab spider from Japan. It has no web, instead grabbing prey with its long, hairy front legs. 

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes

Sometimes it lies in wait, hoping for an insect to alight on its leaf. Other times it hangs in mid-air, from a tree, looking to grab something on the wing.

Wakabagumo - Oxytate striatipes - hanging from a thread.

Ant Mimic

Here's an ant mimicking jumping spider from japan:

Myrmarachne Spp. Ant-mimic Jumping Spider

And an ant one branch over:

Dolomedes dondalei

Dolomedes dondalei

Dolomedes dondalei is a large spider adapted for hunting on water - mostly catching insects struggling at the surface. It sometimes catches small fish. They can move at speed over the surface - like pond-skaters - and dive at need. They usually hunt at night and this is the only one I saw out on the water. It is holding station on the surface of a mountain stream in full sun.

Back-lit, Spidery Post

Fencepost of the Week #89

This post is falling apart and the spiders have claimed most of its peaks and valleys as their own.

More Shiny Silk

Wildlife Wednesday #43

The spiders from last week continue to be out in force on the South Downs. The reflective, icy texture of this slope is entirely down to spider silk.

And here is the same slope in closeup:

Webworks Revealed

Wildife Wednesday #42

Spiders are more numerous and prolific than we might think - it often takes special atmospheric conditions to reveal the true extent of their workings.

This is a grassy field, but it is so heavily festooned with flying spiders' sail-webs that it is hard to see the verdure through the gleaming silk. Hower the same field viewed from any angle other than directly into the sun, would appear to be full of grass and nothing else.