This spurge spanworm caterpillar (Oxydia vesulia) is expertly camouflaged as a stick, but that did not do it much good against the nest of tiny scorpions it happened to wander over. I saw the caterpillar on the wood and took a photo of it — and only saw the suspicious, grasping claws after enlarging the…
Category: Arachnids (Spiders & Scorpions)
Spiny Orb Weaver
You can tell that a lot of people notice this brightly-colored, distinctive spider in their gardens, as it’s collected so many common names: spiny orb weaver, jewel spider, spiny-bellied orbweaver, kite spider, jewel box spider, smiley face spider, crab spider, crablike spiny orbweaver. Good heavens. The Latin name means roughly “thorn-belly” (Gasteracantha) and “crab shaped”…
Tmarus Floridensis
Crab spiders are much like jumping spiders — they don’t build a permanent web, and instead go hunting for their prey. Crab spider have smaller eyes than jumpers (relatively), and the eyes appear to extend out of a “hood” on the head. Their first two pairs of legs are much longer than their last two,…
Hamataliwa Grisea
Admission time here: I used to think that jumping spiders were the epitome of cuteness, but that was before I met my first lynx spider. This is Hamataliwa grisea, a tiny (1cm) lynx spider which suffers from a scandalous lack of common name. Bugguide.net contributors have called it a “bark lynx spider” and “not a…
Unidentified – Spiders
Do you know these spiders? Please help 🙂 These photos are too good not to share, but I have no idea who’s in them!
Metacyrba Punctata
I’ve been told that, when a species does not have a common name, I should give it one. This little fellow deserves one, don’t you think? This handsome Metacyrba punctata jumping spider was wandering around on my garage door when I spotted him. He gave me a few choice leg gestures (“Go away! I’m busy!”)…
Swift Crab Spider
Crab spiders get their name from their widely-splayed and elongated first two pairs of legs, which they use to catch prey bigger than they are. They do not build webs but wander around and hunt, often in flowers. Wrestling with prey several times their size can damage the spider — this one is missing a…
Twin Flagged Jumping Spider
Wikipedia wants to tell me that the twin-flagged jumping spider’s name comes from those white marks on its cephalothorax, but I’d put my money on the name coming from those bright white pedipalps, which look like little flags waving around as she moves. This glorious little twin flagged jumping spider, Anasaitis canosa, is almost invisible…
Pantropical Jumping Spider
I assumed at first this was a wolf spider, Lycosidae sp. I am hesitant to call it a jumping spider because this individual was “huge” — I would have put it at half an inch long — and pantropical jumping spiders seem to max out at 12mm with the females. On the other hand, half…
Six-Spotted Fishing Spider
Fish-eating spiders are found on every continent except Antarctica. They use surface tension to run on the surface of the water, hunting insects, small fish, tadpoles, and anything else that lives at or near the surface. The spiders can walk on the water by using their paired legs in a manner not unlike boat paddles,…
Silver Longjawed Orbweaver
This gorgeous little girl is posing on the orange moonscape that is my kayak. I helped her out of the water and onto the bow, and she was still riding when I got out, and kindly posed for me. This is definitely a female longjawed orbweaver spider, of the genus Tetragnatha. I am calling her…
Gray Wall Jumper
I glanced to my side while walking and happened to notice this minuscule little lady hanging out on the pier at Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World — so she might actually be a clever animatronic spider. Gray wall jumper spiders (Menemerus bivittatus) are actually human imports to Florida, but fortunately they’re one of the…
Common House Spider
My garage door looks pretty clean from a distance, but upon inspection it has a couple dozen, probably, of these little spiders keeping the local mosquito, gnat, and ant population down (thank you!) A ludicrous number of species are lumped under the name “common house spider”, but these particular individuals are comb-footed or cobweb spiders…
Mabel Orchard Orb Weaver
Leucauge comes from Greek roots which mean “with a bright gleam”. The family is differentiated from other tetragnathid spiders by their oval bodies and the brilliant orange markings on the underside of the abdomen. Honestly, this may also be a Leucauge venusta. The two species are essentially identical unless you want to get extremely intimate…
Hentz Orb Weaver Eating a Dragonfly
This is quite possibly the most “nature is metal” photo I’ve ever taken. This Hentz orb weaver spider (Neoscona crucifera), about 2″ radius max, has taken down a fully grown great blue skipper dragonfly (Libuella vibrans), which is about 3 1/2″ inches long. Imagine the rodeo that must have been!
Cribellate Orb Weaver
This gorgeous little lady is pretty certain to be Uloborus glomosus — one of very few Uloborus species in North America. Spiders in this family are notable for having very long front legs, with little tufts of hair around the far joints; they have a variety of common names, including feather-legged orb weaver and tufted…