Arachnology

Spiders and related organisms

     This area has become a recent interest of mine mainly due to questions I have received this year concerning spiders and the numbers I have seen in my yard.  I am including some images here with a few notes on each of them.  There are several web sites which provide a great deal of information on spiders.

	Opilione are arachnids but are not spiders.  The y do not have venom.  Recently, I was able to observe and capture a funnel weaver spider with an opilione in its fang.  I have been feeding the spider with opiliones for the last week.
	I was able to crop and enlarge on image of an opiline for a closer look at the body.  If you right click on the image and select view image, you will be able to see a larger version of this photo.
	The spider to the left is in the family Pholcidae.  They have several common names such as daddy long legs and cellar spider.  Besides your cellar, you can find them in out of the way areas in the corners of rooms near the ceiling or near the floor.  They may have clumps of material in the web which is the remains of meals.
	The funnel web weaver produces a web sheet with a funnel at one end where it waits for prey to land on the sheet.  It then runs out to retreive its prey.  The web is not sticky but it can tangle the feet of the prey.
	It will then run back into its funnel to consume its prey out of site of predators.
	Wolf spiders are one of the largest spiders found in LIvingston county.  The body can be 3/4 tp 2 inch in length. With the legs extended, it could cover close to two inches.  There are several species and not all get to that size.  They are hunters which actively look for food instead of relying on a web.
	The female carries the eggs with her in a silk sphere.  As you can see, it is relatively large compared to the size of the sider.
	When the eggs hatch, they hitch a ride on the mother for several weeks - probably until the first molt.
	There are two large, colorful orb spiders which can be found in this area.  The one to the left is Argiope trifasciata.  Depending on where they place the web, it can be 2 feet or more across.
	This is Argiope aurantia.  I have only seen one of these in my yard in 2008.  Since then, A. trifasciata has dominated with 8 this year, 2010.
	Here you can see a male approaching the female.  I saw 6 males near two female webs during August.  This picture was taken 08/18/10.  A week later, after a heavy rain, all the males were gone.
Courtship Display of Peacock Jumping Spider	Shows the male peacock jumping spider courting females.