Spiders

[sandrewn]

St Andrew's Cross spider laying eggs

Always shot spiders with egg sac but seldom caught them in the act of laying eggs Hope u like it. Taken at night in Singapore forest.

by melvynyeo

 

 

Researchers find ogre-faced spiders can hear without ears via their hairy legs

After rampaging locusts and murder hornets, 2020 couldn’t get any stranger—that’s until researchers put  electrodes inside ogre-faced spiders and found out they can hear.

Experts from the US found that the arachnids - named for their massive eyes, which provide great night vision - can pick up on both low and high frequency sound.

 

 

Portia Jumping Spider

A very smart spider Taken at night in Singapore.

Portia Jumping Spider by melvynyeo on DeviantArt

 

 

 

[Bill W]

7 hours ago, sandrewn said:

St Andrew's Cross spider laying eggs

Always shot spiders with egg sac but seldom caught them in the act of laying eggs Hope u like it. Taken at night in Singapore forest.

by melvynyeo

 

No wonder there's so many spiders, if one spider can lay that many eggs.  Imagine what it would be like if humans or other animals could do that.  

[Bill W]

8 hours ago, sandrewn said:

Researchers find ogre-faced spiders can hear without ears via their hairy legs

After rampaging locusts and murder hornets, 2020 couldn’t get any stranger—that’s until researchers put  electrodes inside ogre-faced spiders and found out they can hear.

Experts from the US found that the arachnids - named for their massive eyes, which provide great night vision - can pick up on both low and high frequency sound.

 

 

It may be able to hear without ears, but this one looks as if it has wings and is flying.  Does it look like a small owl to you? 

[Bill W]

8 hours ago, sandrewn said:

Portia Jumping Spider

A very smart spider Taken at night in Singapore.

Portia Jumping Spider by melvynyeo on DeviantArt

If I was out walking around and saw this, I would think it was merely some debris, possibly some dried up leaf debris, unless I saw it walking about.  

[sandrewn]

Big-Headed Bark Spider, Caerostris sp.

An orb-weaver spider (family Araneidae)

 

 

Ceratogyrus marshalli Pocock, 1897

Ceratogyrus marshalli Pocock, 1897, also known as “Straight horned baboon” or “Great horned baboon”, is a very beautiful bird spider due to its remarkable horn on the centre of her carapace from Zimbabwe and Mozambique. African bird spiders are commonly given the title of baboon spider, which title theoretically only belongs to the subfamily of the Harpactirinae. Therefore Ceratogyrus can be considered a real baboon spider. Ceratogyrus darlingi was the first species of the genus to be discribed in 1897, together with the male Ceratogyrus marshalli. De Wet & Dippenaar-Schoeman were able to describe Ceratogyrus cornuatus in 1991, which turned out later to be the female Ceratogyrus marshalli. The Ceratogyrus-genus is well known for their beautiful horns, but in fact only half of the genus is blessed with it. Except for Ceratogyrus paulseni, however, all species do have a subabdominal band in the booklung region.

 

 

Jewel Spider

 

[Bill W]

29 minutes ago, sandrewn said:

Big-Headed Bark Spider, Caerostris sp.

An orb-weaver spider (family Araneidae) 

For some reason, this reminds me of a scarab beetle that is missing its head, which should appear above what appears to be a smile. 

[Bill W]

31 minutes ago, sandrewn said:

Jewel Spider 

Now to me this looks like a Hermit crab that found a fancy shell to call its home and is not learning to tightrope upside down.  

[Zombie]

9 hours ago, Bill W said:

For some reason, this reminds me of a scarab beetle that is missing its head, which should appear above what appears to be a smile. 

looks like the smile of a killer before “lights out”   

[sandrewn]

When Spiders Go Airborne, It's Electric — Literally

Many spiders fly long distances by riding "balloons" of silk, and a new study suggests that they're propelled by more than just the wind.

Electric fields at strengths found in nature can also trigger the spiders' ballooning behavior. And electrostatic forces can lift up the spiders even when the air is still, according to a newly published report in the journal Current Biology.

Ballooning spiders have long fascinated scientists because they fly high — they've been found more than 2 miles up — and far. These spiders land on ships in the middle of the ocean, and they're often the first colonizers of new volcanic islands, says Erica Morley of the University of Bristol.

 

"Although they don't have wings, they're actually pretty good at flying," says Morley. She explains that a spider will go to a high branch on a tree or to the top of a tall blade of grass and stand on tiptoe with its abdomen pointing up. It then releases long strands of silk and becomes airborne.

Curiously, Morley says, spiders balloon only when the winds are very low, like a light breeze. And some larger spiders manage to get up in the air even when it seems like there's not enough wind to make that happen. Scientists also wonder what triggers mass ballooning events — when thousands of spiders suddenly take to the air.

All of those are hints that spiders rely on something more than just the wind. What's more, ballooning silk is made of lots of strands that are released at the same time, "and these sort of splay out, as though there's a repulsive force present," Morley says.

The idea that atmospheric electric fields might affect flying spiders has been around since the 1800s, but until now, there's been no evidence that spiders could detect or use them. Morley and her colleague Daniel Robert got interested in this after reading a recent paper that showed electrostatic spider flight was theoretically possible.

 

"There wasn't actually any empirical data to support or dispel this hypothesis so that's what we tackled," Morley notes.

They rigged up a box with two metal plates, one on the top and one on the bottom. The top plate was connected to a voltage, and the bottom one was electrically grounded. "So between the two plates was an electric field," says Morley. "And the spiders were then put in this electric field, and we could switch it on and off and look at changes in their behavior."

The spiders reacted when the electric field was switched on.

"They try to balloon. They perform this tiptoeing behavior, and try to balloon," Morley says. "I was delighted when I saw them responding. It's very surprising. It needs a lot more investigation."

Some spiders even became airborne in the lab. "And you can change their altitude by switching the electric field on and off," Morley adds. "If they manage to become airborne, and you switch the electric field off, they will then slowly fall. And then you can switch it back on again and they will rise. So you can see that this electric field is providing enough force to lift them against gravity."

She says there's a lot more work that needs to be done to see how this plays out in a natural environment, and how this relates to their use of wind. "Wherever there's an electric field in the spider's natural environment," she says, "there is also likely to be some air movement."

 

 

[Bill W]

8 hours ago, sandrewn said:

When Spiders Go Airborne, It's Electric — Literally

Just what I want to see, a spider balloon fest in my neighborhood. 

[Bill W]

Speaking of spiders, I've known since I moved to Georgia that there are Brown Recluse spiders here, but yesterday my neighbor informed me that there was a Black Widow spider and her egg sac just outside my door.  He borrowed my Raid to spray it and the egg sac, and then he used a stick to dispose of it, but now I'm constantly looking around the house for more Black Widow spiders, along with any Brown Recluse spiders that might happen to be inside as well.  

[sandrewn]

Desert Wolf Spider from Australia

Black and yellow spider March 7, 2010 Myself and Haylee went spider hunting during an overnight stay in the bush near Cocklebiddy in WA, Australia . We found a few of these spiders and Haylee managed to get some good pictures of one of the few that didn’t dissapear down its burrow when we approached.

Charlie and Haylee

 

 

Feather-Legged Spider (Uloborus plumipes?)

Found in a taxi...!

 

 

Portia jumping spider

 

 

[Bill W]

31 minutes ago, sandrewn said:

Desert Wolf Spider from Australia

Black and yellow spider March 7, 2010 Myself and Haylee went spider hunting during an overnight stay in the bush near Cocklebiddy in WA, Australia . We found a few of these spiders and Haylee managed to get some good pictures of one of the few that didn’t dissapear down its burrow when we approached.

Charlie and Haylee

 

It looks like an octopus on land.  

[Bill W]

32 minutes ago, sandrewn said:

Feather-Legged Spider (Uloborus plumipes?)

Found in a taxi...!

A ghost spider?  I doubt it lives in an arctic region. 

[Bill W]

34 minutes ago, sandrewn said:

Portia jumping spider

That's a crazy ass looking spider, with red eyes, no less. 

[sandrewn]

 

These incredible close-ups of spiders are beautiful, but they still might make you squirm.

 

 

A Spider's Web Is Part of Its Mind, New Research Suggests

 

 

The UK is sending a robot spider to the moon

UK to send robot spider to the moon in first ever lunar mission | The Independent | The Independent

(I don't think it ever went.)

 

 

[Bill W]

8 hours ago, sandrewn said:

 

These incredible close-ups of spiders are beautiful, but they still might make you squirm.

 

 

A Spider's Web Is Part of Its Mind, New Research Suggests

 

 

The UK is sending a robot spider to the moon

UK to send robot spider to the moon in first ever lunar mission | The Independent | The Independent

(I don't think it ever went.)

I guess the old phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is true, although I find the last photo the most interesting.  Is there any indication about the date when the last photo was taken?  I find it interesting that the scientists in the UK would have selected the form of a spider out of the many that might have been available for them to use.  If an alien species was to land on the moon later, they might have felt that the robot was a model of the indigenous life form on the moon. 

[sandrewn]

 

1 hour ago, Bill W said:

I guess the old phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is true, although I find the last photo the most interesting.  Is there any indication about the date when the last photo was taken?  I find it interesting that the scientists in the UK would have selected the form of a spider out of the many that might have been available for them to use.  If an alien species was to land on the moon later, they might have felt that the robot was a model of the indigenous life form on the moon. 

I am still looking for more info on this(these) spider robot(s).

This is all I have so far.

UK's Moon-walking space spider to lead landmark lunar mission

Spacebit Mission One: UK's 1st Moon Rover to Launch in 2021 - YouTube

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by sandrewn

[Bill W]

3 hours ago, sandrewn said:

 

I am still looking for more info on this(these) spider robot(s).

This is all I have so far.

UK's Moon-walking space spider to lead landmark lunar mission

Spacebit Mission One: UK's 1st Moon Rover to Launch in 2021 - YouTube

 

I'm amazed that governments are suddenly interested in returning or going to the moon.  It has been 50 years since the last US mission there and it is said the Chinese have run missions on the dark side of the moon, and the US also seems to be interested in returning to the moon.  Have these governments, including the UK, discovered or suspect something more about the moon that wasn't know previously?  

[sandrewn]

She is so beautiful like a jewel, Latrodectus are the most gorgeous of the arachnids

 

 

I will call it Timmy

 

 

 

 

 

[Bill W]

9 hours ago, sandrewn said:

She is so beautiful like a jewel, Latrodectus are the most gorgeous of the arachnids

 

The black sheen is stunning, but with that red mark on its back I think it might be confused with a black widow spider. 

[Bill W]

9 hours ago, sandrewn said:

I will call it Timmy

How does the person even know its a male spider?  Maybe its a Tammy, not a Timmy. 

[sandrewn]

Velvet Spider (Eresidae)

Taken April 30th, 2010, Shefela, Israel.

 

 

Jail Stripe Spiders Make a Break For it Using Bromeliads

Jail Stripe Spiders, as I've affectionately dubbed them, utilize their host bromeliad plants to make a quick escape from danger.

Jail Stripe Spiders Make a Break For it Using Bromeliads | Featured Creature

 

 

 

Golden orb weaver (Nephila sp.)

Candy cane in the forest. Ridiculously common spider but displaying a brilliant combination of orange and yellow when fresh out of her moult.

 

 

[Bill W]

5 hours ago, sandrewn said:

Velvet Spider (Eresidae)

Taken April 30th, 2010, Shefela, Israel.

If you live in or visit Israel and have any velvet dresses, robes, bed linens, shoes, hats, or handbags - I'd check to make sure none of these fuzzy creatures has made a home in them before I use them again.  

Edited August 27, 2023 by Bill W

[Bill W]

5 hours ago, sandrewn said:

Jail Stripe Spiders Make a Break For it Using Bromeliads

Jail Stripe Spiders, as I've affectionately dubbed them, utilize their host bromeliad plants to make a quick escape from danger.

Jail Stripe Spiders Make a Break For it Using Bromeliads | Featured Creature

Tiger spider in the night, be careful or you'll be burning bright