Post your Spiders

[Jim B.]

Orchard Orb Weaver



Daring Jumping Spider



Six Spotted Orb Weaver

[ktuli]

Jim,

I love that jumping spider shot! FANTASTIC.

I was down in WV last summer - went to the Kanawha State Forest for an a couple days and I took a couple shots of those Orchard Orb Weavers (though I didn't know that was what they were called till now):

Here are some other posts on my blog with photos of that species of spider: 1, 2, 3, 4.

- Bill

[Jim B.]

Bill,
Nice shot!
I used to split time between here and Charleston(had a business there),but never got the chance to go to the park.If you haven't been and get the chance check out Blackwater Falls area down state.
Here's another one of the jumper.It's bit OTO sharpened,but check out the fangs!Would love to get a shot with them deployed.

[ktuli]

I really need to figure out how to get things that incredibly sharp! My shots always seem to have the slightly bit of blur to them and at that magnification, it just ruins everything for me...

- Bill

[Jim B.]

I've shot macros 95% handheld over the past couple of years.The method that works best for me:
Prefocus the lens to 1:1 then ease into the shot of your subject until you see sharp focus and take the picture.If the subject isn't moving or not moving much my results are usually very good.
If it will help,I took at least 20 shots of the jumper to get 4 good ones.The problem with the spider was it didn't sit still for more than a few seconds.If anyone had been watching me,they would have thought I'd gone off the deep end.I chased the darn thing around a door frame for a good 1/2 hour.The second shot has been rotated 180 degrees.It was on the top of the frame above my head.
Keep at it,you'll get better.

[Katy Noelle]

Six Spotted Orb Weaver

The whole context gives such a dreamy feel to this. I, actually, like this one.

Jim, after avoiding this thread for all of these months, seeing your advice posted drew me in. (I didn't want to have nightmares like, Kay!)

[Jim B.]

Thanks,Katy.I like this one also.I'm not a big fan of spiders myself,but I do like to take their pictures.
I had nightmares when I was kid after watching the spider battle in "The Incredible Shrinking Man".

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks,Katy.I like this one also.I'm not a big fan of spiders myself,but I do like to take their pictures.
I had nightmares when I was kid after watching the spider battle in "The Incredible Shrinking Man".

I don't know what B movie it was but a friend's mom took me to see something that involved a meteor that landed on earth, spreading geodes all over the place that people greedily opened for the diamonds that they found within. Unfortunately, they never noticed the huge hairy baby spider crawling out of the egg but they did when it grew to be the size of a hut and snuck up on them and bloodily devoured them. I'm still getting over it.

[Jim B.]

Oh yes, the movie was "Giant Spider Invasion".

[Katy Noelle]

Oh yes, the movie was "Giant Spider Invasion".

Oh. Of course.

[ktuli]

Now now... Spiders are your friends... without them, we'd be overrun with all manner of insects - many of which are much more annoying (read: mosquitoes). At least spiders serve a purpose... though I guess mosquitoes do too... otherwise, how else are we going to clone dinosaurs so they can kill us all and take over the planet again?

- Bill

[MrB]

While strolling alongside the River Thames, I spotted this Crab Spider feasting on another Mr B.

Philip

[Jim B.]

Phillip,very nice! I've not seen a Crab Spider to photograph yet.
I have a few different species around the house right now.The near constant rain here has really boosted the numbers.

Dimorphic Jumper -Female



Sheet Web

[ktuli]

Phillip,very nice! I've not seen a Crab Spider to photograph yet.
I have a few different species around the house right now.The near constant rain here has really boosted the numbers.

Dimorphic Jumper -Female



Sheet Web

Hahah! That jumper is having a bad hair day!

And - I have some pretty cool shots of the Sheet Webs (at least I think that is what they are after seeing your shot) tomorrow (still working on processing and uploading).

And a Harvestman and Harvestwoman...

Stay tuned.

- Bill

[ktuli]

Oh, and Jim - we definitely get crab spiders in our area... so keep looking for them.

I previously shared this shot (and multiple versions of it can be found in this post on my blog), and here's another...

- Bill

[ktuli]

As promised....

Here are the sheet web spiders mating... (also check out the thread)


And the Harvestman and Harvestwoman...


And a closeup of the Harvestwoman (I think - and I'm not sure what the black dot she left behind her is... whether it is feces or an egg, I don't know)


- Bill

[alexgreen]

There's quite a lot of these around Seattle:

Pretty sure this is a female European cross spider.

This little guy was found on Big Island in Hawaii:

I have no clue as to what species it is.

[Geoff F]

Here is another Misumena vatia, one of the many crab spider varieties.



They try to hide on similar coloured flowers and then pounce on any insect which comes close. They can catch prey which is much larger and stronger than themselves, like Philip's photo.

They can even change colour slightly to match their surroundings.

Bill. I don't know much about US harvestmen but basically, they can't be identified for sex without a microscope. At this time of the year, in the UK, most of them are Rilaena triangularis. But going by the length of the Pedipalps in your example, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a rather early Phalangium opilio.

But I am just basing these guesses on UK examples and I don't know what differences occur elsewhere.

[ktuli]

Bill. I don't know much about US harvestmen but basically, they can't be identified for sex without a microscope. At this time of the year, in the UK, most of them are Rilaena triangularis. But going by the length of the Pedipalps in your example, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a rather early Phalangium opilio.

But I am just basing these guesses on UK examples and I don't know what differences occur elsewhere.

Ah - I was just guessing based on the size variance, and going based on typical spider size difference between the sexes.

Thanks for the extra info.

- Bill

[ktuli]

I found (well, technically my wife found) another crab spider in our garden. Not as nice as Geoff's, but an interesting thing here is that this one was on a flower of a completely different color. It is a yellow crab spider on a pink peony - though it does somewhat resemble the pollen stamens in in the peony, so maybe that is the camouflage it is going for.



Taken with a 100mm (a little back from minimum focusing distance) with a 2x teleconverter on, so this guy/girl was probably about 10mm in length.

I wonder if this is the same species as Geoff's and that the abdomen will enlarge as the summer goes on and it has a chance to feed and bulk up. Anyone know?

- Bill