Post your Spiders

[RockNGoalStar]

Tommy - that is a fantastic shot. How big was the spider? And how on earth did you get it so sharp? I would think any bit of a breeze would be moving that guy around like crazy. This is truly a beautiful spider shot.

Hey Bill, thanks for the comments I was actually on a small boat at the time... We were moving closer to the bank to check out some monkeys when i saw this little beastie hanging there. So i called out to our guide and told him to reverse quick!!! The strand of web(?) he was dangling off was about 20 feet long! Amazing really! Took a couple of snaps of him and sharpened him a bit in Photoshop. I'd say that he was probably twice as big as what you see there in real life, so not massive, but scary enough anyways!

Here's the data on the shot:

Nikon D90 | Nikkor 70-300mm VR @ 300mm | f/5.6 | 1/100 | ISO 800 | Handheld, standing in a boat (the VR on this lens is very good)

...And don't be a hater!

I'd love to get rid of my arachnophobia, I really would. But I don't know how

[ktuli]

Seri has talked of a program that (I think) the London Zoo does to help people get rid of their arachnophobia... maybe check into that.

I think I need a trip to Borneo... Maybe three.

- Bill

[RockNGoalStar]

Interesting stuff... maybe I'll give that a shot.

And yes, I'd recommend Borneo to anyone. If you like wildlife then you'll love the place! let me know if you decide to go and I'll chat to you about our experiences first

Now where's Seri....

[Dave Humphries]

I'd love to get rid of my arachnophobia, I really would. But I don't know how

I'm happy with beasties as long as they are not quicker than me, so butterflies are no real problems. Moths, well I hate the fast ones, ditto spiders. I guess it is not being in control I don't like!

Taking pictures of them often, which requires you to get close does help get you used to them though.

Cheers,

[Katy Noelle]

Interesting stuff... maybe I'll give that a shot.

And yes, I'd recommend Borneo to anyone. If you like wildlife then you'll love the place! let me know if you decide to go and I'll chat to you about our experiences first

Now where's Seri....

Don't worry about Seri! She'll be back at the very end of this month. She misses everyone and I owe her a spider shot!

Bill, I think you're gifted, here.

Tommy, great shot!

Sorry, everyone else, that's enough for me at the moment.

(It's only the muscular spiders that look at me and scowl and growl that I'm not too keen on. Dave, it's so funny to hear your 'testimony'.)

[ktuli]

I think learning a lot about them helps too... if you start to understand how they behave and what drives them, it becomes very different to look at them in the light that they're really just trying to survive, and are really fascinating creatures.

This evening, I was sitting out on my back patio, when my wife noticed a really tiny spider was on her arm... she is also fine with most small spiders, so she let me take it off her arm, and I watched it crawl around my hand for a while till it finally decided it was ready to move on... it put its abdomen in the air and let out a line of silk which got pulled by the nice gentle breeze and after a second or two it let go of my hand and drifted away. Just a fun little interaction with a creature that most people would have just squished... now it gets to drift off to find a place to setup a home and try to survive... just like the rest of us are trying to do.

I know! I know! I'm sure a lot of you are like WHAT!?!?! YOU LET IT CRAWL ON YOU?!?! but honestly, this thing was at most 2mm in size... probably smaller... if you could get spiders that small on a regular basis and work with them first, I'm sure you would have no problem moving up to larger ones.... just not those ones that Ken has... even I am not stupid enough to mess with those (maybe some day we'll talk about Goliath Bird Eaters...).

- Bill

[Katy Noelle]

Bill, I extremely enjoy your love of science and learning and I, also, enjoy observing you enjoying it! It's a nifty attribute that you have!

[Mongwopman]

Did these guys this morning, not great shots, but was fun experimenting either way. Dont have a clue what species.

[Geoff F]

Can't be sure of identification from those angles, Damien.

I would suspect one of the Linyphiidae family for the first and the others look like a Garden Spider - Araneus diadematus.

[KHarmon]

Common name for the top spider is a Wolf Spider. We have a blue million of them in this part of Texas. They're not deadly but will leave a painful bite and we have a heck of a time keeping them out of the house.

KHarmon

[Seriche]

Lovely to be home again, and enjoying all the wonderful spider photos that have been posted since I was last here

I'm still trying to learn how to take those early-morning backlit natural-light shots. This one seemed to have learned the art of levitation...

I'm off to bed now, and my dreams will be full of waking to find a gorgeous spider captured by Katy

Cheers,

Seri

[TobyMac]

My contribution


Spider with eggs by Tobias Weber, on Flickr

[ktuli]

Another (massively large) jumping spider...

[Geoff F]

Damien. Your first spider is a Linyphiidae and just going by the 'tuning fork' markings on the carapace I would suspect Linyphia triangularis (no common name). There are a lot of them around at this time of the year; mostly hanging underneath very fine webbing.

Check out the construction of these webs and marvel at their engineering design, particularly the way in which they are supported by hanging threads.

The other spider is a Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus.

[GeorgeM]

Here's one that was near the back door to my workplace...


gmont_spider__0333 by gmontjr, on Flickr

[Geoff F]

Harvestmen are appearing at this time of the year, in the northern areas, and although not true spiders I think they are sufficiently closely related to appear here.



Phlangium opilio female. Each leg is nearly 2 ins long.

And a close up shot.



Males of this species are slightly different.

[Dave Humphries]

Harvestmen are appearing at this time of the year, in the northern areas, and although not true spiders I think they are sufficiently closely related to appear here.



Phlangium opilio female. Each leg is nearly 2 ins long.

And a close up shot.



Males of this species are slightly different.

Excellent stuff Geoff, never seen such detailed shot s of them

[ktuli]

Geoff,

How did you manage the second shot? I took some shots of them (one posted here), and I could never get them to sit still to get that close.

Also - for those curious about the differences between harvestmen and spiders...

First, they possess no silk glands nor venom glands - so they're completely harmless to humans. Their body segments are fused (spiders have two body segments - cephalothorax and abdomen), and only have a single pair of eyes (spiders have four pairs of eyes). Harvestmen can also eat solid foods, whereas spiders are only able to ingest liquids.

Arachnid lesson of the day is now concluded. This will all be on the final exam.

- Bill

[Geoff F]

How did you manage the second shot? I took some shots of them (one posted here), and I could never get them to sit still to get that close.

So you get Phlangium opilio in the US as well, Bill. I'm not sure about their world wide distribution but they are certainly an ancient family.

My normal macro lens is a 180 mm plus 1.4x converter. Then it is just a case of finding a resting subject and approaching carefully at the best angle. I prefer, when possible, to preset my tripod to the correct height then slowly slide it forwards.

Speedlite flash also used.

With harvestmen, I often find that I scare them away before I see them; they see me approaching. It was a dull humid day and these were sitting on suitably exposed leaves.

There were several individuals along a narrow lane with plenty of foliage. I managed to find 4 species that day, although I didn't manage side shots of them all. The side view usually gives a good angle on the occularium and it's spines which helps in identification.

[Wendy Stanford]

Great series Geoff, all very clear and sharp, I haven't seen this species at all in Australia. they look very unique