I think I've already said that the jumping spiders (family Salticidae) are my absolute favourite group of spiders. As much as I like the Dictynids I've been observing in our agapanthus, if I was asked to pick the group that took the next biggest place in my heart I'd have to go for the crab spiders (family Thomisidae). I've written about these spiders before, so it you want the run down on the biology of these 'sit and wait predators read those posts, today I'm just showing off some photos of a partcularily striking crab spider I found hiding under a banana leaf in Vanuatu:

If you look closely at those enlarged "raptorial" forelegs you can see downward-facing spikes which are used to increase the spider's grip on any creature foolhardy enought to fall within their grasp:

One of the reasons I like jumping spiders so much is they really show no fear when it comes to humans. Most spiders, despite their reputation, will run away when faced with a someone snooping around their hiding place, whereas jumping spiders very clearly eye you up as possible meal. Crab spiders aren't quite so outgoing, but they aren't timid either. This one got fed up with me holding its leaf up to get a photo, and decided instead to attack the camera lens then run up my arm. Whe even that approach didn't keep the camera out if its face I got a very clear threat signal:

One day I going to run a whole set of out of focus photos of bugs attempting to attack my camera, but for now I have other work to do!

Labels: citizen science, crab spider, photos, sci-blogs, sunday spinelessness, Thomisidae

Sunday Spinelessness may have been on hiatus for Christmas and the New Year but the spineless themselves don't observe holidays. During my break in the sunny Wairarapa I've been keeping and eye, and a couple of lenses, on some of the backyard bugs and if I was to say one thing about them it would be that they are hungry

Take the Sidymella crab spiders (previously featured on these pages) hiding in the Christmas Lilies and in particular on dahlia flowers:

On a sunny morning you can usually find one of these tiny spiders on every second flower. It took me some time to work out what was keeping all these spiders the fed. The flowers two most frequent visitors, ants and bumblebees, don't prompt so much as a twitch from those elongated font legs. It wasn't until Christmas day that I found my answer. Fill to the brim with my own Christmas lunch I wandered down to the back garden and saw a Sidymella tucking into its own meal - a small nectar eating fly whose taxonomic position I couldn't guess at.

Labels: crab spider, environment and ecology, sci-blogs, Sidymella, sunday spinelessness, Thomisidae