Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sunday Spinelessness - Wolf spiders make good mothers

Sometimes I wish I was a better photographer. I have lots of fun sticking a lens in front of the spineless creatures I find in my travels, but every now and then I happen across something so cool I wish I could share it in some real detail:

That's a mother wolf spider (Lycosidae) clinging to the wall of our house, with hundreds of baby wolf spiders clinging to her back. Wolf spiders make good mothers. They spend their days hunting, eating whatever prey passes their course. That mobile lifestyle leaves them no chance to build a nest for their offspring, so, instead, they carry them around with them. First as an eggsac (I photographed a pair fighting over ownership of eggs last year), then. once they've hatched, as a whole mass of spiderlings. The spiderlings stay on their mothers back for a week or so, leaving just before their first moult, and they don't eat during their stay.

So, a pertty cool piece of biology, but I can't help but feel it's shame someone with a bit more skill (and some flash camera gear) had come across the sight: