Arachnids and Insects, by request.

Hi all

These pics are here by request of Seamaiden. It follows from an earlier thread that morphed into a phobia discussion...

The spider is a Golden Orb Weaver and measures (body only) about 4.5cm (2inches or so). Click on the thumbnails for a better view.

BEAUTIFUL! I need to upload the pix I took of a gorgeous guy or gal yesterday. He and I were eying each other quite closely while I was taking the pictures. I've never seen a jumping spider so big, and I'm not sure this is a spider of that genus/family, but it sure looked like one.

spiders are such a buzz kill

Humans are such a buzz kill.

Seamaiden said:

BEAUTIFUL! I need to upload the pix I took of a gorgeous guy or gal yesterday. He and I were eying each other quite closely while I was taking the pictures. I've never seen a jumping spider so big, and I'm not sure this is a spider of that genus/family, but it sure looked like one.

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No, the Jumping spiders are a different genus. They're of the salticidae family. The Golden Orb Weavers are of the Araneidae family.

I'll have a hunt through my back-up discs and see if I can find some more of the larger Wheel Weavers and others that I've managed to photograph. Yep, I reckon spiders are pretty cool myself. Especially when you consider that the majority are quite harmless and don't actively try to bite people. I am pretty respectful of the Funnel-webs and Trapdoor spiders we have down here though. They can be pretty aggressive and the Funnel-webs can kill you pretty quick.

Gryphonn said:

No, the Jumping spiders are a different genus. They're of the salticidae family. The Golden Orb Weavers are of the Araneidae family.

I'll have a hunt through my back-up discs and see if I can find some more of the larger Wheel Weavers and others that I've managed to photograph. Yep, I reckon spiders are pretty cool myself. Especially when you consider that the majority are quite harmless and don't actively try to bite people. I am pretty respectful of the Funnel-webs and Trapdoor spiders we have down here though. They can be pretty aggressive and the Funnel-webs can kill you pretty quick.

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Oh yes, I've read a good bit about your funnel-webbies. Did you know (I bet you did) that spiders were among the very FIRST creatures to walk the land? FASCINATING!

I believe that the American wolf spider, another known aggressive arachnid, is also a jumper. I've found all jumpers to be incredibly inquisitive and curious, to the point of jeopardizing their own tiny lives. The thing that gets me about this lovely I sat with yesterday is that it was easily a full 1cm thorax ALONE. The jumpers I've seen previously are maybe 5mm (I'm not much good with conversion, but I'm trying to save you the trouble.. wait a minute, you Aussies use standard measurements, too.. don't ya? Let me know, please!).

Ok, I'm gonna go get that CF card and do some uploading, special to share with Gryphonn.

I did a huge project for OHSU and OSU. Had to gather thousands of funnel web spiders, and some various other ones.


Ill go fetch my specimen mount and take pics of some outrageous spiders I have found.

You'll shit a brick

This is a Master Wheel Weaver. These girls (the big ones are always female) usually hide out in the day time. This was taken early in the morning before she hid away. Her abdomen is roughly thumb size, and again, harmless to people.

I forgot to mention that the one in the previous post (the Golden Orb Weaver) has a web strong enough to hold a small bat or bird. The web has been rated at something like fifty times stronger than steel, weight for weight. However, they will usually trim around the web where a large thing is trapped to release it, then repair the web. The Golden Orb Weavers spend all their time on their web.

Click on the attachment for a better view.

Seamaiden said:

The thing that gets me about this lovely I sat with yesterday is that it was easily a full 1cm thorax ALONE. The jumpers I've seen previously are maybe 5mm (I'm not much good with conversion, but I'm trying to save you the trouble.. wait a minute, you Aussies use standard measurements, too.. don't ya? Let me know, please!).

Ok, I'm gonna go get that CF card and do some uploading, special to share with Gryphonn.

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That's a BIG jumper Seamaiden! Yep, we're metric over here, so I can follow. I can follow imperial too, so it's all good. Yes, please post some pics please.

Tokesalot said:

I did a huge project for OHSU and OSU. Had to gather thousands of funnel web spiders, and some various other ones.


Ill go fetch my specimen mount and take pics of some outrageous spiders I have found.

You'll shit a brick

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Please do Tokesalot. I love checking out 'creatures'. I may end up posting some pretty cool pics of the bats we've found when caving too. Also, I've got a few good pics of some strange insects as well. I'll see how I go. It's 2 am over here and I'm getting a bit worn out, so may have to crash soon. But I'll do some serious looking tomorrow for sure.

WOWEE!

Yeah, Tokes, I want to shit a brick (I'll feel slimmer and lighter for it).

Alright, I got a bit of a series here. JS and me, we were checkin' each other out.
JS probably thinking, "Wth? BIG EYES!"
Me, thinkin', "Wow, GORGEOUS!"
JS (Jumping Spidey) actually turned his head, then his whole body, to face me as I was snapping pix. I am NO GOOD as a photog, but at least their in focus and I wasn't moving. Remember, this Juicy Specimen (hehheh, JS) is about 1/2" nose to pedipalps.

Gryphonn said:

Please do Tokesalot. I love checking out 'creatures'. I may end up posting some pretty cool pics of the bats we've found when caving too. Also, I've got a few good pics of some strange insects as well. I'll see how I go. It's 2 am over here and I'm getting a bit worn out, so may have to crash soon. But I'll do some serious looking tomorrow for sure.

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Not yet! Lookit my piccies, first.

Our local bats aren't out yet, I'm kind of worried that they're missing the big bug explosion we're having with this unseasonably warm weather. I sure hope not.

Seamaiden said:

WOWEE!

Yeah, Tokes, I want to shit a brick (I'll feel slimmer and lighter for it).

Alright, I got a bit of a series here. JS and me, we were checkin' each other out.
JS probably thinking, "Wth? BIG EYES!"
Me, thinkin', "Wow, GORGEOUS!"
JS (Jumping Spidey) actually turned his head, then his whole body, to face me as I was snapping pix. I am NO GOOD as a photog, but at least their in focus and I wasn't moving. Remember, this Juicy Specimen (hehheh, JS) is about 1/2" nose to pedipalps.

Click to expand...

Oh, they're brilliant Seamaiden. She's beautiful! I'll show these to my other when she gets up tomorrow. She also has some stunning spider pics. I'll ask her if I can post a few.
I've cut the size and resolution down a fair bit on these to make them easier to load. The originals are over 5MB each and bring out some really nice details. I'm always having trouble getting focus, but they're OK I guess. I love the colours on your Jumper.

I was pretty surprised to see this spider, does not exactly blend in (I can't help but wonder if it comes from upcountry, where the soil is exceptionally red) unless it's a primarily nocturnal creature.

Have a good night, and I look forward to seeing many, many more.

i'm in. i'll go turn over boards for this thread.


an ugly one. i found it under a paving stone. it's body looked wet and squishy. it's legs are really long but i couldn't get a pic of them strecthed out. it ran too fast.

How big would you guess it to have been? Thorax/body size. Will you hold a tarantula (Cali black, not one of those aggressive SA species)?

I'll be back in the morning sometime (Aussie Eastern Standard Time) and will have more. Looking forward to seeing everyones spidey and insect pics!

Nice spider there Fdd

Tokes.. where are those piccies? I'm WAITING. You're the only reason I'm still even here.

yuck i hate spiders. the only good spider is a dead spider. i hate them almost as much as cops.