Spider, Hopper Porn, More Spiders, and a Queen Carpenter Ant
Dec 8, 2016 22:05:29 #
Watching some Thursday night football, and felt like posting some more pix during it.
1. This cute little male dimorphic jumping spider (Maevia inclemens) kept popping up on a lampshade in my house to watch me walk by, so I decided to set it up for some staged shots. To my surprise, when I went to pick him up he hopped right into my hand and was very cooperative with me (unlike so many others of their kind!). Here I think I was using a full stack of extension tubes and an ancient manual Canon Fd 50mm lens mounted in reverse.
I am still very interested in acquiring really sharp but affordable legacy lenses, any brand, in the 35mm - 50mm range. Fun to shop online for these things.
2. This happy couple is one of the many kinds of 'sharpshooter' leafhoppers. Various common names are used for this species, but my favorite is the candy-striped leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea). Very pretty, but very common around here. The sexes look alike, but you can recognize the female as the one with a sword-like ovipositer for laying eggs in plant tissue. This picture is worth a download to admire the eye-popping colors.
3. & 4. I had fun getting these pictures of the nursery web spider Pisaurina mira. I found her under a milkweed leaf, so I carefully turned it over to take pictures. These spiders of course are very fast when they run, but one thing about them is that they really do not want to drop or jump. Instead, they really want to have their feet on a substrate. So when she made a dash for it, she ran to the other side of the leaf. So I turned it over to take more pictures. After a time, she ran to the opposite side. I turned the leaf over for more pictures, and so on. She could have escaped any time by simply dropping to the ground into the tall grass, but that is not what they do, I guess.
5. Finally, a queen carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) was wandering up and down on a plant, like she was working up the nerve to take flight. I was taking pictures of her for a while, and the best one was this last one. I glanced down to check something on the camera, looked up, and she was gone.
1. This cute little male dimorphic jumping spider (Maevia inclemens) kept popping up on a lampshade in my house to watch me walk by, so I decided to set it up for some staged shots. To my surprise, when I went to pick him up he hopped right into my hand and was very cooperative with me (unlike so many others of their kind!). Here I think I was using a full stack of extension tubes and an ancient manual Canon Fd 50mm lens mounted in reverse.
I am still very interested in acquiring really sharp but affordable legacy lenses, any brand, in the 35mm - 50mm range. Fun to shop online for these things.
2. This happy couple is one of the many kinds of 'sharpshooter' leafhoppers. Various common names are used for this species, but my favorite is the candy-striped leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea). Very pretty, but very common around here. The sexes look alike, but you can recognize the female as the one with a sword-like ovipositer for laying eggs in plant tissue. This picture is worth a download to admire the eye-popping colors.
3. & 4. I had fun getting these pictures of the nursery web spider Pisaurina mira. I found her under a milkweed leaf, so I carefully turned it over to take pictures. These spiders of course are very fast when they run, but one thing about them is that they really do not want to drop or jump. Instead, they really want to have their feet on a substrate. So when she made a dash for it, she ran to the other side of the leaf. So I turned it over to take more pictures. After a time, she ran to the opposite side. I turned the leaf over for more pictures, and so on. She could have escaped any time by simply dropping to the ground into the tall grass, but that is not what they do, I guess.
5. Finally, a queen carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) was wandering up and down on a plant, like she was working up the nerve to take flight. I was taking pictures of her for a while, and the best one was this last one. I glanced down to check something on the camera, looked up, and she was gone.
Dimorphic jumping spider
(Download)
Candy-striped leafhoppers
(Download)
Nursery web spider
(Download)
Nursery web spider
(Download)
Queen carpenter ant
(Download)
Dec 9, 2016 00:25:26 #
nice shots, my fav is the queen carpenter ant. I have not been lucky enough to see one yet. Looks like we have the same insects, maybe we are neighbors :-)
Dec 9, 2016 01:06:22 #
tinusbum wrote:
I wish! What is the temperature down there? Its hovering around 0 here right now.maybe we are neighbors :-)
Dec 9, 2016 01:23:06 #
Dec 9, 2016 06:46:39 #
The dimorphic spider was a nice find, I have read that they are quite rare. That was a good opportunity to shoot leaf hoppers when they were too busy to just hop away. Nice pics of the Nursery Webb spider and the fly is well worth downloading. A good set.
Dec 9, 2016 08:34:27 #
Dec 9, 2016 09:17:49 #
EnglishBrenda wrote:
I have not been really looking until now, but all that I have seen (at least 3 over this last year) have always been indoors for some reason, and always near a window.The dimorphic spider was a nice find, I have read that they are quite rare.
Dec 9, 2016 09:24:14 #
rfmaude41
Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
Jeeze; I've had about a dozen or so living on my back patio this past summer. They're fun to watch, jumping away...I have not been really looking until now, but all that I have seen (at least 3 over this last year) have always been indoors for some reason, and always near a window.
Dec 9, 2016 10:16:47 #
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
this morning is our coldest one this year 32* high today will be 54 but it will be 70* in a couple daysI wish! What is the temperature down there? Its hovering around 0 here right now.
Dec 9, 2016 10:19:17 #
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