Well there I was doing something useful in the garden when this, to me, unusual looking spider ran across my trowel. Obviously it was down tools and out with the camera.
I caught the spider in a plastic container for the shoot and let it go once i had finished (see last shot).
I was wondering if the white ball was a parasite.
Canon 6D at ISO 250, MPE-65 macro lens, 430EXIII speedlight, 1/180-sec at f/14.
I have no idea about the white ball and was going to ask you if it was attached to the spider or was something that he was sort of sitting on. Your post clarified my thinking. I do love the photos. He is a cutie.
It is a Wolf spider, this is how they carry around their egg sac. When the babies hatch they will all gather on her back and be carried until they leave home and get their own mortgage.
Thanks Chet and Brenda for the interesting information.
dennis2146 wrote:
I have no idea about the white ball and was going to ask you if it was attached to the spider or was something that he was sort of sitting on. Your post clarified my thinking. I do love the photos. He is a cutie.
Dennis, I’m glad you like them although I suppose you should have said “She is a cutie”
PaulBa wrote:
Dennis, I’m glad you like them although I suppose you should have said “She is a cutie”
You are right. I just don't know enough about the male/female parts of a spider. Trust me, I am good with not knowing.
thats a nice catch! i know where one lives but i havent got a shot yet
Very good find! Also very good pictures. It is a female wolf spider, carrying her egg sac. She will be a good mother, and I have been told they are more bitey when they are protecting their young. I have not tested that opinion.
EnglishBrenda wrote:
It is a Wolf spider, this is how they carry around their egg sac. When the babies hatch they will all gather on her back and be carried until they leave home and get their own mortgage.
Then we can think of the spider, at least this, as being the opossum of the arachnid world?
Does anyone know if the female sort of spins the egg sac and then drops eggs into it until they are hatched? How many baby wolf spiders are likely to be in there, 20, 50 or 200? Do they eat their way out of the sac?
dennis2146 wrote:
Does anyone know if the female sort of spins the egg sac and then drops eggs into it until they are hatched? How many baby wolf spiders are likely to be in there, 20, 50 or 200? Do they eat their way out of the sac?
I understand she makes a silk nest, lays anything from a few up to hundreds of eggs. She then covers them with more silk and then wraps the whole thing up in more silk and carries it up off the ground to protect it. I think they moult inside the sac at least once and them cut themselves out through holes. Their mother's back ends up covered with babies for about a week. I expect this varies with species, I am not an expert on spiders, I still scream at the biggies. Others will know more than I.
Nice find.... This is what eventually happens...
EnglishBrenda wrote:
I understand she makes a silk nest, lays anything from a few up to hundreds of eggs.
Thanks Brenda. You explained it perfectly for my needs. It is basically as I thought. I wonder if there are conversations with her, "husband", about how inconvenient her pregnancy is and how it hurts to bend over, baby(s) kicking etc. I wonder if God gave spiders morning sickness. I guess all of this is for smarter brains than mine and with much more time to ponder than I do. It makes for an interesting conversation though, OR NOT.
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