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Blog Archives
Gold-spotted Orb Weaver
18mm | January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This large orb weaver was hanging out in the understory. I believe this might be Eriophora nephiloides. Most online photos for the species show a brighter yellower abdomen. It appears to be quite variable. Here’s a photo of one similar to mine (along with what’s pictured at wikipedia).
Posted in Featured Photos
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Colorful Jumping Spider
4mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
It’s hard to resist jumping spiders. This little one sort of has the colors of the Costa Rican flag!
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Better view of abdomen
Posted in Featured Photos
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Amplypygids – Tailless Whip Scorpions
20mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
These fearsome looking arachnids have an order to themselves, Amblypygi. Though commonly called tailless whip scorpions or whip spiders, they are neither. Intimidating though they may look, they aren’t dangerous and possess no venom. They are quite timid in fact, and I had to take care not to scare them away while photographing them.
Here’s how you might expect to see one actively moving about, with its oversized first pair of legs outstretched.
Longest legs extend outside frame
That first pair of legs is modified for use as antennae. They wave them about, sensing and probing. While the body of this one measured only 2cm, each one of those antenniform legs was 8cm long!
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Identification Challenge #10 Reveal: Phiale guttata
15mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Only Ted C. MacRae ventured a guess for this most recent identification challenge. He was exactly right, though a bit confused by his source which indicated this species might not occur in Costa Rica. This is indeed Phiale guttata.
The World Spider Catalog lists the distribution for this wide ranging species as Costa Rica to Paraguay. The Global Species Database of Salticidae site lists all the species for Costa Rica, and allowed me to eliminate the possibility of similar spiders in the same genus. There are also some good photos and illustrations there.
Posted in Identification Challenges
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Spider Egg Sac
If like me you occasionally flip over rocks and such to see what might be lurking beneath, then you’ve no doubt seen things like this:
6mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I’m pretty sure this is the egg sac of some sort of spider. It was underneath a small rotting log.
I usually just carefully put things back the way I found them. Curiousity got the better of me this time. I peeled away the egg sac and carefully opened it. If you’ve ever wondered what’s inside, here’s the answer.
Eggs
Each one of those eggs are less than a millimeter in diameter. There were probably ten or so.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Golden Silk Spiders, Mating
January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
When I first spotted this female Nephila clavipes, she was positioned rather low in her web. Her background was cluttered and shaded. I prodded her a few times, and as I’d hoped, she retreated to a higher position in her web where I thought I might be able to get a more pleasing background.
Unexpectedly, her quick movements drew the attention of a male that was also hanging out in her vicinity. I’ve read that males prefer to mate when the female is preoccupied with a meal (so they’re less likely to become a meal themselves). Perhaps he mistook her quick retreat as movement toward prey. At any rate, he wasted no time approaching her and getting into a mating position.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Golden Silk Orbweaver
January 18, 2011 | Gandoca-Manzanillo NWR, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I’ve never quite been happy with any of the photos I’ve taken of this species, Nephila clavipes. This photo is no exception. I do like that it captures the gold color of the web, and that at least a few of the leg tufts are in focus.
It’s a shame the spider lost a leg somewhere along the way. The missing leg distracts me every time I look at her.
These spiders really are quite large. This one measured around 30mm, 70mm if you throw in the legs.
See if you can spot the little fly that’s perched on her abdomen.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Immature Argiope
January 18, 2011 | Gandoca-Manzanillo NWR, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Closeup crop
Argiope spiders are easy to recognize. They sit head down in the center of their webs with their legs paired up. They don’t even bother to hide themselves during the day. They are among a relatively small number of orb weavers that add a decoration to their web, called a stabilimentum.
The form of the stabilimentum may change as the spider grows. Young spiders like this one may create a dense circular pattern as shown here. Older spiders are more likely to create sparser designs in various shapes.
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Alpaida species?
5mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica
One of my books (below) has a picture of a very similar looking spider identified as a spiny flag spider, Alpaida cornuta, also from Costa Rica. I wasn’t able to find anything online though using either the common name or the scientific name. The World Spider Catalog doesn’t seem to recognize that name at all, but I saw two species there from Costa Rica, A. bicornuta and A. championi. Perhaps this is one of those.
Here’s a similar looking unidentified Alpaida from Ecuador, so I think the genus is probably correct.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Identification Challenge #8 Reveal
15mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I knew the photo above would be difficult to identify, but I was happy that everyone at least figured out it was a spider. As a side note, I hope everyone realizes you can click on the photo to see a larger version.
One commenter, biozcw, ventured that it might be an Argyrodes species. That’s close, because the species I believe I have here, Ariamnes attenuatus, was formerly placed in that genus.
This spider was hiding beneath a large leaf. At only 15mm as shown in the initial photograph, it’s small and virtually disappears when assuming that cryptic position. Here’s a decidedly more spider-like pose. You can just barely see a strand of silk stretching from the spinnerets towards the upper right corner of the image.
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