Spiderbloggers

I can't wait for my evening rounds to begin in the spring! This winter seems so long.

I can't wait for the next round of your blogging. This summer has been milder than last, and the spider populations are the best I have known. The Eriophora are numerous. White and Bronze perform on cue every night. They have now impressed numerous visitors. Even in winter there is a fair bot to see at night, but nothing like summer. I don't know if I would survive your severe winter temperatures. Our news reports say that you are having a very bad time in some of the US - does that include Indiana?

It has been particularly nasty this year. We had another big snow this past weekend. 6 inches of it. It has hardy been getting above 20F at night. Spring will come soon and I will be so very glad! I am sick of cold and ice and snow and mud and I am ready for some spiders! I have an Achaearanea left in the living room. She has been feeding well on the Asian lady beetles that have recently began pouring into our house. I don't know why it has taken them all winter to decide to come indoors. They squeeze themselves in small spaces around the outside of the house like window panes and such and spend the winter, most of them die by spring but right now there are at least 50 flying around my house. They often land on my face, those agravating non-native species. But my little Achaearanea is taking care of as many as she can handle. At least the snow cover this year is keeping the ground a bit warmer than the air temperature so some of my plants and critters that shouldn't survive these temperatures might make it through. I have also found out that I am 7 weeks pregnant and if all goes well should be expecting in early october. We are very excited!

CONGRATULATIONS! Please keep us informed as you head for motherhood! The most rewarding thing I ever did was have Bec, our only child. For medical reasons, and husband preference, there was only one. But now she has two of her own! Your pregnancy is wonderful news, Nikki.

Thank you also for the winter spider update. I have an Achaearanea inside. Normally I only have them outside. She has an egg sac.

My Eriophora continue to entertain every night. Updates on them all:

White was there last Saturday afternoon, in her usual place. That night she didn't weave, and I haven't seen her since, despite much hunting. I can't find an egg sac either. I miss her.

Bronze disappeared two days ago - no new web and not in her usual place, but she was back yesterday. The leaf she rested under has gone - the trouble with choosing dead leaves! But she just clings to a bare bit of branch. I suspect she laid, but she is in dense bushes and I can't see an egg sac. Her main webline is really strong. No kangaroos have gone through it for a few weeks, and she adds to it every night. It is now visible from ten metres away, always with shiny new silk.

7-legs moulted, and is now 7-good-legs-and-one-spindly-one. I just call her 7-legs. She is weaving every night, and always resting in the same place.

There are three others I see every night, all the standard colour and size, weaving ever bigger webs and feeding really well.

The TV antenna guy came to put in a new antenna. There was a massive orb web on the old one. Knowing my biases, he called me. He wasn't too comfortable about it, but passed it down, with spider attached and moving around. I expected her to drop on a drop line, but she didn't. Turns out she has an egg sac - so I now know what they look like. I have propped up the antenna and am watching to see when they hatch. The mother climbed off the antenna onto a bush, made a web that night, and has now disappeared. A silk trail went right along the veranda.

I know my Eriophora will all soon leave the scene and my nightly rounds will be much the poorer for that.

Your orb weavers seem so interesting while it is so bleak here. I have never been able to find an egg sac belonging to any of the large noctural orb weavers we have. Argiope aurantia egg sacs are so easy to spot, their huge papery orbs stand out almost anywhere. Good luck with those spiderlings. I will be starting my garden seeds in the next couple of weeks. It will be nice to see the little seedlings popping up in this dreary weather. We are supposed to have even more snow and sleet this weekend. I am earnestly sick of winter. But the sun is shining today!

I came across some information that may interest you on spider color change. While researching the mechanism for the rapid color change seem in Gea heptagon I found that the rapid color change of several Aranied spiders is a "result of the migration of chromatic inclusions or retraction of guanocytes." The article said that the Australian spider Phonognatha wagneri was capable of rapidly changing from cream to brown when disturbed. I also found that some spiders pigment is altered by their diet. Among these spiders are the Hawaiian happyface spider (T. grallator) and Achaearanea tepidariorum (which recieves more or less mottling in its pattern according to diet.)

This is really interesting information. I am particularly interested in the Achaearanea tepidariorum because mine vary greatly - so much so that i wasn't comfortable classifying them as all A. tepidariorum. I've also noticed that those in the front door panes tend to all be paler than those on the beck - but diet would vary between them a bit, I guess. It;s a tendency more than a rigorous pattern. All this point to being very wary using colour as a single indentifier. Thank you.

Bronze went on building her web every night. Then she was visited by the male in this photograph, taken on her web. His engorged palps are very clear to see. Bronze stopped building, but despite a lot of hunting, I couldn't find her egg sac. I was fairly careful - I didn't want to wreck it, and she was in dense pelargonium bushes. I didn't see her again - or the young. But I do hope that she bred. There are a lot of tiny orb weavers around. Bronze's male:

Our immature orbweavers our just starting to show themselves. I have seen several adult male and female Larinoides cornatus. I even saw some in March this year, they must have overwintered but I didn't know that species would overwinter as an adult. No sign of Argiopes yet, we are hoping for a more abundant year for those.

Are you sure that they overwintered as adults? Could they have molted a few times recently? Has it been a very mild season? We have all sorts of unusual things here with spring flowers in late autumn. Lots of small orb weavers out.

I'm hoping you can follow some individuals right through to breeding. Looking forward to your reports!