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| Jumping spider, about 2 mm., toe to toe. |
For a few years, after a bad experience, (here: "Sleeping with tarantulas") I was afraid of spiders. That has long passed, but a ridiculous residual effect remains; when a jumper jumps in my direction, I recoil. I can't seem to control it. Even with this little critter; I'd get him in focus, and then he'd jump. He is so small that one of his leaps took him only an inch or two, and even if he "got" me, he couldn't do any damage, but still, I'd shy away. Once I even dropped my lens on the floor. He finally jumped back into the goldenrod fluff, and I let him be.
I'll post the other spider, and what else I found, tomorrow.
It interests me that, no matter how many globs of mud I crawl around in to take shots of insects and other invertebrates, how occasionally a surprise encounter will startle me. I guess it isn't a bad thing to have an instinctive fear of something that could harm me, even if the actual threat is very, very remote.
ReplyDeleteOf course, once I was on the ground flipping fallen branches, looking for young millipedes, when I found a toad comfortably hiding. Given that it was 100 times larger than the critter I was looking for when I uncovered it, I about jumped out of my skin. I guess it is all a matter of expectation.
Unfortunately, now I'm pretty sure all the neighborhood toads laugh at me...
I loved re-reading your tarantula post. Jumping spiders are some of my favorites, but I've never had one jump in my direction!
ReplyDeleteWow! Inspite of having a crazy experience with tarantulas, good thing you're still interested with other spiders - such as these jumping spiders. I love these jumping spiders. Their characteristics (not to mention, their perfect rows of eyes) and their uniqueness among others have obviously caught me! Here's what I'm talking about: http://www.jumpingspider.net/
ReplyDeleteNice and fair shot, by the way.