It's gumweed (
Grindelia stricta) season again. The dunes and the meadow at Oyster Bay are bright with all their yellow blooms.
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| And more, about to burst into flower. |
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| The white stuff is glue. Very sticky. It doesn't hold back the petals when they flare out, though. The little white critters are whiteflies. |
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| Half opened. With a blue-black spider. |
I hadn't seen the spider until I looked at the photos. In the field, I'm too busy trying to focus on a petal swaying in the wind to see all the details.
I've never seen a spider this black here before. The legs are pale, and there's a brown patch on the cephalothorax. I can't identify the spider, so I'll send it in to BugGuide. They're good; they even identified my newborn spiderlings!
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| Here's the spider, cropped out of the photo above. |
Could it be a mite or an aphid? Also, could you share the bugguide post, whenever you make a request? I'm usually quite curious as well.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a bit too big for a mite. And I think I can count 8 legs, although they may be 6 legs and 2 long antennae. Anyhow, I'll post the BugGuide id.
DeleteI've posted the critter to BugGuide. I had to wait until I went to collect another flower head to measure the base and get an approximate size for the "spider". About 3 mm, I think.
DeleteHere's the link to the BugGuide post: https://bugguide.net/node/view/1712492
DeleteThe first response from BugGuide is that its an aphid of some kind.
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