Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Cellar spiders: life is good!

Now that the weather is a bit cooler, I'm starting to find spiders outside again. Cellar spiders, mainly; here are two, carrying their treasures.

Mother with egg sac.

I haven't seen a male around for a while, but these spiders may mate and then wait until food is available before they lay their eggs. The sac may have up to 60 spiderlings; I think this batch has about 30. They will hatch in a couple or three weeks, and she will carry them until they are ready to move on.

Another sort of treasure: meals for a week.

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Ahora que los dias son un poco más frescos, aun con un poco de lluvia, estoy encontrando más arañas afuera de la casa, en su mayor parte, arañas fólcidas: aquí hay dos, con los tesoros que cargan.

Primera foto: una araña fólcida hembra, con sus huevos. No he visto machos por el rumbo últimamente, pero estas arañas pueden aparear y luego esperar a que haya suficiente comida para poner los huevos. Pueden tener hasta 60 huevos a la vez; esta parece traer más o menos 30. Eclosionarán en unas dos o tres semanas, y la madre cargará con las arañitas hasta que estén listas para enfrentar el mundo a solas.

Segunda foto: otra fólcida, otro tipo de tesoro: las comidas para toda una semana.


2 comments:

  1. That second photo is a male, right? Or is the orangy globe at the front of the head something else?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right! I assumed the orange blob was a fang, but no, it's attached to a stalk. So yes, that's a male. Thanks!

      Delete

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