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Title: Garden Spider Post by: valhalla on 20-Aug-09, 10:09:38 AM :spider:
My black and yellow - bug eating - harmless garden spider disappeared sometime Tuesday night. He was about the size of a quarter - maybe a bit bigger. Who would have eatten him???? :spider: Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Donna on 20-Aug-09, 08:41:39 PM :spider: My black and yellow - bug eating - harmless garden spider disappeared sometime Tuesday night. He was about the size of a quarter - maybe a bit bigger. Who would have eatten him???? :spider: Could he have moved on to a new site? I think they do that! :spider: :spider: :spider: :spider: Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Lou on 20-Aug-09, 09:13:11 PM Speaking of large spiders, a few years back, I went to the Montezuma Wildlife Reserve with Dana, Carol, Marcia, Cathy Z, and Greg and we came across this monster spider as we walked Esker trail. This guy was huuuuge; at least three inches! A rather larger wasp landed in his web and we watched in amazement as it went to work on it.
We later identified it as an Argiope. Apparently, these are good spiders to have in your garden because they keep pests away. (Yeah - like the neighbor's kids..) Here are a couple of pictures. Lou Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: hawkwatcher on 20-Aug-09, 09:23:16 PM Well, this isn't exactly on topic of "garden spiders" but it's a common spider around here. And I saved its life. I think.
Grace Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Mirta on 20-Aug-09, 09:35:28 PM Great job!!
That is a boy, probably looking for a female... Most of the big hairy spiders you can find walking are males. Females usually stay close their burrows Mirta Well, this isn't exactly on topic of "garden spiders" but it's a common spider around here. And I saved its life. I think. Grace Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Donna on 20-Aug-09, 10:23:12 PM Great job!! That is a boy, probably looking for a female... Most of the big hairy spiders you can find walking are males. Females usually stay close their burrows Mirta Well, this isn't exactly on topic of "garden spiders" but it's a common spider around here. And I saved its life. I think. Grace Mirta just :heart:'s her :spider: 's Donna Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: valhalla on 21-Aug-09, 05:50:02 AM We later identified it as an Argiope. Apparently, these are good spiders to have in your garden because they keep pests away. (Yeah - like the neighbor's kids..) Here are a couple of pictures. Lou That's my missing guy! We checked and we can't find him. We think we found a Preying Mantis nest in the evergreen next to the web. A PM would be able to take down my spider, wouldn't he? Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Mirta on 21-Aug-09, 03:58:59 PM Yes, I DO!!!
:happy: Quote Mirta just :heart:'s her :spider: 's Donna And I wish to ask Lou and Janet about that Argiope sp, bcs I don´t know it or can´t ID it. Lou, do you know which species of Argiope it is?? Thanks Mirta Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: valhalla on 21-Aug-09, 04:23:25 PM Mirta - I just sent you via e-mail images of my garden spider. :spider:
Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Lou on 21-Aug-09, 07:36:52 PM And I wish to ask Lou and Janet about that Argiope sp, bcs I don´t know it or can´t ID it. Lou, do you know which species of Argiope it is?? Thanks Mirta Here's a wikipedia page, which has some pictures, Mirta. Lou Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Donna on 21-Aug-09, 08:43:29 PM And I wish to ask Lou and Janet about that Argiope sp, bcs I don´t know it or can´t ID it. Lou, do you know which species of Argiope it is?? Thanks Mirta Here's a wikipedia page, which has some pictures, Mirta. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_(spider) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_(spider)) Would this be the page Lou? Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Lou on 22-Aug-09, 09:10:12 AM Yes. I guess it would be good of me to include the link.
Thanks Donna! Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Judi on 23-Aug-09, 12:51:10 AM That's my missing guy! We checked and we can't find him. We think we found a Preying Mantis nest in the evergreen next to the web. A PM would be able to take down my spider, wouldn't he? It's too bad the Wikipedia pages don't include any info on who or what predators they have. I'm sure there are a lot of them, including many birds, reptiles and mammals (opossums come to mind). Any info on that aspect, Mirta? :confused: Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: valhalla on 23-Aug-09, 05:59:08 AM :spider: He never showed me his belly, so Mirta couldn't give me a specific ID. :sherlock:
Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Mirta on 23-Aug-09, 10:41:20 AM It's too bad the Wikipedia pages don't include any info on who or what predators they have. I'm sure there are a lot of them, including many birds, reptiles and mammals (opossums come to mind). Any info on that aspect, Mirta? :confused: Spiders have a lot of predators: several mammals (from monkeys, bats, carnivores, insectivores to opossums), birds, frogs and toads, reptiles, other spiders, scorpions, other arachnids, insects (mantis, a lot of wasps, asassin bugs, etc), several parasites can kill them (fungus, bacterias, wasps, protozoans). And you must remember that most of the spides have short lifes, less than 1 year is common. :spider: Mirta Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Mirta on 23-Aug-09, 11:08:45 AM :spider: He never showed me his belly, so Mirta couldn't give me a specific ID. :sherlock: Well, as that is a sp. that doesn´t live here, what i really nedd to see if I can IDher, is a dorsal picture. Janet´s are showing her ventral side and Lou´s ones don´t show the whole dorsal design I´m very curious to see which of the northamerican Argiopes she was. :sherlock: Mirta Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: valhalla on 23-Aug-09, 11:38:15 AM Next time we get one of these big guys, :spider: I'll know to capture both sides of him. :educated: Live and Learn :happy:
Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Judi on 24-Aug-09, 05:17:53 PM It's too bad the Wikipedia pages don't include any info on who or what predators they have. I'm sure there are a lot of them, including many birds, reptiles and mammals (opossums come to mind). Any info on that aspect, Mirta? :confused: Spiders have a lot of predators: several mammals (from monkeys, bats, carnivores, insectivores to opossums), birds, frogs and toads, reptiles, other spiders, scorpions, other arachnids, insects (mantis, a lot of wasps, asassin bugs, etc), several parasites can kill them (fungus, bacterias, wasps, protozoans). And you must remember that most of the spides have short lifes, less than 1 year is common. :spider: Mirta Thanks, Mirta! I haven't brushed up on my arachnid info in a long time, but need to as we're building a new reptile/amphibian/invertebrate center at the zoo (the name of it is the HISS Center) which will have a whole section devoted entirely to spiders, or so I've been told. Our Spider City exhibit, although temporary, was a HUGE hit and they want a permanent exhibit. Judi :spider: Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Mirta on 24-Aug-09, 06:25:01 PM That will be great to see.
Let m know when it opens, so I´ll add your city in my list of places to visit.... Mirta :spider: Quote Thanks, Mirta! I haven't brushed up on my arachnid info in a long time, but need to as we're building a new reptile/amphibian/invertebrate center at the zoo (the name of it is the HISS Center) which will have a whole section devoted entirely to spiders, or so I've been told. Our Spider City exhibit, although temporary, was a HUGE hit and they want a permanent exhibit. Judi :spider: Title: Re: Garden Spider Post by: Judi on 25-Aug-09, 09:07:02 AM That will be great to see. Let m know when it opens, so I´ll add your city in my list of places to visit.... Mirta :spider: I will definitely do that! We're told it should be finished and open mid-2010. When you decide to visit you need to let me know so I can make plans to have our Curator of Reptiles available when I give you a grand tour (because you know I'll want to do that!)! :newyearbd: |