Bugs and Spiders (13)

Welcome to part 13 of "Bugs and Spiders..."

Link to the previous threads: Bugs and Spiders... 12 Bugs and Spiders... 11 Bugs and Spiders... 10 Bugs and Spiders... 9 Bugs and Spiders... 8 Bugs and spiders... 7 Bugs and spiders...episode 6 bugs and spiders...episode 5 bugs and spiders...episode 4 bugs and spiders...episode 3 bugs and spiders...episode 2 bugs and spiders

Australian Huntsman - the can be up to 15cm span. Painful bite but not poisonous - just big, fast, and scary.
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A77, MIN 100/2.8 macro

Howard

Oh how I wish I lived down under among these gentle beauties -

Great close ups Howard and Brendan! Are the claws and curved part of the front legs of Hexatheles some kind of grasping structure to catch prey and/or hold hands with a boyfriend or girlfriend?

Edited by pdeley - 15 August 2012 at 12:07

Agelenids are another common web-builder in NZ, and construct a large sheetweb. The most common species in my local forest is the Cambridgeas.

I took these shots of a male, suspended underneath his sheet on Tuesday night. They are a nocturnal species afterall. Lighting came form the Sony twin macro flash and the 90/2.8 macro had a 6x Raynox. I've moved away from extension tubes to the diopters for nocturnal photography. The reason is the extension tubes make the image slightly dimmer. Which at night time when you're peering at a bunch of minute spider eyes to find the focal point, is a pain.

Here's the non-cropped version


The cropped version was to draw attention to the arrangement of the eyes and the boss on the side of the chelicerae (fangs)


if anyone cares...it is a male :)



Edited by wetapunga - 17 August 2012 at 04:41

Yes looks female from here to, pink palipeds, but dont get this species here :).

Tim

Some six-legged and (briefly) four-winged critters for a change: termites performing nuptial acrobatics in the back yard of my host and colleague's house here in Cordoba, Argentina. They came out right after the last downpour ending a 12-hour storm (which in turn ended a 4-month long drought). Here's a winged contender:



They were literally falling out of the sky in pairs - the aspiring kings grab a future queen and both tumble down on the ground, and if he can hold on then both of them almost immediately shed their wings. This happens so fast (and the remaining dark clouds made the scene so somber) that my few shots of the moment were all grotesquely blurred.

The princess then runs around over the ground looking for a safe place to bury down, all with her prince charming in tow, like this:



If he loses his hold then she'll stop and wait for him to get his act together & catch up with her royal bottom again. Apparently a happy ending isn't guaranteed, because the princes in question are not really endowed with great eyesight or common sense and easily go off circling away from their Lost Love. Maybe it's that, like typical men, they are unwilling to admit to a mistake and ask for directions? Here's a last one where the focus didn't catch both heads very well, because her highness was going at full trot, but it nicely shows the size difference between both royals.




All with a500 and SAM 30 2.8 macro.

News for arachnophiles here

Howard