Spiders

When we stare at Jumping Spiders (JSs), they stare straight back through 8 more-or-less forward-looking eyes. And we get plenty of chances to stare at them, because jumping spiders are very common outdoors and are not averse to coming indoors. JSs don’t spin webs to capture their prey; when they spot a potential meal, they jump. JSs will pounce any invertebrate they can catch. But some JSs are omnivores, feeding on nectar and pollen as well as on the pollinators.

Today’s episode is a rerun/rewrite of Crab Spiders from the early days of BOTW. The BugLady is not on vacation, but she wishes she were.

Yellow Garden Spider webs are often built in “chimneys”—cleared areas in the tall grass. It’s as though the webs exist within a glass cylinder in otherwise dense brome grass. The female spins the center of the web; the male adds more web around the outside and adds a thick, white, zig-zag “zipper” band to the center. Also called the Black-and-yellow Argiope, this impressive gal may reach 1 1/8” in length (the male is about ¼”).

Fishing Spiders inhabits ponds and slow-moving streams east of the Great Plains. It eats aquatic insects and, occasionally, tadpoles and tiny fish. It is itself, fish food. Some fishing spiders dive under water, their bodies coated with a film of air bubbles, and they can stay there for a long time.

Crab spiders are so named because they sidle across the flower tops with their front legs held like crab claws. There are about 200 species in the North America.