Neoscona oaxacensis

I've just been saying that over and over to try and commit it to memory. In normal language it means: Western Spotted Orb Weaver.

Image: by Stonebird

 And here on Antelope Island State Park they are beginning to come out in abundance. I wanted to post my own pictures of these beauties, but still don't have access to a good camera. So these pics were found on the web.

Orb Weaver spiders are quite common. There are hundreds of different species out there. One site I read said there are about 180 in North America and over 3,500 world-wide.

This particular variety is found in Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas. They are relatively large spiders, with a body size reaching 1 in or more. Despite their appearance, they are quite timid. Their defense against things larger than they are (including humans) is to run and hide.

They do have venom, which they use to immobilize their prey. And if handled, they may bite. However, their bite is mild.

As with most Orb Weavers, their webs are amazing works of art. A circular web attached to several "spokes" radiating from the center. The spokes are non-sticky, which the spider uses to move around freely on her web. They are effectively her walkways. The circular strands are the real machine behind the web. These are the sticky bug catchers that do all the dirty work of entangling unsuspecting prey.

Antelope Island is an ideal location for these colorful spiders, due to all the web attaching structures (buildings, grasses, sage brush) as well as the abundance of insects they prey upon. And yes, there is an abundance of insects.

Feeling Better

The entire first half of this year, and much of last, chemicals have been firing wrong in my brain. All things wonderful and beautiful were becoming more and more absent from my life because I couldn't find the energy or desire to pursue them. And even when I did, they did little for me.

Finally I wised up, got a mild prescription from my doctor, and began feeling better almost instantly. Now I am at the point were all things wonderful and beautiful are catching my eye and heart once again. It feels really good.

Here is what caught my eye yesterday:

First, a large and lovely Cat-faced Spider (Araneus gemmoides).

Do you see the kitty cat resemblance?

These are one of the most common, but unusual spiders encountered by people. They are representative of orb weaver spiders. Their webs are beautiful. Despite their size and appearance, they are harmless to humans, and actually quite beneficial as natural enemies to many garden insects. I hope to get another, better picture of it later.

Other fun things that caught my eye...

Peek-a-boo

I think my mind, and therefore my eyes, were focused on insects (though of course, spiders are not insects) because I had been reading about them all day, preparing for an evening program.

It's nice to be back.

A Little Un-nerving

But still kind of fascinating.

Any guesses on what is happening here?

No, they aren't mating. Those are two female Black Widows.

So here's the story. My boss thinks it's kind of creepy that I have "pet" Black Widow at my desk (so do most of my co-workers, though they are fascinated watching her capture and eat her food). I usually find a fly or other slow moving insect to throw in for her. She rather enjoys most everything. Except maybe that stink bug I gave her just before Christmas. That smell kind of knocked her silly for a while. But she recovered and ate very well.

So one day, my boss comes in and hands me an empty fountain drink cup. I take it to throw away, thinking he is just being lazy. But he tells me I should look inside. What do you think he brought me? Another Black Widow. Now what does he expect me to do with ANOTHER Black Widow?

It's not moving much, this new one in the cup of left over Diet Pepsi. So it wasn't hard to remove it and put it in with the other Widow. Well? What else was I supposed to do with it? We all wondered what would happen. Would they fight? Live together harmoniously? Who knows? I do.

The new Black Widow didn't move much (I think she was too high on caffeine), but enough to attract the attention of the "resident" Black Widow. And she didn't waste any time deciding how to deal with this new addition to her web.

Resident BW (bottom) wrapping up the intruder (top).

The residue Diet Pepsi on the new Black Widow kind of made the other a little loopy for a while. I guess caffeine doesn't sit well with spiders. But again, she recovered, and continued her wrapping process.

Resident BW soon had the intruder over in her favorite corner, and sat there casually consuming the now lifeless spider.

So now we all know. If another spider ends up in the web of Black Widow, she won't take kindly to it. What's left of one unfortunate spider is proof of that.

My new cubicle-mate

I am in an office of cubicles. There isn't much room as it is, and because of what I do for my job, my cubicle is generally very cluttery. Bins of program materials, mounted snake skins and insects, extra binoculars for young visitors, puppets, books stuffed with leaves for pressing, books and binders and magazines, posters with fish, diagrams of the sun, and water cycles stuffed in some corner, gifts for volunteers, a spotting scope, my binoculars, and my hiking pack among a few other things.

And now I have actually, willingly, agreed to share my already crowded space with another. Luckily, she doesn't take up too much space, and sits quietly on my desk in a nicely sized plastic container.

She arrived almost two weeks ago in a state that lead me to believe she was almost dead. She stayed in a one-inch square observation collection cube the entire time I was gone on vacation. I was sure she would be very expired by the time I got back. And actually didn't think much of her when I left.

However, upon my return, I found she was still quite alive and doing her best to do what she does best, spinning a very haphazard web in the space she had. There was frass on the bottom of the container telling me her digestive system was still functioning quite well. I felt terrible that she had been left, cooped up so uncaringly, for so long.

I quickly remedied that situation. A much larger container, covered on the bottom with potting soil, moss ledges to hide under, sticks to help with web anchoring, and a seemingly dead, but still walking around, wasp - and she was set.

It didn't take her long to whip up a rudimentary web and snare that wasp.

She worked hard and fast to bind the wings, and continued to work hard to try and bind the very active abdomen as the wasp struggled with more life than I thought was in it. The wasp's pincers were flying, and doing a great job of keeping Mrs. Widow at bay.

Look at the wasp, just flinging around, fighting back with all it had. And she was working as hard as she could to get her web wrapped around it to immobilize it in order to get a bite in. She did manage to get to the wasps abdomen once, and attempted several times to bite it. But I guess that exoskeleton was just too hard for her, and so she went for the head instead.

This wasp almost proved too much for her to handle. In her attempts to wrap it up, she got too close to those flying pincers, and lost one of her palps. You can see it there, stuck in the web just in front of her. She seemed to back off after that. And I had to call it a night myself.

However, upon my return this morning, the wasp was quite dead, and she had dislodged it from her web. I assume she won out in the end.