Bugs and Butterflies

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

I know a guy in Wisconsin who raises butterflies. I will see if I can get him to join the conversation.

Bill

Cool!

And just as a reminder, though I know you have been quite busy....

Wheres those Pics of the collection you were talking about?

[Mercedes Benzene]

Here's an article that many of you will appreciate.
I know I did!

Agent Butterfly's big bust - CNN.com

[TheBigDog]

Originally Posted by Cedars

Cool!

And just as a reminder, though I know you have been quite busy....

Wheres those Pics of the collection you were talking about?

My sister has not sent the pictures yet. I will give her a reminder...

Bill

[Cedars]

Some people cant stand the sight of them, I know....

OK, This guy I bribed with a small cricket. I probably made him/her temporarily blind with all the flashes from the camera. Of the 21 shots I took, heres the top three. This is why I dont post alot of pics. Thank Gawd the kid got a digital....

I know its one of the funnel web spiders. I am thinking this one:
Genus Agelenopsis -

Any suggestions?

[DougF]

Most excellent photos Cedars,

I bet it took you a while to get those.

The last time I tried to get one it took me twenty min. just to get a look at him, then I hit the web too hard and he was gone never to be seen again.

[Ganoderma]

got a higher resolution photo of the eyes? nice looking spider! i too have a hard time photographing burrowing/funnel webs in the wild.....so time consuming. but honestly i usually take it out and photograph in a man made setup as i am mostly interested in ID and not as much as natural habitat (although they are the best shots!)

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by DougF

Most excellent photos Cedars,

I bet it took you a while to get those.

The last time I tried to get one it took me twenty min. just to get a look at him, then I hit the web too hard and he was gone never to be seen again.

I would say 20 minutes at a minimum messing around with this guy. The web position made it extra difficult. If I crouched I was too low and if I stood upright I was too high. There was alot of strain on my leg muscles.

I frightened this one deep into his tunnel once by repositioning my feet and snapping a twig on the ground. Weird thing was it seemed either the camera noise itself or the flashing attracted him/her. And then the cricket/grasshopper moved a bit and brought it back to the front and allowed me more shots.

There were alot of these webs in the cottonwoods, but once I began with this guy I just kept on. I might have done better finding another web facing the morning sun or waiting until later in the day.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

got a higher resolution photo of the eyes? nice looking spider! i too have a hard time photographing burrowing/funnel webs in the wild.....so time consuming. but honestly i usually take it out and photograph in a man made setup as i am mostly interested in ID and not as much as natural habitat (although they are the best shots!)

I looked thru my shots again and experimented a bit zooming in on some of the better ones. I cant get a good clear shot of the eyes, they begin to loose their clarity too much.

I am interested in your man made setup. I have wanted something like that several trips, for all kinds of bugs including the butterflies. What do you use? How mobile is it?

The attached photo is of a spiderweb. The spider came out at dark and was big, about the size of a quarter. The web is between two trees and around 16 inches across. I saw the web while unloading the canoe and took care not to disturb it. The spider was gorgous, but the best pic I have of it is still blurry. I had planned to search for it in the morn, it was hiding somewhere in the bark of one of the trees it was attached to, but morning came and the web was gone. I dont know if a bat got it, a migrating warbler, or what. It never appeared again.

Edit: Looking at bugguide, I would say this spider is the closest match to what I saw, but I do not remember the abdomen being yellow. I remember it as white with pattern, so it might be the second link.

Link one:
Species Araneus marmoreus - Marbled Orb Weaver -

Link two:
Species Neoscona oaxacensis -

[Cedars]

I was reading a book and saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. There was a very healthy Harvestman spider (Daddy Long Legs) who had caught a bug. The thing about this I found interesting (and had never seen before) was this prey was buried in the sand and the harvestman had found it. I watched as the Harvestman spider stretched up as high as it could trying to pull the bug out of the sand. He couldnt pull it out so he ate it there to the ground. He repositioned himself several times, I assume to get all of the insect that he could.

So now I wonder about the behaviors I have seen in the past where they bob up and down touching themselves to the ground being a hunting activity and not some type of territorial movement as I thought in the past.

More on the Harvestman:
Order Opiliones - Harvestmen - BugGuide.Net

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by Cedars

I was reading a book and saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. There was a very healthy Harvestman spider (Daddy Long Legs) who had caught a bug.

Small nitpick. The common Harvestman is actually of the order named Opiliones and not a true spider even though it is an arachnid. All true spiders have two body parts, the cephalothorax and the opisthosoma. Harvestmen do not have this division. Spiders have fangs, harvestmen do not. Harvestmen do not produce silk either. See the FAQ on Opiliones for more info. FWIW, there is also a spider family, Pholcidae, that are sometimes called daddy long legs spiders but they are not Harvestmen.