I spotted a Common Five-lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) eating a spider during a photowalk along the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park on 18 May 2014. The spider appears to be a Wolf spider (Family Lycosidae).
Copyright © 2014 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
Spiders sometimes fly. Not under their own power, of course, but by a process known as ballooning. Ballooning spiders hitch a ride on their silk as the breeze carries it. Spider silk floating on wind currents is known as gossamer. … Late fall is … the time when ballooning spiders are most likely to be seen floating on the breeze. Source Credit: “Traveling on Gossamer Without Wings,” by Tom Turpin, Professor of Entomology, Purdue University.
The following time-series of photos shows a Wolf spider (Family Lycosidae) spotted during a photowalk through Huntley Meadows Park on 03 October 2013. This individual is a young spider, also known as a spiderling, trying to “balloon.” It is easier to see the spider silk by looking at the full-size version of each photo.
Fire one!
Reload.
Fire two!
It seemed like spider silk was everywhere at Huntley Meadows Park for a few weeks last fall — it was impossible to avoid walking into long strands of silk blowing in the wind! I was tempted to edit many of the dragonfly photos that I shot during the same time period in order to remove the distracting strands of silk that “clutter” the images; I decided to leave the photos “as is,” purist that I am. Notice the spider silk that appears in all three photos featured in Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly (male): the photos were taken on 15 October 2013; published on 21 October 2013.
Thanks to Eric Eaton, member of the BugGuide group on Facebook, for confirming my tentative field identification of the spider and for identifying the spiderling’s ballooning behavior.
Copyright © 2014 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
These photos show a Wolf spider (Family Lycosidae), possibly Tigrosa helluo, spotted along the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park.
The eye arrangement gives away that it is a Wolf spider (Lycosidae). The yellow stripe and lack of markings on the abdomen are consistent with Tigrosa helluo. (Formerly Hogna.) Source Credit: Sarah Rose, BugGuide group on Facebook.
Related Resource: Spider Eye Arrangements
Copyright © 2013 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
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