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Posts Tagged: orbweaver
This Spider Went for Plan Bee
The spider failed to snag a butterfly, so it went for Plan Bee. That would be the honey bee, Apis mellifera. The bee is usually foraging for nectar and pollen and not that aware of her surroundings, especially a cunning and very hungry spider. So...
A spider executes Plan Bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Golden Orbweavers Ignore Biological Rules
Size does matter. Have you ever wondered about sexual size dimorphism in the tropical spiders, the golden orbweavers? The females are sometimes 10 times larger and 100 times heavier than their male counterparts. And the webs that the females ...
A female Trichonephila clavipes (formerly Nephila clavipes) is a giant compared to her small male (below). The research covers a complex pattern of sexual size dimorphism in this group of spiders, family Nephilidae. (Image copyright by Chris Hamilton, University of Idaho)
How Do Insects, Spiders React to a Partial Solar Eclipse?
The sky darkens. The temperature drops several degrees. A breeze rustles the leaves of the African blue basil. Dogs bark. And off in the distance, a hawk shrills. A partial solar eclipse is about to happen in Vacaville, Calif. I am watching the...
A honey bee nectaring on African blue basil during the partial solar eclipse in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A praying mantis, a female Stagmomantis limbata (as identified by Andrew Pfeifer) lurks beneath a milkweed leaf during the partial eclipse in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A pollen-coated honey bee ignores the eclipse and forages on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two stink bugs on a bluebeard,Caryopteris x clandonensis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An assassin bug looking for prey. It's on a tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee trapped in a web (and freed by the photographer). It was the spider's second catch of the day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Spectacular Spider
You may not like spiders. You may have Arachnophobia, a fear of spiders, or maybe you just dislike all spiders. But still, some spiders are spectacular. Stunning. Striking. Take the redfemured spotted orbweaver, Neoscona domiciliorum. It's "endemic to...
A redfemured spotted orbweaver, Neoscona domiciliorum, dangles from its web. In the background are Mexican sunflowers, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
