A walk through the rainforest at night is an experience to cherish. The darkness around you, with the huge trees, creates a certain mystery. Drops of water falling from the canopy add their melody. So do the manifold crickets, frogs and other species that call this their home.
A couple of days ago, the night trail at Agumbe held a more silent surprise. We came across a Lynx Spider (Oxyopes sp.) under some leaves. It was sitting on a white “hanging” that was attached to a web. Initially, it seemed that the spider had stumbled upon the prey of another spider. We noticed tiny creatures below the spider. Was that the nest of a wasp or something?
And then it struck us. The tiny creatures were, in fact, tiny spiders or spiderlings of the Lynx Spider. The mother was looking after her (presumably) newly hatched young ones. The egg sac must’ve been fastened to the leaf that forms the base in the photograph. Thrilling to see so many baby spiders. Can you count how many are there? (I lost count after 40.)
Lynx Spiders belong to the family Oxyopidae. They are hunters that are mostly found on plants. They are identified by the pattern of their eyes, with 3 of the 4 pairs of eyes forming a hexagon.
lovely FAMILY photo
, tough to spot
Came here from Karthikeyan’s link on FB.
Dark
in the rain forest,
damp beneath the feet,
the investigating drop
falls with a plop
next to the leaf.
She sits,
militant
and protective
her 50 spiderlings
safe under the
wrapped palloo
of her webby saree.
She hears
the crickets jabbering;
deep into the night.
brushes away
this latest gossip,
as she hears footfalls…
The UN
has declared
the birth of the
millionth spiderling ….
and someone’s there
to
photograph her !
Thnks for capturing the tiny as well as the large (and easily visible) denizens of Nature!
This answers a question I have been having from 1st Jan this year, I remember this because I was in Hyderabad then. I saw a Lynx spider and a similar white this below it and the the spider did not move when I clicked it. I thought it must be some other insect’s nest the spider must have raided but this photos clears all my doubts.
Nice observation & a lovely photograph
!!.. TFS
Wow! Those spiderlings looks smaller than pinheads!! Lovely macro, Shreeram! Very interesting post!
wow…beautiful sreeram….well captured….and good info….thanks
Enjoyed your post very much! Thanks much!