Monday, July 16, 2007

Wolf Spider With Cubs

Wolf spider in
lair

We turned over this wolf spider's concrete lair yesterday, and noticed something a little different about her.

Wolf spider, showing
eyes

It wasn't just her big brown eyes.

Wolf spider, babies on
back

It was the brood of tiny spiders on her abdomen.

Wolf spider
hatchlings

She was still carrying her egg case on her spinnerets, and if you look closely, you can see the ghostly spiderling crawling up the egg case, and a delicate leg coming out of the egg case exit hole.

Wolf spider egg
case

6 comments:

Larry said...

Wolf cubs indeed! A very nice photo sequence, a scene I would like to observe one of these days.

I've long been fond of wolf spiders. They seem so hyper-alert and intelligent. When I confront one of these arachnids I always feel that another sentient being is looking back at me.

An anthropomorphic illusion? Perhaps, but they seem to be more observant than most other arthropods.

Anonymous said...

Great photos! I've seen this, but I must admit I've never gotten that close.

Rick Lee said...

Cool! It's spider-week on the WV blogs.

Sissy Willis said...

Wonderful, wonderful. As Larry says, wolf cubs indeed! and as Dave says, great photos.

I once rescued a wolf and her pups from our swimming pool, where the mother was using surface tension to keep her body and her children afloat. When I plucked her up, one of the little ones fell off but was soon back aboard, thanks to a silken thread that was its lifeline.

Susannah Anderson said...

Wow!

I'm green with envy!

่”ฅ็ˆ†็‰›่‚‰Frank said...
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