The spider in the above photo is immobile. It’s not moving. It’s not dead, but it can’t move. It’s been stung by a spider wasp and is now paralyzed. The spider is one of two different spiders I’ve found in the past two weeks on the path that winds through Catch the Wind and Explore the Wild. Both spiders, fairly large arachnids, were in the center of the paved path, or nearly so. In the first instance, the wasp wasRead more
Posts tagged: #wolf spider
What You May Have Missed
Above, a large snapper basks on a warm rock in the bright early May sunshine. As you stroll along through the outdoor exhibits here at the museum there are many interesting sights for you to enjoy. Turtles are out basking, birds are exploiting the wetland’s lesser wild life, new blooms occur almost daily, and closer to the ground, you may witness an arthropod or two going about their daily routines. But you have to look, keep your eyes open toRead more
What You Could See…
Pictures often say so much more than words can. That’s why I’ve put together the following two dozen images of both plant and plant users (Lepidoptera and one Araneae) that you can find right here at the Museum. You may have to look a little closer than you may be accustomed to, but they’re here. Let’s start with the Araneae. The wolf spider below has captured something, and though it’s difficult to tell exactly what that something is, it looksRead more
Two Spiders, a Beetle, and a Caterpillar
The spider in the above photo had found what it thought was a safe and secure hideout, in a tarp that covers the winch at the Take Off in Catch the Wind. Spiders can be identified as to family, and sometimes to genus, by the arrangement of their multiple eyes, that is, where the eyes sit on their head (most spiders have eight eyes). The above spider is definitely a wolf spider (Lycosidae) but I wasn’t able to go any furtherRead more
Wolf Spider
I usually see wolf spiders on the ground, this small wolf (about 3/8″ from head to tip of abdomen) was crawling about on goldenrod next to the Wetlands, sending silk airborne to be caught up somewhere, and presumably anchored there. The silk never made it very far. It kept getting caught up on people as they walked by on the path. Any comments as to species, or exactly what this spider was doing?Read more
A Common Thread
Each fall it seems that spiders appear from nowhere, crawling along the ground, stretching out their sticky webs across our favorite hiking trails, and even entering our living spaces. The truth is, they’re with us the entire summer, we simply may not notice them because they, along with their webs (if they construct them), are much smaller and less obvious than in fall. Above and below you will see some of those spiders, all of which were found along theRead more
Some Late July Insects
I spent part of the morning of July 22nd with the Museum’s Marsh Madness Summer Campers scooping up critters from the Wetlands. A goodly number of aquatic insects and other invertebrates were captured and studied, including a Water Scorpion, several Backswimmers, various water scavenger beetles, many dragonfly nymphs and a handful of leeches. (Leeches are always fun to catch – everyone wants to see them but no one wants to touch them.) Two interesting creatures that actually have backbones wereRead more