"Come into my parlor..." said the spider to the (dragon)fly.

[markksr]

My resident Banana Spider eating lunch.

 

[Charlie Mike]

Nice macro work! It's amazing how deadly the so-called lower animals can be. I look at my cats sometimes from the perspective of a vermin and am shocked. Such a cute purring animal can be a very efficient killer. For many creatures, a cat or spider can be a horrifying prospect.

 

[James_Terrio]

For many creatures, a cat or spider can be a horrifying prospect.

No kiddin'! Just ask the poor wittle bunny my cat caught last summer. My daughter wasn't too happy about it, but hey, our veggie garden was safe... hardly lost anything to rabbits, due to the cat being outside daily. :thumbup: I've heard that's why cats were allowed to live with people in the first place... keep the other critters out of the gardens/grain stockpiles etc.

I'm not exactly a fan of spiders, but I don't kill them either. Rather have a couple spiders in the house than a bunch of flies. Ain't predators cool?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Come into my parlor,
said the fly to the spider,
as she poured a cup of tea,
and sat down beside her.

I doubt you mean to do me harm,
I really hope you won't,
but if you try, I think I'll die.
Please don't.

The spider flipped around
and tied the fly into a knot.
It wasn't very gracious,
but she said: "So what?"

-- EB

 

[Cougar Allen]

[youtube]FDedLtT5sno[/youtube]

 

[Lycosa]

Coo.
That's an Argiope.

 

[markksr]

Ummmm... Grub for lunch today... Tasty...

 

[roughedges]

Great shots! I love the action shots, got some of a lizard with half a dragonfly sticking out of it's mouth.I like the banana spiders also, except when canoeing and one of them drops in from above.

Here's one I took on the 30th. I wanted to get it from the other side but there was very little space and I didn't have a lens with me that will focus that close.

 

[markksr]

...
Here's one I took on the 30th. I wanted to get it from the other side but there was very little space and I didn't have a lens with me that will focus that close.
...

Just my opinion, but seeing this shot from behind, as it is, with the reinforced section of web so predominant, is far more interesting than if you had shot it from the "front"...

 

[roughedges]

Just my opinion, but seeing this shot from behind, as it is, with the reinforced section of web so predominant, is far more interesting than if you had shot it from the "front"...

Thanks, and I agree. I've just not taken any good photos of banana spiders yet. BTW, I call it a banana spider too but it's actually a garden orbweaver in the genus Argiope as Lycosa said. Probably a banded garden orbweaver. I've seen them....bouncing, I guess I'd say... spastically in their webs while, I believe, creating the reinforced section. There's a whole bunch of debate, by wacky arachnid biologists of course, about the purpose of that, btw. Either for structural stability, to discourage birds or attract insects, etc. You should check out "Florida's Fabulous Spiders", and other FF books, if you haven't already. Great photographs, lots of info and pretty good for id'ing most common species found here.


I think I may start a thread for spider, or general "bug", pictures one of these days once I get a little organized.

 

[one45auto]

That banana spider would be whacked with my shoe faster than you could spit. I'll tolerate spiders, but only when they're of a certain size. Beyond that they're splattered. Blech.

Snakes on the other hand, now there's a good bug and rodent controller!

 

[markksr]

... I'll tolerate spiders, but only when they're of a certain size. ...

The pictures don't really show it well, but it grew noticeably larger from one set of pictures to the next. I even found it's shed "skin" on the ground under the web...

 

[roughedges]

I'll tolerate spiders, but only when they're of a certain size. Beyond that they're splattered. Blech.

I have a somewhat similar policy. Outside I photograph them, sometimes destroying their webs if they string them up somewhere that someone is likely to walk. Inside they meet my shoe, a magazine, paper towel or whatever else is handy.

 

[never too sharp]

So, how big are these beasties? We don't seem to have many large insects up here, except for moths. I did just remove a bat from my basement, though. That was fun.

 

[jonnyt16]

Disgusting photos. I absolutely detest spiders of all sizes--small ones eventually become big ones--and thus I have a zero tolerance policy on my property, inside or out, and I do eradicate them with extreme prejudice. I only wish I could find my 8-shot rubber band gun that I used to own because that thing was perfect for spiders! Dead on accurate up to six feet and it killed them good and clean, no gross mess to clean up and I didn't have to hear that disgusting "crunch" sound when you step on them.

One45auto, I too enjoy the occasional snake. No problems there whatsoever. Most common one I find around my house is the California King snake. Next time I catch one I will post pics.

 

[roughedges]

So, how big are these beasties?

Females get a body size of about 1", maybe nearing 3" total spread. Males are significantly smaller. Pretty dang large but not the biggest we get down here.

 

[Haze]

Thats some nice pics :thumbup:

I had this wee guy out the side of my house a while back. I get lots of
spiders here but I don't see too many with the pastel colours like this one.
(also, check the web pattern, thats a real unusual one)

 

[roughedges]

Neat photo. It's definitely not the same but that looks a lot like the basilica spider we have here, maybe in the same genus. I call it the "smiley face spider" because it has what looks like a metallic fluorescent smiley face on it's abdomen. At least, most of them do. Sometimes it's a random pattern. I'll post a photo in a few minutes and hope markksr doesn't mind having his thread kinda taken over.

No photo manipulation involved, just underexposed with flash is the only way I could capture the smiley face that day. It almost glows. And I checked my book, it seems that this is likely an orchard orbweaver, not a basillica spider. Not sure why they're showing up so small either; I cropped them larger than that.

 

[Haze]

There is quite a few of these little spiders about this year, they are never
more that 10mm a cross at most, but pretty cool wee things none the less.

 

[roughedges]

That's a spiny orb weaver but I tend to just call it a crab spider. we get the same ones here, only different.