Stick spider mating

I returned to the rice paddy this morning, to begin a search for another mating pair of spiders. To my dismay, the pair that I observed 24 hours earlier were in exactly the same position that I left them. Twenty four hours of courtship meant that the chances of me catching the act of copulation on camera were very remote indeed.

Feeling rather dejected, I walked the perimeter of the paddy and a scuffle caught my eye, it was a pair of stick spiders. The male had pulled back, as witnessed yesterday but the female was in a good position for a photo. Seconds later, the male re-approached with its jaws wide open and the females jaws opened too. This was looking very dangerous!

A second later they had locked jaws, the male preventing the female from biting. On the cropped view of this, you may be able to make out two hooks on the end of the chelicerae, next to the base of the needle, the hooks are used to hold the female's jaws open.

There then ensued a lot of wrestling and I realized that I was in the wrong location for the money shot. Worse still, a clump of rice stems were blocking my view. So, apologies to the farmer, I reached in and bent the stems over and collected the main event on camera.

The most dangerous time for the male was when they parted, as the female launched a spirited attack on the male, but he escaped, only just though. This part happened so fast that I didn't get a single shot with any focus. The farmer in the next field thought I had flipped, as I performed the Dad dance to celebrate. He came over to see what was going on. I showed him the pics and I am sure he thought that I had escaped from the asylum!

He stayed with me for the next twenty minutes or so, as I collected images of dragons, beetles, butterflies and a frog, wanting to see the pictures after each shoot. He was quite amazed at the detail and forgave me for bending his rice. He proved to have a good eye, pointing out a few insects as we walked. He declined to have his picture taken though, afraid that I would be able to see what he had for breakfast.

I have chosen to blip the cropped shot of the moment of penetration. You can see the big glob of semen on the pedipalp. But to fully appreciate the event, you need to view the folio images. The pressure is off now, as I have captured my main goal. I'm sure the rest of the week will be an anticlimax, but who knows what the blip monster has in store.

I have called it a stick spider for now, as that is what it looks like at rest. The name is however taken by a different spider, but this will have to do until I identify the little beasty.

Dave