Pseudo male

Spider week - day 4

Although I had a good image of the male golden orb weaver spider in folio, I decided today to pay tribute to this brave soldier with his own fifteen minutes of blip fame. But, it wasn't to be.

I had stated that I had seen upto three males living on the female's web, but only today, after spending some time studying the little red spiders, do I realize that they are actually females of another species. They don't even look the same shape.

The penny finally dropped as I was photographing this specimen, when it suddenly disappeared and was replaced in the viewfinder by BIG MOMMA, it was quite a shock I can tell you!

Spider week is proving to be quite popular amongst you with the first three days all making spotlight. Even the confirmed arachnophobics don't seem to be able to stay away! Spiders are not pretty and invoke a morbid fear deep from within our psyche, etched by a million years of bad experiences. But, an image on the screen cannot bite and so morbid curiosity gets the better of us, we wince and we cringe but still we want to look!

Thankyou for the hearts and stars and the amazing comments, you make it all worth risking my life, stuffing my lens into the face of the devil!

I didn't manage to collect many good shots, as these spiders are only about 5mm long and difficult to get in focus. I have put a couple more in folio if you are interested. So as not to short change you, I have put series of another spider found in the rice paddies, a sub species of the St Andrews spider that I blipped a few months ago. Also a couple of close-ups of the golden orb weaver just for fun.

Dave