Long jaw spider

Tetragnatha sp.

I find it amazing that for such a common spider, that I cannot get any closer than an overall family name. I have at least three separate species in my collection of images.

These arachnids are not called long jaws without good reason, the fangs are enormous in relation to the size of their body.

These long, thin spiders, about an inch length in body, infest the paddy crops by the thousand. If only I could find a collector willing to pay, I would be rich and I don't think the farmers would complain too much either.

First thing in the morning, while the air is cool and a heavy dew is formed, the webs appear like a silver blanket across the paddies.

But, today's up close and personal view is not about the jaws or the mouth which is also visible chewing on some bug remnants. It is about the pedipalps, the long, feeler arms with the pointy bulbs on the end. These bulbs are the male spider's sperm transfer organs.

There is no connection between the testes (on the underside of the abdomen) and the palps. The sperm is extruded and then drawn up into the hollow palp bulb. The bulb is then inserted into a pocket on the underside of the female's abdomen, the sperm is transferred and stored for future fertilization as the eggs are being deposited into a silk structure.

The bulbs provide an easy way to tell the difference between the sexes, however, the palp bulbs are only formed on the adult males.

Dave