Tag Archive | Dysdera crocata

Get it while you can

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A beautiful male Woodlouse Hunter, Dysdera crocata. I am pretty sure we encountered the same one last year under the same log.

Things are busy right now, as I am trying to arrange to defend my thesis, finishing up writing tasks and seeking a postdoc….But spring is still springing, and outside is so beautiful and warm! Hell, I could be dead tomorrow, so why not go out and see what I can see in the sunshine. Here are a few of the pictures from the past few days, as the warm spring sunshine activates the local fauna!

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A Giant House Spider, in her house under a rock.

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First (live) Polistes of the year from Victoria.

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A male Anna’s Hummingbird, from Mt. Tolmie.

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Off-colour commentary by a gull?

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I stopped down to f18 to try to get some mountains behind this gull.

 

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A Nomada parasitic bee, on the lookout for hosts.

 

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This seems to be a good year for garter snakes.

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These gall wasps were having an ovipositionathon on the newly sprouting Garry Oak leaves. I think these are the jumping gall wasp, Neuroterus saltatorius. 

 

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This is the defensive posture, but it almost looks like he is casting a spell (or he has root hairs stuck in his claws).

 

Fearful symmetry

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In defensive posture!

Of all the spiders found locally, none has more impressive fangs than Dysdera crocata, the Woodlouse Hunter. These beauties are often found under logs near the beach or in woodlands. I have this one in the lab, hoping one day to record some of the predation behaviour on video.  Their bright coloration and fearsome armaments make these one of my favourite species.

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Shy with legs drawn in.

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dorsal view.