Spiders

Crab Spider

Crab spiders are so named because they hold their legs to the side in a crab-like fashion. Most crab spiders are less than 1 cm (0.4 in) in length, although the giant crab spider may reach 2.5 cm (1.0 in). Crab spiders do not spin webs to trap prey, but hunt on the open ground or on vegetation or flowers. In keeping with their ambush style of attack, many crab spiders are well camouflaged, blending in with their backgrounds. Some resemble tree bark, leaves, or fruits; others appear to mimic bird droppings. Though their chelicerae, or jaws, are rather small and slender, many crab spiders possess potent venoms that quickly immobilize their prey. Flower spiders, a particular type of crab spider, rest on flowers and remain motionless for long periods of time with their front two pairs of legs extended in readiness. crab spiders do not wrap their prey in silk after biting, but instead remain with the immobilized prey until they have sucked it dry.

 

Jumping Spider

Jumping spiders do not construct webs, but actively hunt prey during the day, pouncing on their luckless victims. Many are brightly colored. All species are small, usually less than 15 mm long. They are easily identified by their eye arrangement, which is in three rows. Although jumping spiders do not make webs to capture prey, they do use silk. Hunting spiders trail a dragline behind them to break their fall in case they miss a jump. Silken nests, ellipsoid structures with an opening at each end, are used for resting at night, molting, and egg-laying. Juveniles may make their nests in the tops of herbs or in rolled leaves, while subadults and adults frequently make their nests along the inner mid-veins of palm fronds.

 

 

 

Golden Silk Spider

In Florida and other southeastern states, the golden silk spider, or as we call them the banana spider, is a large orange and brown spider with the feathery tufts on its legs is well know to most native southerners. It is particularly despised by hikers and hunters, as during late summer and fall the large golden webs of this species make a sticky rap for the unwary. The female is distinctively colored, and is among the largest orb-weaving spiders in the country. The female is 25 mm to 40 mm long and has conspicuous hair tufts on her long legs. Males are about 4 mm to 6 mm long, dark-brown, and are often found in the webs of females. These spiders feed primarily on flying insects, which they catch in webs that may be greater than a meter in diameter.