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Project Noah Nature School
Euryopis splendens
Only 2-3mm long this spider displayed some VERY STRANGE behaviours. When running it was so fast I was sure it must be jumping or flying. When it stopped it always buried it's head into a tiny depression, raised it's abdomen and wrapped it's front legs over the other pairs and around the sides of it's abdomen. It would then hold that position for many minutes.
Back yard garden wall.
WHAT IS IT DOING?? All thoughts welcome. Same strange behaviour noted a year ago http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/176... and here's one 1000kms north of here http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/183...
Spotted on Oct 8, 2013
Submitted on Oct 8, 2013
5 Comments
Well I'm glad someone else has seen them in action as proof I wasn't imagining it. :-)
it is worth keeping an eye on to see if we can work it out, although these guys are hard to find as well
I thought it might have been a combination of the need to hunt very fast and dangerous ants as well as making a network of trip threads but I was guessing and these spiders are really crazy little movers. I have not seen anything else move like that
I can't easily buy into that. Both times I've watched it now it was out in the open and on very broad, flat, exposed surfaces. No silk was seen in either case. (just went and double-checked) Why would it put silk onto such a location. .. tripwires? nest? trap? not a good choice of location for any of those. What did you think of his suggestion?
I had one of these a few months back and it was doing the same thing. I sent a question to Ron Atkinson of the Find a Spider web site and he told me 'The violent abdominal movements were because it was laying down silken threads.'
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/183...
i should have added it to the notes