Signature Spider

Description:

I have been keeping an eye on this egg sac since I first noticed it, ten days ago. I was fairly confident that the hatchlings would emerge within six days from the day the mother spider laid her eggs and created the sac to protect them. The problem was that I never saw the mother and could not be sure that I had spotted the egg sac on the day it was made. I checked on it every day and on the 6th. day, I went out before dawn and set up my camera and tripod, ready to start taking pictures as soon as the first hatchlings came out. By 10.00 a.m., nothing had happened and I gave up, but I checked back on the egg sac several times, each day. When I got to the 9th. day (yesterday), I decided that the eggs were not going to hatch and stopped checking on the egg sac. This morning at 7:00 a.m., I took my usual stroll around our front and backyards and when I reached the place where the egg sac was, I saw the hatchlings, already out and took the above photo. Today is Day 10 (at least) of the incubation period. So my long-standing idea, based on some considerable experience, of a six day period is not correct. I will need to adopt a more flexible approach to "egg sac" observations from now on. I will also need to go back over any previous spottings where I mentioned the "six days" and make necessary edits. Mea culpa!

Habitat:

This Argiope luzona egg sac was spotted in our backyard. It was strung up on the branches of a Hyacinth Bean (Lablab purpureus) locally called Bataw. Plant information from - http://www.stuartxchange.org/Bataw.html