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Deinopis subrufa (Male)
Look who came right up to my door this morning. The net casting spider AKA the ogre faced spider for its HUGE eyes and handsome face, this male has large spring loaded palps. Its most posterior pair of eyes point upwards but its huge pair of eyes give it powerful eyesight for casting its net over insects running along the ground. Here is the net with a female spider http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/114... .
On flyscreen by the front door.
Other locally observed net casting spiders. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/135... http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/821... http://calamvalecreek.awardspace.com/net...
Spotted on Jan 23, 2014
Submitted on Jan 23, 2014
26 Comments (1–25)
Thank you Martin, great link, even with pictures of the web and how they hold it! I'm dying of curiosity about those springs on the palpi!
Thank you leanne
Brilliant find Martin & congrats on your SOTD :)
Thank you mona and beaker and Antonio and Manuel and Tom and Johan.
Wow!
Martin, congrats on SOTD with a nice find and great pics!
Amazing! I already shared this spot with my friends. Thank you!
amazing macro MartinL,great series,congrats on the SOTD and thanks for sharing
Great! Congrats Martin on the SOTD!
Congratulations Martin.. Love the details.. Very nice series..
Thank you adasha. Thank you beaker. I shall attempt a photo of his web if possible.
Congrats on SOTD! Awesome spider!
Congratulation Martin!
A very unique kind of macro for this flat fellow :)
Superbly done :)
Thanks for your correction EmilieChich.
I have cut/pasted the name from a source below
http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/australian...
I checked other sources and agree with your comment.
I have made the correction.
Congratulations Martin on your SOTD.
Great macros, Martin, bravo and thanks for sharing!
Just a remark: the name should be Deinopis and not Deinopsis. The latter is beetle of the Staphylinidae family.
Thanks for your comments.
Lauren, I recall an image of these 'springs' and described them as such but they do not seem to occur in other spiders. I had to go searching for this image and found it here; http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/australian... The palps, of course transfer a spermatophore to the female and the spring has a function that I do not know. I will need to research more, or ask BugEric; he may know.
http://bugeric.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/s...
A beautiful series of photos of this amazing spider. Congrats, Martin, on your SOTD.
Congratulations Martin! A wonderful portrait! How do they use those spring loaded palpi?
Spiders are so difficult I think, but this series are among the best I have seen in a long time! Inspiring Martin! And congratulations, it is so very well deserved!
Thanks for your comments, Mark, I guess it has been hunting in my garden which is progressively being weeded, so it has moved over to the doorway. It does not appear to have been actively hunting there. If it constructs a snare, I will certainly be watching.
Thank you KarenL for recognizing this fellow.
There are lots of spectacular spiders that deserve to be noticed. This one certainly holds its own. It is another amazingly interesting but docile and harmless species
Congratulations Martin. Those palps are magnificent. I'll bet they are used for more than just palping :-) No little discarded webs around?
Wow!!Amazing!Congrats Martin!!
What a beauty! Congrats Martin, this unusual spider has been chosen Spotting of the Day!
The net casting spider (Deinopsis subrufa) has a unique way of hunting; it stretches a trapezoidal web between its four front legs, which it uses to catch its insect prey.
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