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Project Noah Nature School
Araneus mitificus
Araneidae; Araneus; A. mitificus (Simon, 1886). In my previous spotting of this species, in Project Noah, I quoted the description provided by Wikipedia, because it is without doubt much more proficient than anything I could turn out. However, this time I decided to just use my own words. I don't know what P.N.'s official view is, if any, but I'm pretty sure they do not encourage us to join the project so that we can quote Wikipedia for everything. So, not being an arachnologist, how should I start. Well how about if I keep it simple and imagine that all I am doing is jotting down some notes in my little pocket notebook. I do this every time I take some photos of any creature that I come across. Then I can go back to my notes, even years later and read them while I am looking at the photos. It seems to work as long I keep the notes simple and straight forward. I restrict my notes to What, Where and When. (there is another -Why, but I should leave it to the professionals to figure out the "Why"). So here we go. What did I see? I saw this beautiful spider weaving a web, but not an ordinary web. The web looked like a birthday cake with a big piece cut out of it. It didn't look so good. Then the spider made a kind of tent by winding silk around a leaf in such a way that the winding curled up the edges of the leaf to make a cradle or hammock and at the same time created a roof. Then it crawled inside. Where did I see it? In the corner of our front yard. When? At 6:00 am. There it is. For a description of the spider, look at the pictures. I now know a little more by checking on Wikipedia and other sites. Of course, I discovered its scientific name and that it did something I had not noticed. When it was in its tent, it held a silk line, the other end of which was tied to the web so that it could sense when some insect got stuck and struggled in the web. I don't think I have seen an explanation for the missing chunk of the web. Maybe they should classify it as a Partial Orb-weaver Spider. But that comes under the category of "Why". So I will let the arachnologists ponder that. Now I will find out if anyone likes my pocket book notes, or do I have to return to quoting Wikipedia :-) Happy spotting!
This Araneus mitificus was spotted on an unidentified plant in a corner of our front yard. There must be something about this plant (or the position it sits in, or even both) which is attractive to this species of spider because, every time one has decided to pay me a visit, it has always constructed its web in the same corner and on the same plant. I really must try harder to identify the plant and if I can, I will enter its name in this spotting.
Spotted on Jul 29, 2020
Submitted on Jul 13, 2022
4 Comments
Hi tomk3886,
Its so nice to hear how you came to be in Project Noah and it must have been wonderful to be involved in archaeology and paleontology. I think its just great that although we all come from different backgrounds, we have come together through P.N. and share this great experience. Happy spotting :-) John B.
I've gotten my science fix for the last 20 years or so doing volunteer archaeology and paleontology. When we started staying home because of covid I decided I would try to stay connected with grandkids by sending a photo of an organism to them every week and asking them to identify it. In the process I discovered P.N. Then my granddaughter told me my i phone would take macro pictures. Then I was really hooked.
To: tomk3886
Hi tomk3886, thank you for your comment about my little pocket book. Keeping notes has really helped me. I started paying some attention to animals and bugs a few years back when digital cameras (and then cell phones with cameras) became available here in Philippines. At that time we did not have WiFi and academic books were, and still are, difficult to get hold of here. But I knew things would improve and started taking notes. In places where they had WiFi, Project Noah came to my attention and I decided that I would join when I had a way of communicating on the internet. After a few more years, Cell Tower WiFi finally arrived, but I did not start with P.N. immediately. The signal was weak and unreliable. So I started my own little catalogue of local wildlife, simply because I could do that in fits and starts as the WiFi signal came and went. Then last year I was so happy when a land line internet company came looking for customers in our area, promising a wonderful service within a few weeks.. So I signed up and immediately joined P.N. using my intermittent WiFi signal, knowing that things were going to be fine in a few weeks. I sent my first spotting on June 3, 2021. then I got the bad news that the land line company's engineers had hit a serious problem trying to get the cable across a local river. So I tried one or two more spottings, but they wouldn't upload. So I gave up on on P.N. until Mar 20, 2022 when I saw the workers struggling with the cable and managing to span the raging torrent they call a river. I started sending spottings to P.N. What happened was that the local cell phone company realised they were losing customers to the land line company and suddenly improved their signal. So I managed to work on with several spottings until the cable finally reached my house on May 3. I tell you all this because many people are asking why I am uploading spottings which are up to 7 years old. So I I send them this information to answer their question, but also to demonstrate how helpful my notebooks have been. I could never remember all the stuff I put in my spottings without them. Once again, thank you for your comment and by the way I had a little sneeky look at some of your spottings before contacting you. And it is really amazing. You have so many interesting creatures. I plan to have a longer look at your work as soon as I have sent this comment to you. I would like to hear from you anytime. Happy spotting :-) John B.
Your pocket book notes are great. All I can manage are a link, a description of habitat and sometimes some comments from memory.
Thanks for the great photos and comments.