My Web Searches

My web searches last weekend turned out very productive. I started the day with early breakfast. The morning temperatures these days are more comfortable than any parts of the year, so I have a grand time. I just went to the hedges, under the fruit trees, and even under the ornamental plants.

While you are searching the computer web, I was searching the spider webs! Here, I will try to show you some different web configurations, and how the occupants of the webs manage their stay. I tell you they are very interesting. I assure you no animal was hurt in the process and no "home" was destroyed.

 The above is the biggest spider commonly found in our property, the widest webs, and the most sticky. Adults can have >1 meter web diameter. They are also the most scary, at least to me! This is of the Nephila species. We have the bluish and the reddish species.

 The above is lovely in red, small body ~1.5cm long, with hairy legs. Its web doesn't look like a regular spider web, but just a few strands where it can cling on in space.

 This is a jumping spider, has a regular web configuration, but the quality of its weave is not very well planned and not proportionately distributed. Look at the above spaces between the strands, they are very irregular. I guess this is not a quality conscious homemaker!

 How about the above? The strands are so thickly placed, so conscientiously woven with almost equal distances. I can imagine it took a long time before the web is finished. The occupant is just ~1cm in body length except the legs. The web is only about 2 ft in diameter.

 This looks like a crab spider. It positions itself with the two pointed horns upwards as if it is the head. However, the head is actually below the body, only posing the horns as threats to predators, i guess! In contrast with the previous web, this one leaves a small area at the center without the concentric strands. I thought somehow that maybe it is still not finished, but i waited for 3 days, and it remained like that. Maybe that is just his style.

 This is the only spider i saw with a web patterned from the solar system.  And the strands and weave are so delicately spaced as if following real dimensions. I just am surprised why there is a need for that diagonal strand crossing the circular orbit, maybe it has a certain function. I am thinking of studying again, this time it will be Arachnidology, is it the study of spiders? I just conned it now!

 This is another shot of another Nephila web, we have a lot of them under the mango and coconut trees.

 This is also just ~1 cm in body length. I cannot get a good shot as the web always sway with slight wind. Its web is also built so differently from the rest of them. It is made of long strands connected to the vegetation around it, but the concentric circles are only made at the area near the center, where the owner dwell most of the time. I wish i can show a clear distinct picture of its back, as it seems there is a cross mark there. Maybe in their kingdom, the mark for poison is also an X, so that is his mark to scare predators. Until now, i still don't know what kind of animals prey on spiders!

And this is the most spectacular web i saw in their spider kingdom. There is no pattern at all.  This is totally the exact example of organized chaos, or probably chaotic disorder! I wonder how the owner is able to get in and out of this dwelling. It somehow tells the predators that nobody is using that space, so will not bother the occupant. I actually touched the owner because i am not sure if it is dead or alive. It ran fast, so I realized this is really his real design. Maybe he is the artist among them, and his style is abstract!