The Flying Saucer At Sunset

Lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) are stationary lens-shaped clouds with a smooth layered appearance that form in the troposphere, usually above mountain ranges. One was spotted in Singapore recently...

Eyes Of 30,000 Honeycombs

With 30,000 individual facets, dragonflies have the most number of facets among insects. Each facet, or ommatidia, creates its own image, and the dragonfly brain has eight pairs of descending visual neurons to compile those thousands of images into one picture...

A Kaleidoscope Of Colours, Shapes And Patterns

Spectacular and innovative in design, the Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. Home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world, it showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments...

Lightning Strikes, Not Once, But Many Times

Unlike light, lightning does not travel in a straight line. Instead, it has many branches. These other branches flashed at the same time as the main strike. The branches are actually the step leaders that were connected to the leader that made it to its target...

Are You My Dinner Tonight?

A T-Rex has 24-26 teeth on its upper jaw and 24 more on its lower jaw. Juveniles have small, sharp blade-shaped teeth to cut flesh, whereas adults have huge, blunt, rounded teeth for crushing bones. Is the T-Rex a bone-crushing scavenger?

Showing posts with label Tetragnatha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tetragnatha. Show all posts

Central Catchment Reserve - Full Of Surprises

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Central Catchment Reserve
Central, Singapore
October 2014

The Central Catch Reserve is always full of surprises. On a Sunday morning, these were the surprising finds in the northern part of the Reserve...

Oriental Whip Snake

If there is a favourite snake category, this will be one of Merlion Wayfarer's favourite snakes, for its sheer elegance and beautiful eyes.

The Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake) is arboreal and lives in bushes and trees.

Normally shy creatures, they are not that easily spotted, as they blend well with the environment, with their vine-like body, are usually found above or below eye level, and do not stay still long. They can climb extremely fast up a tree, or across branches.


Little Surprises

An adorable little grasshopper...

It was the season for pondskaters (Gerridae). They were there by the thousands...

The melodious call of a male Dicrurus paradiseus (Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo).
Survival here must be tough; half its tail feathers were missing...

Butterflies & Moths

Pausing on a leave, a male Tanaecia iapis puseda (Horsfield's Baron) shows off its velvety black upperside with a broad bright blue marginal border on its hindwings...

A caterpillar caught in a web that it spins, ready for pupating...

A colourful little caterpillar looking lost...

Dragons 

A male Tyriobapta torrida (Treehugger) Dragonfly resting on, what else, a tree...

A male Trithemis aurora (Crimson Dropwing) Dragonfly lands and assumes the obelisk position to exposure to the weather on a hot day...

Froghopper / Spittlebug

Seeing the spit-like foam is an indication that there are spittle bugs around. The foam is where young spittlebugs live. These insects are protected by the foam. They usually do not do much harm to the plants.

The space inside the foam is moist to keep the bugs’ soft bodies from drying out. And the foam tastes bad, so it keeps away most animals that would eat the bugs.

Looking a puddle of foam are spittle bug eggs....

Spiders

Clasping a thin blade of grass with four of its legs,
this Tylorida striata (Striated Tylorida) rests almost hidden...

A playful male Phintella vittata (Banded Phintella) Spider hops about from leaf to leaf, brilliant against the light in its shimmering colours...

The Flying Lemur was sighted too!

Sources


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Marang Trail - The Magic Of Spiders At Night

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Marang Trail
South, Singapore
February 2015

Ant Mimicking Spiders (Myrmarachne)


This Myrmarachne Spider avoids being eaten by predators by appearing like an ant rather than a spider. This defense is two-way: Ants are not as palatable as spiders to most general predators, and spider-specialized predators might not recognize these spiders as food.


For mimicry to work optimally, though, spiders must inhabit places with plenty of ants. Not the easiest task, since ants eat spiders. And the poor vision of ants helps. Because these ant-mimicking spiders do not smell like spiders, nor do they smell like ants. In fact, they do no smell like anything at all - They are stealth spiders!

Another one spotted hiding in a curved leaf strung together by its web - See the intricate outlay of threads just to hold the leaf together?
 

Pale Spitting Spider (Scytodes pallida)

The Pale Spitting Spider (Scytodes pallida) has a unique habit of spitting a glue-like and possibly toxic substance at its prey to render them immobile prior to envenomation. Behavioural studies demonstrate that the spider regulates its spit expenditure when offered prey of variable sizes and struggling intensities. 


Moving about on a plant with leaves devoured by grasshoppers into artistic patches, this Sac Spider spreads its long legs over the gaps to balance itself...
 

Though it is produced in venom glands in the chelicerae, the fluid contains both venom and spider silk in liquid form. The venom-impregnated silk not only immobilizes prey such as Silverfish by tying it down, but has a venomous effect as well. In high-speed moving pictures, the spiders can be observed swaying from side to side as they "spit", catching the prey in a crisscrossed "Z" pattern. It is crisscrossed because each of the chelicerae emits half of the pattern. The spider usually strikes from a distance of 10–20 mm and the whole attack sequence is over in a little under 1/700th of a second. After making the capture, the spider will typically bite the prey with venomous effect, and wrap it in the normal spider fashion with silk from the spinnerets.

  

Orb Weavers (Araneidae)

The typical orb-weaver spiders (family Araneidae) are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields and forests. Their common name is taken from the round shape of this typical web, and the taxon was formerly also referred to as the Orbiculariae. However, orb-webs are also produced by members of other families.




Orb-weaving spiders make their webs at night time and usually take them down in the morning. They eat the silk, leaving only the base line to rebuild on. Constructing the web uses a lot of the spider's energy due to the large amount of protein required, in the form of silk and after a time the silk will lose its stickiness and becomes inefficient at capturing prey. Eating their web is a way for the spider to recoup some of the energy used in spinning. The silk proteins are thus "recycled".

An orb-weaver with some web debris and an egg pod on its web...


An  Argiope versicolor (Multi-coloured St Andrew's Cross Spider) flexing itself on its web without its trademark "X"...

A male Argyrodes flavescens (Red Silver Spider) on its own web for once...

Comb-Footed Spiders (Theridiid) are entelegyne (have a genital plate in the female) araneomorph ecribellate (use sticky capture silk instead of woolly silk) spiders that often build tangle space webs and have a comb of serrated bristles (setae) on the tarsus of the fourth leg.

The large golden orb-weavers (Nephilidae) and the long-jawed orb weavers (Tetragnathidae) were formerly included in the Araneidae; they are indeed closely related to them, being part of superfamily Araneoidea. Their webs are similar to those of the typical orb-weavers, but tend to be less sophisticated and often have an irregular instead of a neat spiral arrangement of the prey-capturing threads.


Members of the species Tetragnatha are stick-like spiders with long legs and well-developed jaws. They build delicate orb-webs with open hubs. The webs are suspended horizontally or in an inclined plane. The male jaws are particularly elongated and are equipped with a spur each. These are instrumental in locking the jaws of the female during mating.


Like many species of the superfamily Araneoidea, Nephila Spiders have striped legs specialized for weaving (where their tips point inward, rather than outward as is the case with many wandering spiders). Their contrast of dark brown/black and green/yellow allows warning and repelling of potential predators to whom their venom might be of little danger.

A Nephila Spider with its freshly-caught dinner...

Golden orb-weavers reach sizes of 4.8–5.1 cm (1.5–2 in) in females, not including legspan, with males being usually 2/3 smaller (less than 2.5 cm, 1 in). They are also the oldest surviving genus of spiders, with a fossilized specimen known from 165 million years ago.

The intricate layout of colours with patches, stripes and spots...

Neoscona punctigera (Ghost Spider)

The last time that Merlion Wayfarer spotted this was in 2012, among the long grass in Punggol. At that time, it was evening, and the spider was dormant. (See "Ghost Spider - Happy Halloween!")

(File Photo)

This time round, it was refreshing to note how active it is at night. Awaken from its daytime slumber, this Ghost Spider was moving about. With its flexible joints, one gets the impression that it is sorting out how not to stumble over its own legs.


Waving its long legs about to increase the perception of its body size - A sign of aggression... 


Sources

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Lorong Halus - Why Did The Hen Cross The Road?

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Lorong Halus
East, Singapore
October 2014
 
The first sight while driving along the quiet roads here was the sight of several broods of Amaurornis phoenicurus (White-Breasted Waterhens) running about, hopping over drains and scuttling across the roads - Mother Hen will go first, looking out for any "predators" (Yeah, the big metal ones that make a lot of noise when they vrooom past), and cluck out loudly when the scene is clear. The little ones will then dart about after her, trying to catch up.
 

This was apparently the nesting season. Lots of spiders were found scurrying along the ground, some with egg sacs. At first glance, these appear to be Ground Spiders (family Zodariidae) or even Wandering Spiders (family Ctenidae). But on a closer look, these were in fact Wolf Spiders (family Lycosidae).

 
Spot the spider -
Well-hidden among the pebbles and rocks...
 

Wolf Spiders resemble Nursery Web spiders (family Pisauridae), but Wolf Spiders carry their egg sacs by attaching them to their spinnerets, i.e. at the back of their bodies (Pisauridae carry their egg sacs with their chelicerae and pedipalps, i.e. at the front of their bodies).
 
 
Two of the Wolf Spider's eight eyes are large and prominent, which distinguishes them from the Nursery Web spiders whose eyes are all of approximately equal size. The eye arrangements are another way of distinguishing Wolves from Wanderers (family Ctenidae), and Ground Dwellers (family Zodariidae).
 

 
It was just after a light early morning drizzle. The Lynxes (family Oxyopidae) were out in full force among the long grass. Some were successful, with half-eaten breakfasts, while others were just getting started.
 

Due to the rain, the web of a Big-Jawed Spider (family Tetragnathidae) was damaged, and it was just getting it repaired. With two of its legs, it pulls together several web strands and spreads itself over the gap.
 

A full Big-Jawed Spider with its meal, and not too bothered about the condition of its web.
That can wait till evening...
 
This little Orb-Weaver (family Araneidae) was well-hidden in a waxy waterproof web of its own. And yes, spiders are certainly good predictors of weather changes - Within half and hour of seeing this little one, it started drizzling again...
 

 
Other flora and fauna spotted along the way, including the Agriocnemis femina (Variable Wisp Damselfly) and the Rhodothemis rufa (Common Redbolt Dragonfly)...

 

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