...spiders! While cutting the lawn yesterday, something small caught my eyes. I peered down below to find a mosquito walking sideways. Focusing further, I noticed something peculiar; an albino wolf spider! Never have I ever seen an albino spider! My Spidey senses were tingling (Marvel fans)! I continued cutting and let him enjoy is Asian tiger mosquito lunch. This is why you never kill spiders! I hope others can find some joy with this post, even if you aren't an aracnophile.
You realize from the mosquito's perspective it was attacked and killed by an opaque ghost like multi-eyed, multi-legged, fanged vampire?
It may be a wolf but those are generally not tiny. If it is, coloration is a real bummer because they are strictly visual hunters. Right now I can't find any good pictures, but it may be Thomisidae. They have a range of 'floral' colorations and wait in matching flowers for food to arrive. You might find a similar one by inspecting white flowers nearby.
Thomisids are small and seemingly have a good sense of suitable prey sizes. I think flower-sniffing may safely continue. There are some 'Praying Mantises' that very closely resemble some orchids. Those could give a little nip.
Speaking of praying mantises.....got home from errands about an hour ago. Walking up the handrail of the front steps was the smallest praying mantis I've ever seen. Probably less than an inch long and fast as heck. Tried to get him to climb on my hand but he wasn't having anything to do with it. Typically when we see them around here they're between 3 and 6 inches long. Those big ones are awesome.
Those with very distended abdomens are ladies who have not yet put down their egg cases. I ask students not to take those for insect collections. Unborn babies and all that.
Good find tochatihu but I'm not sold on it being a thomisid. First of all, I have never seen a white spider in or around my garden. I'm out in the garden almost everyday. That picture was my first encounter of a white spider. Secondly, the body structure of a thomisid is different than the one pictures above (see abdomen). Thirdly, wolf spiders are heavily prominent in my area. I've seen small ones, they do grow, all the way up to very large ones (as big as six inches. You should hear the screams my gf makes when one adult runs across her path. Lol. Now, a caveat is that I do have gardenias on that side of the house. The smell is intoxicating so much that I gravitate to them almost daily. I have never seen a white spider in or around the vacinity of the flowers, ever. The spider pictured was about twenty feet away and on the floor when found munching on some tiger. It doesn't mean that they aren't there but it does mean I will take pause before sticking my nose into nature like before. Lol
I am not a spider expert, but bugs life are often subjects of my macro photos. Here are a few white spider photos I found in my portfolio.
As I said, I am not an expert in identifying spider species. But yeah, Googling "crab spiders", it dose look like that's it. Misumena vatia - Wikipedia
As a macro photographer myself, I gotta say I like those pictures. Spiders are my favorite macro subjects.
Image@11 is a mantid. Not a thomisid nor even a spider. == Crab spider is an informal naming referring to Thomisidae or a subset of that family. == So far we have no certain ID of spider one. == Macro photos useful for spider species ID need to show pattern of eyes. With that you are sure to also get chelicerae and the sexy bits.
This is all I need to know about spiders. They bite. Bites can cause this: I had one worse than this. Anything that bites, if it's in my house, it's shmushed. Catch and release is for fish. Gotta say I'm impressed with the photos!
Ouch @Prius Maximus Funny story, I've only been bitten once by a spider. Several years ago I was outside watering the lawn. I reached down to grab the oscillating sprinkler that was sitting in the grass. As I was moving it, I felt a tiny prick on my finger. I turned over the sprinkler and out popped a jumping spider that had been hiding underneath. The spider slowly turned around only to realize my finger was connected to a much larger body. The spiders eyes eventually met with mine. I will never forget that look the small spider gave me. Almost saying 'sorry' for biting me (think Lucas the spider) Lol As soon as he said sorry, he rappelled from my finger like a marine from a helicopter, into the tall grass; never to be seen again. The bite ended up being no worse than an ant bite.
But some can be much worse. The brown recluse responsible for that have a habit of coming into houses and hiding in laundry. That was a baby. Cousin had a one as a pet that laid eggs, and they came home to hundreds of little babies wandering the house one day.
