#spiders

[headspace-hotel]

bear's foot (Smallanthus uvedalia), a plant in the sunflower and dandelion family (Asteraceae)

let's see what is going on here

first we see lots of aphids having a slurping party, sucking the plant juices. These aphids belong to genus Uroleucon. Species in this genus are usually reddish and feed on plants in the Asteraceae family.

around the aphids there are lots of large orange-brown ants. I think they are chestnut carpenter ants, Camptonotus castanaeus. Sometimes ants keep aphids as livestock and milk them for the honeydew they produce, and carpenter ants are known to do so, It is possible that the ants are taking care of the aphids

This ant has only one antenna, and her front foot is white. She has a disability, but it seems like she is accepted in ant society.

This crab spider (family Thomisidae) is yellow like the flower petals for camouflage. It will try to catch a bug that comes to pollinate the flower

This pollinator is a bumble bee, genus Bombus. You can see the pollen all over its face and some on its belly. The plant provides nectar in exchange for pollen distribution services.

This fly is very fabulous and elegant. It has beautiful green eyes and fashionable black markings on its wings. It belongs to the family Dolichopodidae, the long-legged flies. These flies are predators, and some of them eat aphids. Probably the fabulous and elegant fly hopes to steal some of the ants' livestock.

This fly is more round and hairy. It looks like it might belong to the house fly family, Muscidae.

This spider is hanging out under the leaf. It belongs to the genus Micranthena. Its butt spikes are pretty swag. It is probably here to catch one of the flies.

This has been a tour of one plant and the ecosystem it supports.

[deepwaterwritingprompts]

Deep Water Prompt #3392

To an ancient god, the whole forest is a spiderweb, trapping anyone foolish enough enough to wander inside. We’ve built a small village, waiting for an entity that sleeps centuries at a time.

[mclalan]

[wickedpotterpictures]

Behind the scenes anyone? :)

[artsycrow46-md]

Okay drawing ideea

I can draw any. This is just a funny idea.

[ethereallyhaunt3d]

[xbittersweetnightshadex]

Photography by Wyxina Tresse.

[rainbowsndshitig]

Mickey and Ian: can you kill it for me?

A/n: This wasn't the project I was working on but I've been so swamped with homework and just work in general so I haven't have any time to work any time to write for here ): so this is just something small <3 I hope it's okay

"Um..hey mick? Can you come here?" Ian yelled from their small, shared kitchen, pausing his cleaning.

"Yup, just a sec babe." Mickey grunted as he got up from the couch and set his phone down.

"Whaddaya need?"

"There's a spider..."

"A what?"

"A spider..can you kill it for me?"

"You shitting me? I don't wanna kill it, you kill it!" Mickey pointed at himself with both his hands and then pointed at Ian.

"You're always saying you're so manly! You kill it!"

"Oh bullshit, I do not, you're the one who always says that!"

"Since when?!"

"Since fucking day one!"

Ian groaned and turned and around to man up and kill it but the spider was gone. "Mick…it's gone.."

"What do you mean it's fucking gone?"

"I mean use your eyes and see that IT ISN'T ON THE WALL ANYMORE." Ian yelled and turned back around throwing his hands in the air. "All because you couldn't kill a spider."

"Hey don't blame this shit on me, this is your fault!"

"…."

"...."

"You pack the bags and I'll call to go find a hotel room, This is the spiders house now."

"Yup, on it."

[solarflare-s]

she's right behind me, isn't she

(golden silk spider/golden silk orb weaver/banana spider, Trichonephila clavipes)

[pseudomantis]

[xalatath]

Today on September 24 We delivered a healthy baby spider named Anub'azal and he is one molecule tall and weighs nothing

[someguyiguess]

spiders have got to figure out contracting I need to be able to call my local spiders union and be like "hey can you send a guy out for a few days the fruit flies are back" and then pay it in spider currency. I'll learn the conversion rates. I'll be generous with my rounding. please.

[sixteenseveredhands]

Strange Bedfellows: these unprecedented photos show a leafcutter bee sharing its nest with a wolfspider

I stumbled across these photos while I was looking up information on leafcutter bees, and I just thought that this was too cool not to share. Captured by an amateur photographer named Laurence Sanders, the photos were taken in Queensland, Australia several years ago, and they quickly garnered the attention of both entomologists and arachnologists.

The leafcutter bee (Megachile macularis) can be seen fetching freshly-cut leaves, which she uses to line the inner walls of her nest. The wolfspider moves aside as the bee approaches, allowing her to enter the nest, and then she simply watches as the leaf is positioned along the inner wall.

Once the leaf is in position, they seem to inspect the nest together, sitting side-by-side in the entryway; the bee eventually flies off again to gather more leaves, while the wolfspider climbs back into the burrow.

The leafcutter bee seems completely at ease in the presence of the wolfspider, which is normally a voracious predator, and the wolfspider is equally unfazed by the fact that it shares its burrow with an enormous bee.

The photographer encountered this bizarre scene by accident, and he then captured a series of images over the course of about 2 days (these are just a few of the photos that were taken). During that 2-day period, the bee was seen entering the nest with pieces of foliage dozens of times, gradually constructing the walls and brood chambers of its nest, and the spider was clearly occupying the same burrow, but they did not exhibit any signs of aggression toward one another.

The photos have been examined by various entomologists and arachnologists, and those experts seem ubiquitously surprised by the behavior that the images depict. The curator of entomology at Victoria Museum, Dr. Ken Walker, noted that this may be the very first time that this behavior has ever been documented, while Dr. Robert Raven, an arachnid expert at the Queensland Museum, described it as a "bizarre" situation.

This arrangement is completely unheard of, and the images are a fascinating sight to behold.

Sources & More Info:

Brisbane Times: The Odd Couple: keen eye spies bee and spider bedfellows in 'world-first'

iNaturalist: Megachile macularis

[mollybeenoel]

Spider plushies by plaything_co

[humblegrub]

if you like lego + jumping spiders, you should vote on this user created lego product idea! if it gets 10k votes it has the chance to become a real set 🕷️🕷️🕷️

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