That is freaky. Never heard of such a spider. And since we’re talking spiders, here’s a few big ones: And a tiny wee small one:
One of my favorite insects are assassin bugs, some species wear the shriveled husks of their ant prey not only as camouflage against other ants but also to make them distasteful to their own predators (as ants are acidic). Also June Bugs for just how derpy and tubby they are.
I found one of these creepy ass dudes when I was going to take the garbage out a couple months back. They're called wheel bugs and the one that I found ironically was on the wheel of the garbage can. We moved it into the leaves and he went along his merry way.
Oh, LOVING the Orb Weavers in the last couple pages of this thread. Some of my very favorite spiders. Large, but relatively docile. Not heavily venomous. Wonderful pest control. Utterly beautiful.
Some aphids (the pudgy lil' boi above) have a two-phase reproductive cycle. During the summer females reproduce via parthenogenesis, popping out tiny versions of themselves without the need to mate. Then when fall comes they seek out males, mate and the eggs overwinter until the next spring, where they can continue the cycle. This fact makes aphids, which are major pets of many crops, very hard to control.
The Ogre-Faced spider is a unique looking group of spiders that have a unique hunting method, rather than spinning webs like Orb Weavers, or running down prey like wolf spiders, they hang suspended above clearings of grass and undergrowth, using their enlarged eyes to detect prey below them, which they capture by lunging down with a web held by their first two sets of legs. Spoiler
I’ve got a stick but we saw a few days ago and this spider was making a web in my doorway this morning.
Glad I had the screens closed. I am sure he is harmless but if I woke up with him on me I would be a little startled.
Morning coffee with this guy. The cat seemed overly interested so we moved him over to a bush. He jumped off my hand and you could see red coloring under his wings.
This “little” guy came into the house and I had to scoop him up. After rearing up at me like a snake he gave up and curled up. Our winged amigo flew out the window with a little encouragement.
My kids found this guy outside the front door. It’s got all if it’s limbs so I don’t think it was the one I posted before. The antenna are different lengths so I wonder how close it got to being eaten.
