A while ago, I was sitting in the garage in one of our lawn chairs, reading today's newspaper, when suddenly something tickled my arm. I looked over and spotted an ant....
Wait a minute....is it an ant??
I looked closer. Hmmm. No, I think it's an....
ANT-MIMIC JUMPING SPIDER!(Probably Peckhamia picata)
Yes, sure enough, I could see him waving his front legs like ants do with their antennae. That's the big clue. Then, if you look at the photo just above, you'll see that he's definitely a spider with eight legs. Oops, seven. He lost one leg. And I keep referring to my spider as a "him." Yes, he's a guy. Those chubby appendages at the tip of his head are call pedipalps. Male pedipalps have club-shaped tips, which are used to inject sperm into the female.
I love spiders.
7 comments:
That's fascinating!! Amazing post!
Ryan
Seems you might know your bugs a but. Good call.
Very cool! I had no idea spiders do that.
Eek! I can't say I share your love for spiders, but they are interesting. Have you ever heard of a snake being able to just--here in Round Rock?
Say what? Tell us about that snake! A rat snake, maybe?
Sorry, I was having to post a fast one and leave for work. I meant to say, have you ever heard of a snake being able to jump? I caught it out of the corner of my eye, so it may have just moved very fast. But I startled it as it was trying to kill a frog...I could have sworn it jumped! No rattles on it--that I know for sure!
I don't think I have, but I bet it's sure possible. Maybe a snake lunges? Veryyyyyyy intereessstttting!
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