Itsy Bitsy Spider
This mama was crossing the driveway yesterday morning so I coaxed her into a plastic container for a portrait sitting.
How many babies do you think she is packing?
Peter
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
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6 comments:
ou ou ou! Oh my gosh! I think it's 53 itsy bitsy babies!
mum
Pretty cool. I have never seen a spider carrying her babies. Hard to say how many she has.
margie
more than you might care to know about your spider (from the internet):
Wolf spiders are unique in that, after the young leave the egg sac the mother has been carrying around with her, they remain with the mother and ride on her back. The parent who has playfully allowed his child to jump on his back for a "horsey ride" around the living room floor would no doubt collapse in laughing protestation should more than one individual at a time climb on board. Contemplate with admiration therefore, if not the patience, at least the strength of the mother wolf spider, who carries her numerous offspring on her back for a period of time after they leave the egg sac.
Within the last 10 years, biologists have been able to investigate the mechanics that make this feat of biological engineering possible. How do the hundreds of young wolves manage to cling to their mother's back without falling off? Recently experimenters have shown just how this can work. Since wolf spiders are rather hairy, an initial idea was that the mother's hairy back might somehow assist the young in clinging on. The first step in the experiment was to cover the mother's back with cloth, which prevented dislodged young from clinging to the mother; any that were lucky enough to get back on board did so only by finding a spot that the cloth did not cover. Fearing that the cloth might be disrupting the behavior of the young by some other unknown means, the researchers then decided to actually remove the hairs in a delicate shaving procedure. And sure enough, initially the young spiders did not return to their position on the mother's back.
In looking at the hair they had removed under the scanning electron microscope, the scientists were able to verify just why the hairs had been so important: in contrast to the structure of hair from other kinds of spiders, these were covered with curved spines and ended in a large knob. Comparison to the hair from an adult male wolf spider revealed only smooth hair on the male with none of the curved spines or knobbed ends. Don't fear the fate of the dislodged young, though. Kept with their mother, they were able to resume their old piggy-back position after a few days. They accomplished this by the accumulation of silk draglines laid down each time they had climbed up over her back. So, the special hairs probably serve their main function in the first day after the spiderlings emerge from their sac. They are easily able to cling to these special hairs with their claws. Later, the young maintain their position by the meshwork of silk they have built up in clambering around on the mother's dorsal surface.
Dear Arachni-expert,
That is a very thorough report on the pictured spider. Roma says it is a bit too much info. She is kinda grossed out by the mom and her horde.
We are in the process of having some of Roma's arm hairs and mine compared under an electron microscope to see if there are any 'knobs'. We'll let you know.
Clingingly yours,
Peter
Very cool spidey! Maybe if you let it bite you it will give you super clinging powers... Then you could give all your nieces and nephews "rides" during the next family reunion!
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