iluvspiders's Favourites

Walking the old southern terminus of the Florida Trail for a bit. Water levels have dropped quickly over the last couple weeks and there were several dried up puddles with dead fish and shrimp in them.

My blacklighting observations from Big Cypress:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-27&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&user_id=joemdo

Video showing the lights I use for a typical setup:
https://youtu.be/tavmTa7WoPk

Blacklighting project for Florida: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/blacklighting-florida

More details in general about my 2024 City Nature Challenge here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/joemdo/93673-city-nature-challenge-2024

I found what I think/thought was a little dirt dobber or wasp "dwelling". Inside there were, what seemed to be many, maybe 20-ish (I don't think that would be an exaggeration) little bodies that I did not believe to be any form of flying insect, it looked like spiders to me, with their many legs. I used a pair of tweezers to pull one out and confirmed them to be spiders. I've never known spiders to be communal, but with as many are in this abode, that's what it made me think they were/are. When I took the one out to take photos, there was a web silk that came from it. It makes me think they are alive, though there wasn't movement. The only movement I KNOW of would be their legs at the opening at some point.

1 - Dorsal view; 2- Ventral view; 3 - Measures; 4 - Prosoma (dorsal); 5 - Prosoma and buccal apparatus (ventral); 6 - Opisthosoma (Dorsal); 7 - Epygine; 8 - Spinnerets; 9/10 - I and II legs; 11 - III and IV legs