October 16, 2006: Heavy dew on spiderweb

"Damn, I love these pictures," says xoxoxoBruce sending along these from Weather Underground. "Me too," is all I can say in return.



The spiders I know weave new webs daily; they're remarkably hard workers, and so there's probably not much lost by this guy as he's not going to catch much at this point.



And I think I've heard they eat the old webs in some cases. This guy may not be able to do that. Or maybe he's so small he can wipe down a bit of dew.

Spider chandeliers.

Beautiful.

Stunning.

Another fine IOTD!

Just think what one of these suckers could do!

That reminds me, I've got to get those Christmas lights up before it gets too cold out.

Eight leg bling.

Wow. Nice.

Do the Dew

Stunning.

I am trying to get over my phobia of spiders as they are very helpful creatures to have around and they cannot help it if they were born with, like, what?-20 eyes?

Eight eyes is most common, but there is some variation.

How spiders see the world

Thanks for the link, Tanalia. Very interesting...but, still, creeps me out, all those eyes.

Thats really pretty for something so ugly. I hate spiders. :eek:

dude

Undertoad wrote:

... they're remarkably hard workers, and so there's probably not much lost by this guy as he's not going to catch much at this point....This guy may not be able to do that. Or maybe he's so small he can wipe down a bit of dew.

Umm. It's no guy. You mean she.
:3_eyes:
Agreed that these webs are magnificent.

How d'ya tell the difference, aj?

*&^$#$#(($$##W(@ Dew!!! I'm hungry!!

It probably evaporates rapidly dew to very large surface areas on small drops, the moment the dew point rises. Be interesting to see.

Undertoad wrote:

How d'ya tell the difference, aj?

Well there's a good question. I just know that every time I've ever read about web construction, the creator is referred to as a female, as in this quote about Orb Spider web construction:

"The most difficult part is the construction of the first thread. This is a sturdy horizontal thread on which the rest of the web is hanging. How does the spider connect this thread between the two connecting points? She can not fly. Does she connect a thread at one place, walk down with an enrolling thread behind her to the other side where pulls the thread horizontal and connects it? No, the answer is simpler. She makes use of the wind and some luck."

It's a pretty cool description of web building, actually. Here's a link:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/InfoNed/webthread.html
:3_eyes:

That site has lots of interesting info on spiders, such as the fact that some males have to escape quickly after mating to avoid being eaten by the females. And in other cases, the offspring eat their mothers!

Katkeeper wrote:

the fact that some males have to escape quickly after mating to avoid being eaten by the females.

Hardly a very friendly thing to do!

Neither is eating your mate...

...I mean in a literal sense. Pervert. Getchyer mind outta the gutter, think of the children.

Brianna wrote:

Thanks for the link, Tanalia. Very interesting...but, still, creeps me out, all those eyes.

:speechls:

ajaccio wrote:

I just know that every time I've ever read about web construction, the creator is referred to as a female

So how do the dude spiders make a living?

I'm sure there's a bit of wordplay involving the word "fly" that one might make.

Bruce, that is awesome. I read about spider eyes on the aforementioned link.

The rest of you should note that while obsessing on the spider sometimes eating her mate, their children, who she has cared for and nurtured, may eat her!i Ungrateful brats! Let's hear it from the parents!!

Parents being consumed by their children? No news there. :lol: