Spiders and their Prey

pathfinder

I spent a few minutes late last evening out in the dark, capturing shots of spiders that appear after sundown on my barn every night.

I would be grateful if someone can identify the species or common name of these spiders.



[imgl]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/97584195-L.jpg[/imgl][imgr]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/97584526-L.jpg[/imgr]

And one of their prey












All shot with an EOS 100macro + 36mm Kenko extension tube and a 5D.

Ann McRae

Hi Jim
I think it might be an orb weaver - does it make a nice, regular repeating web?

Have you looked at e-nature.com?

Great shots.

ann

Lord Vetinari

Wonderful shots- never tried night shots.
#2 looks like an orb web weaver possibly Nuctenea umbratica (female).
The other spider might be a male of the same species (can't see it's palps).
Brian V.

pathfinder

Yes, they do make fairly regular webs, Ann - they are nocturnal and only seen at night around the doors on my barn which is the white background.

Ther are about 1/4 to 1/2 in in size, the smaller ones are thinner in the abdomen. I wondered if they were males and the larger ones were females.

Focusing can be interesting at times since I did not bring a flashlight, but that could be done to help focus, Brian.

Thanks for the help identifying them

Skippy

pathfinder wrote:

I spent a few minutes late last evening out in the dark, capturing shots of spiders that appear after sundown on my barn every night.

I would be grateful if someone can identify the species or common name of these spiders.
And one of their prey
All shot with an EOS 100macro + 36mm Kenko extension tube and a 5D.

Nice work Jim...........gawwwwd if i thought I had spiders like that in my garage I'd be out there every night too hahaha!
It's not fair I tell you, I wanna find some like that
They look like they aint starving that's for sure........Skippy (Australia)

pathfinder

I'll see if I can find some more for ya, Skippy

Awais Yaqub

Wow wonderful !! just amazing

pathfinder

I found a few more Skippy

Lord Vetinari

Some lovely jumping spider pics there. Not sure what type of soider the last one is though- excellent shots anyway
Brian V.

pathfinder

Brian - I think I have identified the last image via enature.com

There is an image that looks very much like mine - they call it a Funnel Web Grass Spider - Agelenopsis naevia

This spider I photographed in a small pine tree, just about eye-level, and the web certainly looks like a funnel. The spider would pop forward and backward right at the apex of the funnel - catching it in view took several tries, so a funnel web spider seems like an apt name.