Female Daddy Long Legs

Skippy

A few weeks ago I lifted the lid on the compost bin,
and found quite a few Daddy Long Legs under the lid.
(Pholcus phalangioides)

There were two females in the group and each had an egg sack,
so I went back inside and got my MPE-65 Lens,
not sure if I was using the Canon 20D or the 40D for this one :scratch

The Macro ability of this lens is just amazing,
for those of you who know what a Daddy Long Legs looks like in Australia,
they are different to the ones found in USA.

These DL's look so different this close up.
The egg sack alone.... like how unique are these ??, how perfect, each egg completely round.

All the eggs appeared to be the same size, and each was stacked precisely in the right place and bound with a thin netting of webbing.

She probably had about 50 or more in this sack,
they were so small, about the size of a pin head.

I frightened them when I lifted the lid, so I took a few shots,
and carefully put the lid back down.

Enjoy.......... Skippy

This shot is hand held, twin flash used with MPE-65 Lens.


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garyt

Skippy--Great shot. Eggs and eyes both in sharp focus, and the DL looks just fine. Definitely looks a little different from the ones we have here in the US. Hopefully, you will see them hatch soon, and can continue taking pictures of the wee ones.

Qarik

looks like an albino rasberry. great shot skippy

schmoo

Go Skippy!!

Yes, your DL spiders look very different (much more interesting) than ours.

I have only seen spider eggs once or twice in my life and I'm amazed how big they are in relation to the size of the parent animal. The webbing over the bundle is so amazing. Wow!

ABCaptures

wow.. just wow!! I dont particularly love spiders but those photos are fantastic! well done

those eggs are just amazing

Cuong

Skippy, those eggs look like a bag of pearls. Wonderful shot.

Cuong

Bendr

Wow, that's a really cool shot skippy... thanks for sharing it!

Skippy

garyt wrote:

Skippy--Great shot. Eggs and eyes both in sharp focus, and the DL looks just fine. Definitely looks a little different from the ones we have here in the US. Hopefully, you will see them hatch soon, and can continue taking pictures of the wee ones.

Thanks Gary, I try not to go near the compost bin because it upsets the dog next door.

I've never seen a DL with an egg sack before so this was a nice find for me.
... Skippy
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Skippy

Qarik wrote:

looks like an albino rasberry. great shot skippy

Yes like a tiny bunch of grapes even.
Thanks for looking Qarik .... Skippy
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Skippy

schmoo wrote:

Go Skippy!!

Yes, your DL spiders look very different (much more interesting) than ours.

I have only seen spider eggs once or twice in my life and I'm amazed how big they are in relation to the size of the parent animal. The webbing over the bundle is so amazing. Wow!

The ones in USA are bigger and a larger body,
the ones in Australia have a slimmer body and are smaller in size.
Thats compared to what I have seen in my trips between the two countries.

I have not seen many spider eggs in my time either Stef.
The entire contents of that egg sack amazed me.

Thanks for looking Stef ... Skippy
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Skippy

ABCaptures wrote:

wow.. just wow!! I dont particularly love spiders but those photos are fantastic! well done

those eggs are just amazing

Thank you stick around, Brian has some awesome spider shots,
as well as a few other folks on the forum .... Skippy
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Skippy

yukio wrote:

Skippy, those eggs look like a bag of pearls. Wonderful shot.

Cuong

Thank you Cuong, yes creation is a wonderful thing,
nothing fits together by accident, the designer uses a wonderful plan

.... Skippy
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Skippy

Bendr wrote:

Wow, that's a really cool shot skippy... thanks for sharing it!

Your welcome Ben ... Skippy
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eggbanjo

A fantastic shot skippy.
A true macro shot

teamracephotos

Fantastic image!
And you shot this hand held! I do not know but I would imagine that lens is hard to hand hold. It goes to 1:5 or is it always at 1:5. I have been trapped in home remodeling blues, one day I will be finished and be holding my camera once again. Thanks for sharing, Skippy you are mastering that lens!

ravic

Nice shot, Skippy.
Light and detail are so great!

Lord Vetinari

Excellent shot and find skippy . The eggs do look like a bunch of grapes
Brian V.

leaforte

Very cool nature shot. You are right about those egg sacks--so precise and uniform. I like the metalic silver of the eyes; sort of like mercury, and a nice contrast to the powdered sugar dusting on the eggs.

Skippy

eggbanjo wrote:

A fantastic shot skippy.
A true macro shot

Thank you ... Skippy
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Skippy

teamracephotos wrote:

And you shot this hand held! I do not know but I would imagine that lens is hard to hand hold. It goes to 1:5 or is it always at 1:5. I have been trapped in home remodeling blues, one day I will be finished and be holding my camera once again. Thanks for sharing, Skippy you are mastering that lens!

Hey I'm with you, it's not an easy lens to handle at all.
I continue to find it challenging Thanks for looking .. Skippy
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Skippy

ravic wrote:

Nice shot, Skippy.
Light and detail are so great!

I'm quite happy with the Canon Twin Flash system.
At times it can be a tad too bright, but often you can fix that by taking it down a few steps.

The problem is no matter what flash you use if the bug is reflective,
it's not easy to avoid reflection of the flash from the bug.

Thanks for looking Ravic .... Skippy
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Skippy

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Excellent shot and find skippy . The eggs do look like a bunch of grapes
Brian V.

Thanks Brian, I have seen Daddy Long Legs in this same place many times,
but never with egg sacks so that was a real bonus.

... Skippy
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Skippy

leaforte wrote:

Very cool nature shot. You are right about those egg sacks--so precise and uniform. I like the metalic silver of the eyes; sort of like mercury, and a nice contrast to the powdered sugar dusting on the eggs.

I was hoping when I viewed them on my computer,
I might find them to be a little transparent and hopefully,
be able to see inside... but nope

Ohhhhhh well.

The metalic silver of the eyes is from the flash, it is definately reflection.
I'd love to know if they make a sack first then lay the eggs in,
or if they lay the eggs then attach them one by one

Thanks for looking .... Skippy
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patricia kay

These are brilliant shots Skippy...

Havent seen a Daddy Long legs in quite a while and certainly not as close as yours....Yes it was a great bonus for you and for us to see the egg sacks!!

Patricia..........:D

BigAl

Very nice detail Skippy!

Have you tried the 40d's Liveview with the MPE-65 yet?

Skippy

patricia kay wrote:

These are brilliant shots Skippy...

Havent seen a Daddy Long legs in quite a while and certainly not as close as yours....Yes it was a great bonus for you and for us to see the egg sacks!!

Patricia..........:D

Thank you Patricia, I love Macro, there is so much we will never see,
unless we can see it shot in Macro... it's a whole other world.

...Skippy
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Skippy

BigAl wrote:

Very nice detail Skippy!

Have you tried the 40d's Liveview with the MPE-65 yet?

To tell you the truth Al I haven't really given it a good try.
I think it is still clearer to see it through the view finder,
but in all fairness I have not given much of a test.

Thanks for looking Al ... Skippy
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steplim

Hi Skippy,

Very nice with sharp details.

Skippy

steplim wrote:

Hi Skippy,

Very nice with sharp details.

Thank you Stephen, now if only all the creates that I find hard to come by would just be as co-operative as these ladies... they'd make it a whole lot easier to do MACRO .... Skippy
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