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Post by ecooper on Jul 10, 2013 14:12:52 GMT -8
I’ve been taking photos of zebra jumping spiders (Salticus scenicus) that have been hunting mosquitoes on the screen door to my kitchen. These spiders are really endearing in their movements and “attitude”...it’s too bad they are so tiny. Imagine how much fun they would be if they were the size of a tarantula!  Males of the species are apparently darker in colour, so I believe that the first photo below is of a male, and the second is a female. If anyone can confirm that, please let me know. There are more photos of each specimen on my blog. Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera; Zuiko 35mm macro lens; manual exposure (F8-F11 @ 1/200 sec); Olympus RF-11 ring flash (1/8-1/4 power); ISO: 200 Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.com P7040536 2 jumping spider on screen ernie cooper 2013 by ernie.cooper, on Flickr  P7110479 jumping spider screen 2 ernie cooper 2013 by ernie.cooper, on Flickr |
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Post by admin on Jul 10, 2013 14:51:48 GMT -8
These spiders obviously do not respect the rights of mosquitos.  |
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Post by ecooper on Jul 10, 2013 19:47:32 GMT -8
Mea culpa There is a quote circulating on Facebook that basically says that you are doing science wrong if you don’t make mistakes; that you are doing science really wrong if you don’t correct those mistakes; and that you aren’t doing it at all if you don’t accept that you’re mistaken. Well, it turns out that the darker spider is actually a different species: Platycryptus (probably P. californicus). It also turns out that what I thought were mosquitoes were actually non-biting midges (chironomids). Sigh. I have re-edited my blog and corrected these mistakes. I must be doing GREAT science! It’s interesting that two very similar species, one introduced and one native, were feeding on the same prey within inches of one another. I wonder whether the two species avoid each other (given their great vision) or if one ever preys on the other? Cheers, EC www.macrocritters.wordpress.com |
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Post by nomad on Jul 10, 2013 21:10:43 GMT -8
Superb and fascinating images.
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Post by anthony on Jul 14, 2013 11:58:57 GMT -8
Those are truly lovely spiders but I am thankful with their jumping ability and vision they are not the size of tarantulas. Great photos.
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Post by wingedwishes on Aug 4, 2013 2:58:23 GMT -8
A trick that might be a good tool to photograph jumping spiders: They will purdue a laser pointer. You can get them to look right into a lens by luring them with the red dot. I have yet to shoot a video doing this but I think it might be entertaining.
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Post by ecooper on Aug 9, 2013 6:37:11 GMT -8
A trick that might be a good tool to photograph jumping spiders: They will purdue a laser pointer. You can get them to look right into a lens by luring them with the red dot. I have yet to shoot a video doing this but I think it might be entertaining. Interesting suggestion...I'll have to try that... |
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