If this were a horror movie scenario, I’d be doomed. There I am, puttering around in the lab, feeding my pretties, when I notice that one of the egg sacs from Texas has hatched out, and there in the container was a small swarm of babies. “Oooh,” I cooed, and took them over to a clear spot on the bench so I could sort them out. I took the lid off and set it to the side — no worries with these little guys, they’re slow and content to just rest there on their web, and I took a few baby pictures.
Then…little did I know but this container also held the mama spider. She had been lurking, hanging from the lid, and I hadn’t even realized that there was a large adult in the container.
On the lid…that I had just mindlessly set aside without even looking at it. She crept out and pounced, leaping upon my exposed right hand, racing across it, probably looking for a good vein to rip into! That was the first I noticed her, an unexpected tickling across the back of my hand. She’s a big one, too, so I just scooped her into a handy plastic box. And there she is, looking a bit pissed off.
I named her Texanne, Texanne of the Texas triangulosas, and this was the best photo I could get while she was furiously skittering about. I’ve now moved her into a spacious cage with some flies to nibble on. Once she has calmed down, I’ll try to get some good photos of her abdominal pattern.
But yeah, now I’ve got a lot of Steatoda triangulosa, unexpectedly. That’s fine, they’re pretty and elegant, and seem to be doing well in the lab.
nomdeplume says
Never get between a mother spider and her babies PZ…
hemidactylus says
I look at Texanne and recall the iconic image of Che in the beret. I would start reading up on arachnid counterinsurgency techniques.
John Hartung says
I’m so glad you’re a spider scientist now!!
Pierce R. Butler says
From reading the headline, I’d thought the Myers family had acquired a new cat.
Akira MacKenzie says
(Me pulls out the Phial of Galadriel)
Aiya Eärendil elenion ancalima!
leerudolph says
Mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be monsters.
bcwebb says
I horror movies it’s always a really bad thing you see the egg sac has hatched.
Gotta go find a copy of one of the Aliens infinite sequels.
davidc1 says
I accuse you Dr P Z Myers of altering my behaviour regarding spiders ,I was in a cupboard on Sunday ,felt something on my hair ,knocked it off and it sunk away under the steam mop ,in the old days i would have screamed like a little girl and hunted it down to death .
But i let LIVE ,LIVE i tell you .
But can’t say if I find one in my bedroom it won’t get squished .