The News Cycle » « Shy and nesting

Wheeeee!

Imagine this hurtling across the sand at you:

Unfortunately, there’s a limit.

The move doubles the spider’s speed, to 6.6 feet per second from 3.3. But since it uses so much energy, the maneuver is a last resort, called on only to escape predators.

“I can’t see any other reason,” Dr. Jäger said, adding: “It is a costly move. If it performs this five to 10 times within one day, then it dies.”

Don’t die, speedy spider! Slow down and take it easy! That’s what I tell myself every day.

The News Cycle » « Shy and nesting

Comments

  7. says

    Reminds me of a brown reclouse. I woke up one morning with one of those bastards in the middle of my bedroom floor. I carefully pulled on my stompiest boots and prepared to do my worst. These boots had a high heel and as a result, I missed. The spider slipped in between the heel and toe and ran off faster than I’ve ever seen any arthropod move.

    I shrugged my shoulders and said, “well I guess I have one of those now”, and went back to bed.

  9. wzrd1 says

    @7, after waking up with a quarter sized slowly and mildly necrotising wound on my calf, slowly deepening into a modest depression.
    As brown recluse spiders were absent from the range, the next candidate for a milder reaction than full on necrosis would be a hobo spider.

    I wouldn’t mind them in my home, save that the hobo spider and brown recluse are notorious for slipping between the sheets with humans, we’re ever so attractive to their cold blooded selves.
    Until they learn to stay away from my bed, neither is welcome inside of my home.
    Middle of the floor is something I really don’t care about, as either spider would only be transiting such a wide open, zero shelter space when it’s reasonably bright in that environment. Otherwise, they’d end up as bird or other predator’s food.