Mary has been away the last few weeks, helping Skatje and Kyle handle a ravening, demanding 15-month old, Iliana. She finally got back home last night, and she brought me a present! It was a spider. No one is surprised.
Well, I was, a little bit. Spiders show so much variation — I’m pretty sure this is Steatoda triangulosa, as it’s obviously a theridiidid, and it’s got that pretty pair of zig-zag stripes down the abdomen, but it’s so golden, and it’s got more zigs than I usually see in S. triangulosa here in Minnesota, and the patterns break up in a messy and different way. Species are so goddamned complicated. Why did I ever leave my nice, inbred, isolated zebrafish?
Anyway, she was guarding a nest in my daughter’s garage, and Mary brought back 6 egg sacs, all of the fluffy type we see with S. triangulosa. Most, probably all, are hatched out, but I’ll find out when I take them into the lab later.
Am I arrogant if I say I rather like my photo? Good lighting, nice pose, pretty animal. I should probably make a big print of it and hang it on my wall.
Not arrogant. I thought the same thing the second I saw it (though part of me wants to see more of the front).
I think going without the colored backgrounds makes a difference.
White, 18% (12%?) gray, or black depending on the spider, IMO.
Maybe clean it up a bit in post processing.
Here’s a guy who can do straight up documentation that’s also beautiful.
https://www.joelsartore.com/photo-ark/
Someday, there will be a study on the genetics of the local spider population, and there’ll be extremely confusing data from around where your house is. As if the spiders there came from pretty much everywhere.