I made my usual rounds of the house, seeking spiders, today. In particular, I have my eyes on this:
It’s some kind of twiggy bush growing near my house — I have no idea what it is, my resident plant-identifier is off in Colorado, neglecting my needs — but what you can’t see in this, as in all the shrubberies around my house, is that there are delicate lines of silk connecting all the branches. It’s true, I look in my yard with all the newly budded plants around it, and all I see are frames for holding spider silk. I stared at that for about a half hour, possibly making the neighbors wonder if I was already going mental, tracing each branch and every strand of silk, hoping to find the perpetrator.
I did not.
I will be checking regularly throughout this spring, and I’m certain that at some point I will catch them in the act. It’s just a matter of time, and they will be mine.
I did find other spiders on the wall, though. The usual zebra jumpers and asiatic wall jumping spiders…
…but also this mysterious young lady. Curious. She looks a bit like Attulus, but so dark. I see a lot of variation in color, though, so I don’t know.
Then, I struck gold. I found the first Parasteatoda specimen I’ve seen outdoors since last year. She even killed a mosquito for me!
I want you to know, though, that in order take her picture, I had to get down on my knees in the dirt. Then I had to get even lower and lie on my side to get the right angle. I think it’s going to be laundry day.
As usual, the spider photos are tucked away on Instagram, iNaturalist, and Patreon if you want to see them.
We should just start calling you Louis the XI.
Cue dramatic musical sting!
;-)
@1, Assorted factions have been at war with spiders for longer than a mere one hundred years. Not sure they are “at war” with an archaic l’universelle aragne poopyhead as such (unless crackers are involved).
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The mildly deranged penguin does not identify that alleged plant as being any known species of cheese, but says it does remind her of Yetibane — are they any Yetis or other furry humanoids in the area? (Beards don’t, in general, count — unless there are yetis hiding in them or they go walkabout sans the attached person.) If no Yetis, then the Yetibane is working, she asserts.
That plant? It’s a triffid.
Red twig dogwood.
I am now living deep in the downtown.
There are trees out there, I just need to find them.
chigau@6, If christoph@4’s hypothesis is correct, they will find you…
I forgot to comment this, but: I had no interest in spiders, but I took a shrubbery to the ArachNi!
=8)-DX
It’s red twig dogwood. Cornus Sericea.
The important question, will it produce poisonous sap? And, how much can I harvest without killing the plant?
One of teh FtB ah… ah…, er, well, let’s just leave it at that, Great American Satan, has euthanised a spider in the name of evil cattery, The Mysterious Allure of Spider Sauce. Results are inconclusive.