South African Widow Spiders

[kalvaer]

Originally from this thread: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=149229

so! go find more and look for ones with big, smooth sacs ...take pics...oh, and dont forget to step back and get shots of the webbing, structure and immediate environment. Look for geos close by ...they should be right there next to them ...show us how close the two species hang. :D ;) I had forgotten about this. I was looking for my dads tripod and went to look in his golfing room. Dont think he has been in there for the last 6 months and I only remembered about this thread when I walked into a web and suddenly thought it was a good idea to put the lights on. Not sure how much of the webbing I disturbed when I walked into it, or how much of the webbing was cellar spiders which were also there

This is what I found:

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider004.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider005.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider008.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider011.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider013.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider015.jpg

[kalvaer]

Hmmm I just noticed in Picture 2 above, on the top right. There are some extra legs pretuding from the rail. It seems she has a flat mate.. LOL Rushing back to go see what it is.

[kalvaer]

Yeah... she has a friend.. I have NO idea what this is:

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider020.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider025.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh53/kalvaer/Spiders/ButtonSpider026.jpg

[madatter]

hahahhaa about 2 days ago a i found a similar scenario in my Pool Filter Box.
glad its about 50m from our house hahahaha.

i stay in JHB by the way :)

[Sukai94]

That is a lot of eggsacs!

[Moltar]

Holy smokes! That's a whole lotta Latros just waiting to pop. I think I'd have to remove those sacs to a safer distance it that was my house.

I wonder how it will play out with her friend there? Tell us please if one manages to eat the other...

[kalvaer]

Thats the typical situation with egg sacs when you find these in a quiet area around here. Thank goodness though its actually pretty far away in an outside room from my Dads house.

I've been told the top one btw is a nursery web spider (http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/arachnids/spiders/pisauridae/index.htm), probably Pisauridae Euprosthenops sp (found out on tarantulas.co.za)

Oh and madatter, I know what you mean about the pool filter boxes, After seeing these I went over to my Dad's pool filter to check. There are a about 15 sacs there, but no spiders to be found. I'm in Southern JHB, Though these were taken closer to Meyerton.

[Raikiri]

Great find!
How common are widows there?

[kalvaer]

In my area... pretty much everywhere. Though I think they are fairly comman throughout the country

[Tarantula_Hawk]

Lol Picture 2 also shows a Pholcidae :D . Nice little scenario u got there. Gotta love Africa

[kalvaer]

I think my dad is not going to go into his golf training room for awhile if I show him whats all in there :)

[Widowman10]

whew! that's a lot of geometricus waiting to come out!! good stuff.

[kalvaer]

Are these many egg sacs normal? I have seen hundreds around, but usually with more than one spider in the location?

[Lachdanan]

I have a Geometricus female - she has spun 8 egg sacs over the past 2 months! :)

[kalvaer]

Lol Picture 2 also shows a Pholcidae :D I assumed last night that you were talking about the cellar spider :) I'm still learning all the scientific names but decided this morning to double check.

I found this on Wiki and was gob smacked. Is this really true ???

Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae)
Pholcids are natural predators of the Tegenaria species, and are known to attack and eat redback spiders and huntsman spiders [2][3]. It is this competition that helps keep Tegenaria populations in check, which may be advantageous to humans who live in regions with dense hobo spider populations

[What]

whew! that's a lot of geometricus waiting to come out!! good stuff.

What makes you soo sure it is a geo? Mightn't it be L. rhodeniensis?

[Tarantula_Hawk]

I found this on Wiki and was gob smacked. Is this really true ???

Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae)

Well, yea im pretty sure that happens often with Tegenaria, especially with wondering males during the mating period. As soon as they get tangled in the cellar spider's web its pretty much the end as the get easily overpowered regardless of their size. I assume this could happen with huntsman spiders wandering at night. Not too sure how this happens with redbacks though.:?

[Raikiri]

Wiki is not the best resource. Round 6 month ago I tried to check Phoneutria's LD50, and I found a value in a wiki article. I've checked the resource. The article what was wiki's LD50 refernce did not contain any numbers, any LD50 values. So if you read something there, you'd better check the reference...

[kalvaer]

It may not be the best, but it is currently the biggest. My wife is a Nuclear physicist and even she uses wiki for certain projects:) But as you mentioned check the references on the bottom before you believe anything. Which is also why I asked here, since the source had a citation needed quote. Even encylopedia's (which many younger people cant even remember anymore) had information in that was incorrect, but people used them to get PHD degree's. Which was why new ones were brought out yearly

Also if anyone sees something in WIKI that is wrong. Log in and fix it. Thats what makes wiki so great, More people just need to put some effort in, and it will be the best resource under one roof.

[Widowman10]

What makes you soo sure it is a geo? Mightn't it be L. rhodeniensis?

no. quote from buthus:
L. rhodesiensis sacs are big and smooth! ...and geo sacs have crazy spikes all over them.

assuming this is correct, that means they are geo sacs.

[What]

assuming this is correct, that means they are geo sacs.

Hmm... I was almost sure that L. rhodesiensis had the spiked/fluffy sacs as well...

[Widowman10]

Hmm... I was almost sure that L. rhodesiensis had the spiked/fluffy sacs as well...

quote directly from scienceinafrica.co.za:

Latrodectus rhodesiensis was originally described from Zimbabwe. They are usually paler in colour and their egg sacs are distinct in being larger and having a more fluffy appearance.

hopefully that is a reliable enough source.

[What]

Heh, well, at least I was right on *part* of that. :rolleyes:

:)

[Widowman10]

Heh, well, at least I was right on *part* of that. :rolleyes:

:)

yes, that is true!! ;) i also can't find too many GOOD pictures of the rhodes widow. i wonder if it has the set of yellow dots around the spinnys like the geos do. that would be a good deciding characteristic if that's a difference...