pitbulllady
01-19-2006, 08:24 PM
These are two VERY tiny spiders I photographed today at the school where I teach. Both are living inside the windowsill of the computer lab and my own Art classroom, respectively. The first, the one in the computer lab, is only about 1/8 of an inch in diameter-really, really tiny, yet he/she has collected some impressive trophies-the remains of Fire Ants(we have a Fire Ant problem at this school). This one lives in a funnel-like web going back into a crack between the metal part and the cement part of the window sill. I don't know if this is a mature individual, or a 'sling.
The second spider is hardly any larger, and resides in a tiny hammock-like web against the corner of a window sill inside my classroom. What is absolutely remarkable about this one is that he is a mature male, with enlarged pedipalps, AND has some very Mygalamorph-like characteristics. I did not even realize this until I uploaded his picture to the computer, since he's so tiny, only about 1/4 of an inch long, completely stretched out. He does not use webbing to catch prey or escape with, but runs around just like a tiny tarantula. My first thought, when I uploaded the pic, was that he looks like a "Mini Me" Aphonopelma! I live in South Carolina, and I know we have no native tarantulas(unfortunately), but could this be a Mygalamorph of some kind?
http://www.deviantart.com/view/27915637/
http://www.deviantart.com/view/27915928/
pitbulllady
The second spider is hardly any larger, and resides in a tiny hammock-like web against the corner of a window sill inside my classroom. What is absolutely remarkable about this one is that he is a mature male, with enlarged pedipalps, AND has some very Mygalamorph-like characteristics. I did not even realize this until I uploaded his picture to the computer, since he's so tiny, only about 1/4 of an inch long, completely stretched out. He does not use webbing to catch prey or escape with, but runs around just like a tiny tarantula. My first thought, when I uploaded the pic, was that he looks like a "Mini Me" Aphonopelma! I live in South Carolina, and I know we have no native tarantulas(unfortunately), but could this be a Mygalamorph of some kind?
http://www.deviantart.com/view/27915637/
http://www.deviantart.com/view/27915928/
pitbulllady