Its #Spiderday Again

It's another #spiderday

Here is a grass spider that wandered into my condo.

Grass spiders (Agelenopsis) typically live on hedges and trees around here. They weave funnels on the top with a surface net to sense their prey. Once a fly or grasshopper lands on the surface net they run out of their funnel to catch the prey.

I put this one on a white plate to try and get its details. They are fairly fast spiders that don't like to be out in the open, fortunately I found this one while it was cold near the window and it was cooperative in not running away during the photoshoot.

Here you can see the hairs on its legs that are used to detect slight movements in the web it weaves. Once it feels slight movement on the web via these tiny hairs it will rush out to try and catch its prey. Their eyesight isn't very good so they have to feel things out to locate their prey.

They have three rows of tiny eyes with two on top four in the middle and two wider spaced apart eyes on the bottom.

Here's one in its natural environment. At the park they really like webbing up the benches. The flat surface is perfect for catching flies and any other insect that is unfortunate to land on the bench.

Here is a grass spider in action that I filmed. Sadly its prey was to armored to become a meal. It will have to wait for easier prey next time.