Dark Fishing Spider With Egg Case - Dolomedes tenebrosus
by Carol Senske
Title
Dark Fishing Spider With Egg Case - Dolomedes tenebrosus
Artist
Carol Senske
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Dolomedes tenebrosus, also called the Dark Fishing Spider, is quite large. The female can be over 3" if you count the legs. Although they certainly could bite people, reports of bites are very rare - they'd rather stay in a dark, quiet place than bother you.
Although they can run on water, even dive, and do catch tiny fish when the opportunity arises, these spiders love to live in the woods, not just near water. We often get them in our house and must rush to catch them ( a quart yogurt container works well) and put them outside before the cat eats them.
They are excellent Moms, carry the egg sack until the babies are almost ready to hatch. Mom attaches her eggs to a vertical surface, builds a protective web around it and stays with the babies until they are ready to disperse. You can see this Mom's abdomen is shrunken from not eating.
They are beautifully marked and sort of fuzzy. Our garden seems to attract them,
Range data is roughly the eastern half of the USA but not Florida and Georgia.
Dedicated to those "excellent Moms":>)
This is quite a nice site with excellent information and images:
http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/dolomede.html
I used the Canon T4i camera with a Tamron Macro lens (90mm @ f/2.8). The picture was taken July 7, 2014, in Green Lane, Pennsylvania, USA.
Uploaded
July 12th, 2014
Statistics
Viewed 2,076 Times - Last Visitor from Cupertino, CA on 03/27/2024 at 11:45 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments (6)
Kathy Gibbons
so awesome!!! I love it never seen one and according to your research i will not see one in georgia : )
Carol Senske replied:
People are always discovering new things or animals in places they aren't supposed to be. I guess they can't read! Keep your eyes peeled and who knows:>) Thank you for the wonderful comment, Kathy!
Nancy Kane Chapman
I'm trying to picture this ....small. Less scary. F/L
Carol Senske replied:
Good luck with that - LOL! In spite of your trepidation you left her a F/L - thank you!