Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Female Wolf Spider with egg sac

Female Wolf Spider with egg sac
Latin name: family Lycosidae

I was at a public wading pool with the kids this past Saturday. It was rather hot, over 30 degrees. The kids had a great time splashing around. While the kids were lying on their towels soaking up the heat, this little female Wolf Spider with her egg sac tucked beneath her abdomen ran out from the grass onto the cement that surrounds the pool by about 3 metres. It initially ran under Janneke's towel. I shooed the spider away so that it wouldn't bite Janneke if she inadvertently rolled onto it. The spider ran back into the grass and disappeared from sight for a while. About five minutes later she (the spider) reappeared and made a beeline for the pool, in a quick run interspersed with little jumping hops. She went to the edge of the water, took a drink, then proceeded back to the grass. I got a few shots of her as she paused periodically. Note how she raises herself up as far as possible from the hot cement.