Green Lynx Spider--Tom S., Austin, TX pg 2: The first photo Tom sent was the dorsal shot of the previous page. I suggested a photo of the spider's underside and, tout de suite, he sent one! The image on the immediate right is a cropped portion of the latter photo, showing the spider's ventral body. The insert at far right is a cropped portion of Tom's original photo, of the dorsal body. Note the spinnerets at the apical posterior of the abdomen, in the ventral view: these are arranged much like the spinnerets of a wolf spider, projecting outward from the posterior tip of the abdomen rather than downward as in most orbweavers. So, voila! this is a hunter, not an orbweaver. In fact, the oxyopids are hunters much like the salticids, or jumping spiders, with whom they are closely aligned and often confused. Unlike the salticids, however, they have three tarsal claws (a trait shared with the wolf spiders), which suggests they are more adept at manipulating silk than their two-clawed jumping cousins, as the third claw is a middle hook used to grasp the silk thread and, on tensing the musculus depressor praetarsi, pressing it against serrated bristles opposite the claws to hold it firmly in place (Foelix, 1996, p. 18). Note the dark, purplish spot near the anterior ventral abdomen: this is the region of the epigynum, i.e., the sclerotized covering over the female's internal genitalia, between the book lungs, anterior to the epigastric furrow.  NEXT PAGE------PAGE MENU:  1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 ----- SNAKE ENCOUNTERS * SPIDER ENCOUNTERS *  SPIDER BITE FIRST AID * SPIDER EXTERMINATION * Created & edited by Jerry Cates: Questions? Corrections? Comments? BUG ME RIGHT NOW! ---- Ph: 512-331-1111 ---- E-Mail ---- Privacy ---- BugsInTheNews