Spider

[i_like_the_stars]

Big ol' spider I stumbled upon when on a walk about a day or two ago. I think she has babies on her back!!!!!

Under a details tag for arachnophobic friends

Comments

[cmcmck]

That's impressive!

[i_like_the_stars]

Thanks! I literally made the "pog" face for a good five seconds lmao

[full_metal_ox]

Congratulations for the capture, and against a maximally contrasting surface—a well-timed catch, since so many animals seek camouflage.

Some sort of wolf spider, I’m hazarding a guess?

[i_like_the_stars]

I never realized how lucky this capture was, hell yeah!! I love finding critters on the sidewalk, always a delight.

Probably, yeah. I haven't looked into the spiders of my area to try and identify it, but I know wolf spiders are around here.

[starwatcher]

I think I decided spiders are cool when I read Charlotte's Web. I can't see the babies -- old eyes -- but what a charge!

I've taken spider pics and posted about them in past years.

Tarantula https://starwatcher.dreamwidth.org/67387.html

Orange spider I've never seen again. https://starwatcher.dreamwidth.org/305684.html

[full_metal_ox]

The orange spider confronting the fly looks like a Wild Jumper, Phidippus carneus:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GardenWild/comments/1flpdix/wild_jumper_phiddipus_carneus_caught_a_fly_for/

[starwatcher]

Very cool! I'm in NM, so the location is right, but I didn't know how to look it up. Thanks for the info.

[full_metal_ox]

I did an image search for “orange jumping spiders New Mexico”, and then looked for one that corresponded to your photo. (Warning: major search engines will offer an AI summary at the top of the page; disregard the Devil’s Easy Button and go to local nature websites.)

[starwatcher]

I am officially old^TM, and haven't learned to search for that type of general question. If I have a clue, I'm all over it. Someone mentioned "mouse birth control," so I did a search, and some research, and now have bait stations in 6 places. I didn't even recognize that it might be a jumping spider, and couldn't find it with just "orange spider." Of course, that was 17 years ago; search engines have come a long way since then.

Anyway, it's nice to have an ID. Thanks again.

[i_like_the_stars]

Oh wow, your photos are so good! Sadly I'm pretty afraid of bugs despite loving them dearly, so I always keep my distance. Since my phone is old, the camera isn't great, so any amount of zoom gets blurry lol.

As for the babies, I think the shine on her back is the babies' eyes. I think her back end is also fuzzier due to babies?

[light_of_summer]

FYI, bugguide.net is a great resource for identifying all sorts of bugs in the USA—you can post cropped photos there, with approximate bug size, date seen, and location, and experts will identify them!

[i_like_the_stars]

Oh wowie, thank you! I'll keep that in mind.