Ms Green Lynx and Her Growing Family
 

At the end of August, a Green Lynx spider took up residence on one of the zinnia blooms. She’s been there every day since and I’ve been watching her every day. Here she is dining on a lady beetle.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/igDIaAB.jpg[/IMG]

Ms. Lynx began growing and getting pretty fat. Then on September 15 I found she had produced what I figured was an egg sac. She was pretty protective of it. And not as fat!

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/S2zUg6b.jpg[/IMG]

The hot weather kept building and on Sep 25th, when it hit a short streak of 100 degree highs, Ms. Lynx was smart and moved her egg sac to the shade under the flower.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/YVP2yPW.jpg[/IMG]

I guess there wasn’t enough shade since it was facing the sun and by that afternoon she had moved it to the other side of the flower base where it got more shade.

Yesterday I noticed that there was some kind of cottony webbing around the sac and there were also a few tiny little orange things. Babies! Ms. Green Lynx herself has also changed color as her abdomen is no longer bright emerald green and her thorax, although still green, is a darker shade. Her legs have developed reddish spots or maybe the beginnings of stripes. Curious about that, I read where the females will change color during the egg laying process over a 16 day period.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/pRo3ODw.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/4PbO8r0.jpg[/IMG]

This morning there’s a bunch of little ones and they’re just enough bigger that it’s easy to see legs now.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/nTHmRtz.jpg[/IMG]

That's quite a brood! I wonder how many will survive. Wikipedia says they hunt both bad bugs (including cabbage loopers and other moths) but also beneficials, including honey bees. Like anything else in life, there are two sides to each coin. Meanwhile, I'll keep checking on this family every day.

Awesome pics GoDawgs! :D She is even prettier after giving birth! And the babies are sweet. :cute:

Pretty spider, but luckily she doesn't wear panty hose with those barbs on her legs!! Pretty lady though.

Fascinating photos.

One very busy mother! She appears to be doing a great job so far.

Great photos -- I love that you followed progress over her season. That's a passel of young 'uns! I wonder what the life span of a spider is, assuming no accidents.

Excellent photography and commentary.

Thanks for all the kind words. Stuff like this just fascinates me. Then there are the two black swallowtail chrysalises on the parsley. One has split and is empty! I don't think the other one is viable but I'm not going to open it just for curiosity's sake.

[QUOTE=Barb_FL;747455]Excellent photography and commentary.[/QUOTE]
+1.

I welcome spiders in the garden & in the house. (If they can find bugs to eat in my house, I want the spiders to eat them!:yes:)

I try to not bust through spider webs when I walk through my garden in the mornings. I hate trailing spider webs off my face as I walk, but more importantly I don't want to disturb the spiders as they work. Spiders, wasps, and bees don't bother me. I detest scorpions and fire ants. I have quite a few red velvet ants. I've never seen two in the same vicinity at the same time. I leave them alone and they leave me alone. I once read the velvet ant has the most painful bite or sting of any insect. I don't want to find out.

Ms Green Lynx wasn't there today. That's a first. I wonder if she's gone or just off on a hunting trip for her little ones. The babies have moved away from the webbing where the egg sac was but they are still on the underside of the flower. There doesn't seem to be as many in one spot as there were yesterday. I couldn't get a clear pic because the breeze kept moving their house around!

I've taken to moving tiny spiders to areas where I have tiny insect problems. They, along with my other efforts, are keeping the fungus gnats under control on my indoor seedlings.