flickr-free-ic3d pan white

Fishing Spiders (Series of 3)

Found this Spider by the screetch of a HS Student collecting Sap from the Maple Trees, it was floating in the bucket. I saved it from Teenager DOOM!


Pisaurina sp.

Family Pisauridae - Nursery Web and Fishing Spiders.

These spiders resemble the wolf spiders (Lycosidae), but have a different eye pattern. Pisaurids have their eyes arranged in 2 rows, the posterior row slightly recurved, the median eyes in the second row slightly (if any) larger than the others. (Wolf spiders have eyes arranged in 3 rows). The egg sac is carried by the female under her prosoma, held there by her chelicerae & pedipalps. Before the eggs hatch, the female attaches the sac to a plant and then builds a web around it -- and stands guard nearby. The Pisaurids forage for their food and build webs only for protecting their young. Some spiders in this family, particularly fishing spiders in the genus Dolomedes, are quite large and may have a leg spread of 75 mm or more. The Dolomedes spiders live near water; they walk on the surface of water and dive underneath it to feed on aquatic insects and even small fish. Although nursery-web and fishing spiders are big enough to give a painful bite, they are not considered dangerous. Many people (including me), are confused by the 5 similar looking spiders - the harmless Huntsman, Wolf Spider, Southern House Spider (Kukulcania), Fishing Spider.

2 faves
Taken on March 8, 2012