Cellar Spider

STM · Mar 29, 2020

This gorgeous little fella (gal I guess, I am assuming it was a female) was shot with the D850, PB-6 Bellows and

AIS Nikkor with 215mm of bellows extension, giving a magnification ratio of 3.3:1 on the sensor. ISO 64 @ f/11 Illuminated by a single strobe in a Softbox directly overhead. She is perched on a snipped off a branch of the bush from outside the apartment. And yes, she is deceased, you didn't think I could get a spider to sit still for that long did you?

From fangs to tail she is 8mm long, they have extremely long legs, the longest of which was about 50mm.

The final image is composed of 12 images photo stacked in PS.

Bob Blaylock · Mar 30, 2020

I think that's a male spider. Notice how the tips of the pedipalps are swollen? When a male spider is ready to mate, he ejaculates on the ground, then picks the sperm up in his pedipalps, causing them to swell up like that. On hooking up with a suitable lady spider, he uses his pedipalps to transfer the sperm to her.

Dangerspouse · Mar 30, 2020

Bob Blaylock said:
I think that's a male spider. Notice how the tips of the pedipalps are swollen? When a male spider is ready to mate, he ejaculates on the ground, then picks the sperm up in his pedipalps, causing them to swell up like that. On hooking up with a suitable lady spider, he uses his pedipalps to transfer the sperm to her.

Are you an entomologist, Bob? That was very interesting. Amazing to see the various reproductive strategies that different species have evolved over millions of years.

STM · Mar 30, 2020

Bob Blaylock said:
I think that's a male spider. Notice how the tips of the pedipalps are swollen? When a male spider is ready to mate, he ejaculates on the ground, then picks the sperm up in his pedipalps, causing them to swell up like that. On hooking up with a suitable lady spider, he uses his pedipalps to transfer the sperm to her.

I am not so sure, this one was larger than an average male and it was solitary in its web,

This is a photo of a male I found on the web and it's pedipalps look very different

Cellar Spider

STM

Senior Member

Bob Blaylock

Senior Member

Dangerspouse

Senior Member

STM

Senior Member