Ladybird and Zebra Spider.

Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus.

his fangs are bigger than those on the Zebra Spiders in my own garden, so I'm pretty sure this is a male. And very impressive he is for sure!

From a distant I had spotted just a lot of legs on the move, and on closer inspection I had found the resident Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus.

And although he had his back to me, he had certainly sensed something in the air, as he lifted his head to try and figure out what or who.







What had alerted me to this bit of the garden at BantryRehabcare Respite, was the movement of this little 7-spot Ladybird, Coccinella 7-puncta
We had just arrived and, as the Sun was out, in the middle of October, I headded outside with my cuppa. What was apparent, was that there were more Insects than during the summer! I had complained about the lack of Insects, but this time there were lots of flies trying to find something to eat. The Ladybird was the only one sitting still for a picture though. So here's a few other pictures of the garden.








This Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus,


A sparkling sheet hung loosely over the top of a Hebe.







The New Zealand Flax had gone a little brown.

Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus

Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus


Jumping Spider males will perform a courtship dance in which they not only wave the front legs, but "but femaleswill pick up the rapid vibration when the dancing male pushes down his abdomen. You can see this dance of another jumping spider specie, in this video.

And if you scroll down to the (almost) bottom photos here, you can see great photos of the Male (right) and Female (left picture) of our Salticus scenicus. The fangs of the male look enormous, which make me think that I got 2 females.

Ajumping spider does not catch its prey in a web, but instead it will stalk its dinner and pounce. Just before the jump, it will attach a silk thread, so it could always get back.

If you are intrigued by Spiders like me, and would love to find names to the pictures, the Spiders of North west Europe is a nice website with lovely photos. At the bottom of the Home Page is a list of other eight legged websites globally.
I love the little Zebra Spiders. As regular readers of Wildlife on Wheels will know. I have a few living around the outside walls of the house, and last year had one inside the kitchen. Despite their 5-7mm size, I usually spot one daily. Whenever I get outside, I do stop at the wall next to the porch, to check if one is there.
And of course, it would not pose for the camera, but rather keep on going wherever they think they need to go. With an incredible speed, while I follow it with the camera!
Another one lives on the other side at the front, always I haven't seen it for a couple of months now. I'm fearing it might be gone, as there were Grasshoppers and the much bigger Garden Spider, living in that corner of the garden also.
I saw them both at the same time in summer, otherwise I might be doubtful it being two different spiders. I've tried looking for individual features, but they are so small, that it is very hard to see on my images, and so I keep guessing.








Also, they are very curious and will often lift their head to observe that silly human who is watching this spider!








This Zebra spider I captured last year on my back wall. So I might have 3 about the place; mind you, I would not be surprised at all, if my one next to the porch had moved north to the back of the house, very near where I took most of the above pictures.

And a Meta segmenta, I'd think. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus

Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus

They are known for their curiosity, in that they often lift the head to observe us, humans.

. And with 2 very large, and six smaller eyes, these little jumping spiders are fierce predators. Females will be between 5-8mm longand males come in at about 5-6mm. The

Before they jump onto their chosen prey, the Zebra Spider will fasten a thread; this way they will not fall down when jumping.
The mother will stay with her egg sac and protect her hatchlings until the spiderlings have had their second moult.

2 Zebras Spiders

In May this year I spotted a very small spider walking on the wall, towards the light of the door. The nice thing with a digital camera is then that you can see much clearer the markings of these little creatures, once the pics are on the laptop.
On its abdomen it had markings which could have been embroidered. Or All sorts licorice.
At equal distance, it has three white lines over the abdomen, with a black line running through these over the length of the abdomen, from the Spider's body. Also, on closer inspection, it seems to have some kind of pincer shaped tentacles, up front.

I had been going through some of my photos of Spring Flowers, yesterday and had come upon pictures of Miss/Mister black&white as well. Thinking I should post about it, because I wanted an ID for it.

When outside in the garden wit my camera, something caught my eye, as it moved over the wall of the house. This is white pebble-dash, and very white when the Sun is out. Most of what I saw was that it was carrying a bit of leaf up front.

I was surprised to see that it had a similar pattern on its abdomen as the one I'd seen in May. Only difference was that this one, smaller as it was, had only two white lines. Would it get a third one in later life? Could it be that this was a juvenile? Or is the continuous white line in yesterday's Spider perhaps the indicator that these two are a similar specie? I think yesterday's was smaller than the one I saw in May.

Thanks to, fellow Irish blogger,Stuart Dunlop, of Donegal Wildlife, I am now able to put a name to this pretty little spider. It was a Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus. And if you click on the link, you'll see it close-up.


Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus , 26/05/09
(the black legs indicate it to be a male)



Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus no. 2, 04/08/09:
(Female, which has these dappled legs)

Edit: it is not a leaf which she is carrying, she has caught herself some green Insect. In that case, "Well done to the little bugger, prey is almost as big as the predator herself.!"

(Apparently, when these Spiders hunt, they jump and pounce their prey. What a pity I had just missed that moment with Spider no.2. As you can see in the cropped picture, she had just been on the hunt for a good big meal. )
Wonder how long this will last her?


Zebra Spider, Salticus scenicus. no. 2, cropped: