Jumping spider

dpastern wrote:
You'd be surprised They completely harmless btw.

Dave

aaaaw, lovely kind spider... really, harmless? hmmmm

They can bite! so she's not completly harmles, thanks for the info Dave, I'll be sure to put her back where I found her. I'm glad you like the pics, I'm letting her go tomorrow.
My gear for this is the ef-s 60mm macro, 20D and 580ex with off shoe cord. She doesn't stretch out with the lid off the box so when I let her go I'll try to get some shots of her doing that while she's wandering around. She eats a bunch! so far 5 blowfly's, a dung fly and a small moth.

There's other spiders in NZ that are dangerous; the relative to the redback widow and the white tip are two that I've read about for nz, there could be funnelweb hitch-hickers being so close to oz.

Yes we have those two and also the funnel web - however, I have never seen one yet (27 years old) and probably never will. Infact, don't know many people that have. So yeah, not all that common fortunately.

Yes. Very very very few spiders are harmful to mankind. The saltacid family has very few poisonous members. Jumping spiders (from my experience) are not aggressive at all, and are easily handled. They are very curious, and extremely intelligent.

Kraig C - have you been taking detailed notes of her temporary life in your new house for her? I hope so. Most spiders have very little known about them, so it's a good idea to take notes.

Dave

I'm not aware of any Funnel Web spiders being found migrating to New Zealand. Funnel Web spiders are earth dwellers, the female stays pretty much underground her entire life, and the male only comes out for mating. They are primative spiders. They are highly aggressive and contain a poison that really only affects primates (other mammals are rarely affected by their bite). Some scientists are now saying that the Mouse Spiders (also primative spiders) are even more deadly than the Funnel Web spiders. They share the same poison I believe.

I'm not sure if the Redback spider is present in New Zealand either, being a native to Australia, but it's highly likely that it has illegally migrated to our New Zealand bretheren! The redback spider is a modern spider, and is not particularly aggressive.

Some interesting pages:

http://www.amonline.ne​t.au/factsheets/funnel​web.htm

and

http://www.uq.edu.au/~​xxrraven/funnelwb.html

Note that the 2nd page references deaths occuring in some instances within 15 minutes! Of course, that's nothing like a Poison Arrow Tree frog (the world's most venomous creature, instant death upon touching its skin).

The white tailed spider can cause pain in the locale of the bite area, as well as necrosis - although the necrosis is now being discounted by modern researchers. It appears that the white tailed spider does NOT cause necrosis, it's simply that that particularly person is allergic to the spider's venom. A normal, non allergic person doesn't have any necrosis issues. Still, they're bite is painful, and it's a good idea to avoid getting bitten by them Interestingly, the Redback spider doesn't always illicit a reaction from what I've read. Some people haven't had any real major issue after being bitten by one, other than mild nausea and dizziness etc. It can take up to 48 hours for the venom from a Redback to start affecting a human as well apparently. Of course, it can kill as well.

Thought I'd share this information, sorry to hijack the thread!

Dave

Exelent series!!!! My favourite is the 2nd photo, great colors.

dpastern wrote:
I'm not aware of any Funnel Web spiders being found migrating to New Zealand. Funnel Web spiders are earth dwellers, the female stays pretty much underground her entire life, and the male only comes out for mating. They are primative spiders. They are highly aggressive and contain a poison that really only affects primates (other mammals are rarely affected by their bite). Some scientists are now saying that the Mouse Spiders (also primative spiders) are even more deadly than the Funnel Web spiders. They share the same poison I believe.

I'm not sure if the Redback spider is present in New Zealand either, being a native to Australia, but it's highly likely that it has illegally migrated to our New Zealand bretheren! The redback spider is a modern spider, and is not particularly aggressive.

Some interesting pages:

http://www.amonline.ne​t.au/factsheets/funnel​web.htm

and

http://www.uq.edu.au/~​xxrraven/funnelwb.html

Note that the 2nd page references deaths occuring in some instances within 15 minutes! Of course, that's nothing like a Poison Arrow Tree frog (the world's most venomous creature, instant death upon touching its skin).

The white tailed spider can cause pain in the locale of the bite area, as well as necrosis - although the necrosis is now being discounted by modern researchers. It appears that the white tailed spider does NOT cause necrosis, it's simply that that particularly person is allergic to the spider's venom. A normal, non allergic person doesn't have any necrosis issues. Still, they're bite is painful, and it's a good idea to avoid getting bitten by them Interestingly, the Redback spider doesn't always illicit a reaction from what I've read. Some people haven't had any real major issue after being bitten by one, other than mild nausea and dizziness etc. It can take up to 48 hours for the venom from a Redback to start affecting a human as well apparently. Of course, it can kill as well.

Thought I'd share this information, sorry to hijack the thread!

Dave

hmmm perhaps I am getting mixed up with the tunnel web, we have one of the two. We do have red back, apparently they have slowly come over on containers in ships etc during the past few years.

I didn't make notes of her time in the box but I remember some of the things she was doing. If you put more than one food item in there she will try to get anything that moves, even with food in her mouth. She constantly let out webbing, I had to take out alot of the webbing because it was making it difficult to open the lid without moving the bits of dirt and things that it stuck to. She sticks well to all the surfaces of the container with just her feet, takes time to clean the dirt off her foot pads with her mouth after walking in the dirt. Spit out the dirt particles after cleaning her feet. Today I went out to see if she was still around the area where I let her go, I didn't find her right away, I followed her web from the area I let her go and it lead me to her sitting on a peice of wood. She was posturing like the pics of one of the posters showing the mating dance, I didn't see another spider then noticed she was casting a shadow about a foot away from her. Apparently she was dancing to her own shadow.
This shot was taken about two hours after I let her go.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.