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Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Bowl And Doily Spider

Image: Cletus Lee
Frontinella pyramitela
Some bowls are full of fruits. Others, hot chicken soup. A sacred few are piled high with tiny chocolate bars.

We're looking at one that contains dead flies and spiders. Yum!

Image: Cletus Lee
Female
The spider in question resides in North America. They're tiny, females reaching just 3 or 4 mm long...

Image: IvanTortuga
Male
Males are slightly smaller.

Image: Rob Curtis
They're dwarfed by their webs, which are indeed shaped like a bowl sat upon a doily. A doily, by the way, is a kind of crocheted saucer which has probably gone in and out of fashion several times over the centuries.

The Bowl and Doily Spider remains true to the doilish art. They cling to the underside of the bowl, with the doily area beneath them.

Image: Nancy Magnusson
It is, of course, a trap. Above the bowl are a whole series of silk lines which create a dangerous obstacle course for flying insects. Any who fail to meet the challenge and bump into one of the lines may tumble all the way down into the bowl...

Image: heather.morrison
Where the spider awaits.


Or maybe two spiders. Male and female Bowl and Doily Spiders sometimes cohabit in the same web during the breeding season.

I just hope they take the next logical step in their craft. Turn that bowl upside down and you got yourself a nice, matching doily/tea cosy set!
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5 comments:

  1. Crunchy21 January 2015 at 13:58

    You know, I thought we were just about due for another spider! At least these aren't huge and chunky, bursting from their own carapace with grossness.

    Also nice of them to put down that doily just in case they spill. Don't want to get dead bugs all over the place. That's just messy and wasteful.

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  2. Porakiya22 January 2015 at 03:30

    First spiders that create webs that span rivers, then spiders that use rocks to create webs, then spiders that create lamps, and now spiders that create bowls and doilies? What next? Spiders that create wigs?

    Also, male and female spiders cohabiting the same web? What is the world coming to!

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  3. Crunchy22 January 2015 at 14:42

    It's not that uncommon these days. Two spiders meet, they like each other a lot, things start to get serious and they move in together to try things out. Then if everything works out OK, they get married.

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  4. Lear's Fool23 January 2015 at 06:48

    Quite the place they set up though! Ambitious little buggers.

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  5. Joseph JG23 January 2015 at 09:49

    @Crunchy: Shame those gross-bursting spiders don't put down a doily to collect the grossness!

    @Porakiya Draekojin: You probably mean wings but I'd love to see a spider in a toupee!

    @Crunchy: Just think of the silky wedding dress!

    @Lear's Fool: It looks like the spider equivalent of a crystal palace!

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