Spiders: learning to love them

This is the title of our next Focus on Fauna presentation, and with that in mind we have included this unusual photo of a Water Spider (Dolomedes sp.) despite our policy of not immediately confronting possibly arachnophobic followers with a large spider photo.

The spider talk by Lynne Kelly will be held at Strath Creek Hall on 23rd October and all are welcome to attend. Click on the flyer at right for full details.

With the rainfall pattern we are experiencing, any container left outside at present is full of water in no time. And just as quickly, it seems, comes a captive population of aquatic wildlife: mosquito larvae, mites, springtails possibly – and even occasionally a spider like the one pictured here in a bucket.

Water Spiders, also known as Fishing Spiders, are in the family Pisauridae. They have hairs on the tips of their ‘feet’ (tarsi) that enable them to walk on water without breaking the surface tension. In effect they use the water surface as a web, detecting small prey by the ripples they create. But they can also dive and catch prey below the surface.

You’ve gotta love ’em!