17 January 2012

black velvet

Look at her, freshly moulted, resplendent in her blue-black coat, and completely living up to the name Velvet Spider. Such a shy little thing, all 1cm of her gazing cautiously at me through those four eyes. As our porch was recently rendered unsafe by vigorous cleaning, especially for a soft and recently moulted mommy with eggs, I gently relocated her to a wild rockery further down in the garden.





9 comments:

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    1. In a good way I hope? (-: Not everyone likes to get up close and personal with hairy spiders.

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  2. By further down the garden you mean...far....far...far away??

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  3. I caugt a spider like this onmy curtain.I would like to know if its poisonous and if it bites humans

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    1. Hi anonymous.

      These spiders of the genus Gandanemo are part of the family Eresidae - they only occur in the Old World and are completely harmless and will not bite humans. This is a very close-up macro shot, making her look a bit bigger than the 3-4cm (1.5") that she really is.

      See http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/arachnids/spiders/eresidae/index.htm for more info.

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  4. Oh, my Lord...even at a 1.5" that's terrifying. Magnified, the spider almost looks....sentient...

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  5. Aww she's too cute 😍 love these darlings

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  6. Super curious the lifespan of a properly kept velvet spider??

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    1. No idea. This is a wild spider, I wouldn't keep them captive.

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