NC Tarantula visits Joe

Joezilla

Joezilla

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I was outside today and caught the closest version of a tarantula here, the trap door spider. That sound on the video is the lil booger's fangs scraping on the plastic. Neat stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWRoL9I5Mw0




trapdoor%20%20Ummidia%20audouini.jpg
 
Dude those trap door spiders are scary as balls. I came across a couple of them in my time and I still have crap stains.
 
At least I'm not the only guy around here who doesn't like spiders! I'll take snakes any day.
 
Carolina River Rat said:
Does that thing have ten legs?
Click to expand...

Kinda looks like it doesn't it? The small set near the mouth are pedipalps -"feeler feet". They don't walk on them, but they are used as supplemental sensory devices, for manipulating prey and, in the male, are used in courtship displays and to deposit semen into the female when mating. In sexually dimorphic spiders, the males usually have larger and often showy pedipalps.

Cool vid Joe! :thumbup:
 
Neato!

I love spiders. Not enough to prod them with a plastic tube while filming their reaction, mind you, but I certainly don't mind having them around.*

Whenever I catch a spider in the house, I transport it to one of my house plants, in the hopes that it will set up shop there. This has worked a few times (and not just with the spider plants). I would rather have spiders in the house than the things spiders eat, after all.

Speaking of which, Joe, there's an incredibly bold little and puttering around right beside the spider in that video. Abdomen of steel on that guy!

All the best,

- Mike

*Of course, we don't have spiders like that around here. We do have some huge dock spiders and decent-sized wolf spiders, though.
 
MacHete said:
Kinda looks like it doesn't it? The small set near the mouth are pedipalps -"feeler feet". They don't walk on them, but they are used as supplemental sensory devices, for manipulating prey and, in the male, are used in courtship displays and to deposit semen into the female when mating. In sexually dimorphic spiders, the males usually have larger and often showy pedipalps.

Cool vid Joe! :thumbup:
Click to expand...

+2 on the education tidbit Machete! The one in the video is a male. He has hooked pedipalps and was found above ground, probably looking for the ladies.

I tried to take a picture of it here:
P1016164.jpg


You can see the hook like structure Machete was referring to. In some male spiders, the pedipalps are all you notice. Look at this male black widow, that looks like he is wearing trucknutz on his face.

black_widow_001.jpg
 
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