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Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:42 pm
by Richprins
Klipspringer wrote: ↑Sun Jan 03, 2021 6:06 pm
One of the spiders cartwheeling down sand dunes
Klippies!
The Wheel or Tumbling spider!
Wheel spiders are up to 20 mm in size, with males and females the same size. The wheel spider is a nocturnal, free-ranging hunter, coming out at night to prey on insects and other small invertebrates. Its bite is mildly venomous, but the spider is not known to be harmful to humans.
The wheel spider does not produce a web. Its principal line of defence against predation is to bury itself in a silk-lined burrow extending 40–50 cm deep. During the process of digging its burrow, the spider can shift up to 10 litres (2.6 US gal) of sand, 80,000 times its body weight. It is during the initial stages of building a burrow that the spider is vulnerable to pompilid wasps, which will sting and paralyze the spider before planting eggs in its body. If the spider is unable to fight off a wasp, and if it is on a sloped dune, it will use its rolling speed of 1 metre per second (3.3 ft/s) to escape
Wikipedia
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:54 pm
by Klipspringer
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:58 pm
by Richprins
No habla espanol!
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:02 pm
by Lisbeth
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:19 am
by ExFmem
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:01 pm
by Richprins
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:50 pm
by Klipspringer
I am a member of the small privileged minority amongst us. I never do any work and spend my days in our cosy home eating lots of sweets and wait for THE opportunity.
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:59 pm
by ExFmem
Queen bee?
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:02 pm
by Richprins
Re: Name the Insect or Spider
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:05 pm
by Lisbeth
Klipspringer wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:50 pm
I am a member of the small privileged minority amongst us. I never do any work and spend my days in our cosy home eating lots of sweets and wait for THE opportunity.
That's me!
