A Spider You Usually Don't See Everyday

[kraifect]

I was outside in my pool today, when I got out and was drying up I looked aboev me and there was a spider, with red points and almost looked like it had a face. So I got my camera , and sadly the pictures were on the drive I reformatted and forgot to back up on my external so I had to grab a picture off th internet.



Its really interesting and a weird spider, and the lil red spikes dont even hurt there bendy, I guess its to scare other things into thinking they hurt.
I live in FL and there everywere.
There called a Gasteracantha cancriformis or Gasteracantha elipsoides (jewel or spiny spider)

[twilyth]

Damn, I wouldn't have believed that was for real. Pretty amazing.

[kraifect]

Yeah its really neat looking, at first I didnt know what it was I was shocked I really dont even know how to describe it I didnt know what the heck it was, then I saw it moving and I was like .
Flipped it over and saw it looked like a spider type from underneath and it was hanging from a spider web (duh that gave it away to )

And believe it or not it seems like there everywere now that i've seen one.

Do you see what I mean by the face? It looks like it has eyes, nose, mouth etc. :P

[twilyth]

Yeah its really neat looking, at first I didnt know what it was I was shocked I really dont even know how to describe it I didnt know what the heck it was, then I saw it moving and I was like .
Flipped it over and saw it looked like a spider type from underneath and it was hanging from a spider web (duh that gave it away to )

And believe it or not it seems like there everywere now that i've seen one.

Do you see what I mean by the face? It looks like it has eyes, nose, mouth etc. :P

Yeah, it's pretty creepy too. Would make a great theme for a Halloween costume but I don't know if many people would get it.

[kraifect]

Yeah, it's pretty creepy too. Would make a great theme for a Halloween costume but I don't know if many people would get it.

, I think there only found it Florida, I did some research on them a while ago when I first saw it. So if you wore it as a costume not to many people would know what you were impersonating :P

[kraifect]

Delete.

[CyberDruid]

This one is about 3/8" long or so and is pretty common at certain times of the year. Rural VA.

[kraifect]

Cyber, is that one spider or two?

[Blauhung]

wow, very cool

[twilyth]

Very interesting stuff guys.

I think the only spiders you have to worry about in N. America - at least that are common - are the brown recluse spiders. I think they can cause extensive tissue damage at the site of the bite. There are also black widows and such but I don't think they're nearly as common. Are there any other poisonous species to worry about?

[Kayin]

Wandering spiders, as well as other countries' spiders hitching in more and more often. Had a confirmed funnel-web spider in the next county a little while back.

FYI, there are still people discovering new spiders all the time, though...

[twilyth]

Yup - like Stephen Colbert's new spider - Aptostichus stephencolberti.

[kraifect]

That looks more like a large ant to me.

[dengyong]

I put a large black widow spider in a jar once with one of our local brown scorpions (south carolina) and left them overnight.
The next day the scorpion had eaten the black widow, there were just a few bits of leg left.
Next I tried a large wolf spider, as the scorpion stung him his legs started falling off. Other than that it didn't die and the scorpion didn't eat it.
Our local toad frogs seam to be immune to scorpion stings and black widow bites, as two days in the jar with each produced no results and the toad was released.
Thank you for watching Mutual of Yamaha's wild kingdom, with your host Merlin Parkins. < younger people won't know why thats funny.

[man_bear_pig]

Yea I live in South Eastern NC and see those all the time, we called the crab spiders. When I was young I would always run into their webs while riding my four wheeler.

[dengyong]

Yea I live in South Eastern NC and see those all the time, we called the crab spiders. When I was young I would always run into their webs while riding my four wheeler.

Crab spiders look like this and don't spin webs. They're ambush hunters.

[labs23]

Guys, that spider on the first post is common here in the Philippines, specially in the provinces. If I remember it right, they dubbed it "King Spider" due to that crown like structure on its back. I've never seen one with red on the tip of its spike though, just those black.

[twilyth]

do they all have skelton faces on their backs like in the OP? Pretty weird. Have to wonder what evolutionary purpose that could have served.

[RADCOM]

"and the lil red spikes dont even hurt there bendy" I was wondering about that.....you touched it without knowing....truly brave