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Sex in the sun
Jul. 5th, 2004 04:09 pmI'm home for a few hours to organize camping gear, and wanted to post this picture, taken on July 1 at Lake Fletcher, of two dock spiders (Dolomedes sp.) preparing for coitus.
They each have leg spans of about 5 cm (2 in.) and can get a little larger. They are shy and mostly harmless, biting only upon serious provocation. I have never had a bite, but apparently they are not especially painful. They do not build webs, but live along the shoreline feeding on insects and small fish. They are also known as fishing spiders or raft spiders.
Every sunny day at the cottage we see them basking. Soon the female will be seen carrying around an egg case as large as her abdomen. We share the dock skittishly.
The male is lighter-coloured and has an abdomen smaller than its head, while the female is dark and has a larger abdomen. The male had already mounted when I found them. He was quite cautious and tactile, leaping away at the slightest provocation. The female held quite still. Then he mounted again, facing backwards, probing her abdomen with his palps, the two relatively short appendages near his mouth. At the height of intercourse, he folded his hind legs under her forelegs as if to hold her still. I suppose his survival depended on a correct performance.
For an image of closer arachnid intimacy, ( click here. )
If I have time before departure today I might post some less gruesome memories of Canada Day.
They each have leg spans of about 5 cm (2 in.) and can get a little larger. They are shy and mostly harmless, biting only upon serious provocation. I have never had a bite, but apparently they are not especially painful. They do not build webs, but live along the shoreline feeding on insects and small fish. They are also known as fishing spiders or raft spiders.
Every sunny day at the cottage we see them basking. Soon the female will be seen carrying around an egg case as large as her abdomen. We share the dock skittishly.
The male is lighter-coloured and has an abdomen smaller than its head, while the female is dark and has a larger abdomen. The male had already mounted when I found them. He was quite cautious and tactile, leaping away at the slightest provocation. The female held quite still. Then he mounted again, facing backwards, probing her abdomen with his palps, the two relatively short appendages near his mouth. At the height of intercourse, he folded his hind legs under her forelegs as if to hold her still. I suppose his survival depended on a correct performance.
For an image of closer arachnid intimacy, ( click here. )
If I have time before departure today I might post some less gruesome memories of Canada Day.
