Is This Widow Rumor True?

[davisfam]

how do you think they survive each winter? they're out there in the cold during blizzards and stuff too! i've found hesperus actually feeding at freezing temps. and out walking on the snow. they can and do survive at very cold temps all the time.

That's so neat. I would love to snap a picture of a spidiie out feeding or hunting upon the snow covered ground, it would be a different kind of experience for me since I've never really seen any pictures of spiders out and about during the Winter season!

Do you have any photos by any chance??

 

[jsloan]

In northern latitudes, quite a number of spiders and other arthropods stay active under the snow during even the coldest winters (and on warmer days often venture out onto the top of the snow, too). Snow is a good insulator. While the ambient temperature might be -35C or colder on top of the snow, the temperature under the snow at ground level can stay at around +2C to -2C or so. Many northern species have adapted to remain active under these conditions (anti-freeze in their blood, special enzymes which enable them to metabolize food at low temps, etc.).

The next time you see a picture of an all-white freezing, wind-swept northern prairie or forest, keep in mind that under all that snow there is a lot of activity going on.

Do a Google search for winter-active spiders and some interesting papers will turn up.

 

[jsloan]

That's so neat. I would love to snap a picture of a spidiie out feeding or hunting upon the snow covered ground, it would be a different kind of experience for me since I've never really seen any pictures of spiders out and about during the Winter season!

Do you have any photos by any chance??

Ask and you shall receive!

Here are pictures of some tiny Tenuiphantes zebra (Linyphiinae) I took last spring. They often build their small sheet webs in small snow "caves" or depressions in the snow. Springtails are out hopping around on the snow at this time as well, and many end up in the webs. This is a very small spider, with a leg span of only about 1/4 inches. The male spiders are also out at this time, wandering in search of females.

Adult Female walking on snow:

Adult male wandering on snow (the day I took this one the ambient temperature was 7C/45F - a warm day by this spider's standards):

Closeup of female in her web, with a few springtails struggling off to the side. What I find interesting is the spider anchors the web directly to the snow!

Here she is biting one of the springtails:



And, wrapping her prey:



Same web from further away, showing nearby grass for size perspective:

Here is a male and female together, in another web built in a depression in the snow (male above, female below):

 

[Ashphetamine]

WOW!!!!

That is totally awesome, btw. I never knew. God knows I hate the cold with a passion- but if the spideys can take it, I guess I can too!

Thank you very very much for sharing those pictures, Jsloan! They're beautiful! I especially appreciate the first "male out walking" image. It really shows the crystals in the snow! What are your camera specs for these photos?

awesome awesome awesome AWESOME!:clap::clap:

 

[davisfam]

Ask and you shall receive!

Ahh, of course.. I knew I could count on you for pictures! SOO NEAT! I just love photography and Winter can be such a pretty season for pictures! THANK YOU soo much.. GREAT pictures, jsloan! I appreciate you posting them muchooo! Keep up the beautiful work!

 

[Widowman10]

hey DF, sorry no pics from me. there were a couple of threads here from awhile ago talking about the same thing (widows in cold weather / snow) if you care to look them up buthus made a few good comments regarding it.

 

[jsloan]

What are your camera specs for these photos?

Thanks! Glad you like the pictures. For these I used a Canon PowerShot SD780 IS set to macro mode. It's a tiny little camera that's great for field work, because it's about the size of a 1/2 inch thick credit card. A lot better on long treks through the bush than lugging around a heavy, full sized camera. The main drawback with this camera model is no manual focus.

Most of these pictures are crops from larger pictures.

 

[jsloan]

Ahh, of course.. I knew I could count on you for pictures! SOO NEAT! I just love photography and Winter can be such a pretty season for pictures! THANK YOU soo much.. GREAT pictures, jsloan! I appreciate you posting them muchooo! Keep up the beautiful work!

Thanks, DF. The fact that these little guys are able to make their homes in the snow makes them as interesting, to me, as any other larger spider might be. I've been looking for their egg sacs in the wild, but haven't found one yet that I recognized. I got a pair to mate in a Petri dish once, but haven't managed to breed them yet. These spiders dehydrate faster than wolf spiders if you're not careful. 30 minutes in a dry container and they just keel over, so humidity has to be important for getting the egg sac I'd say.

 

[davisfam]

Thanks, DF. The fact that these little guys are able to make their homes in the snow makes them as interesting, to me, as any other larger spider might be. I've been looking for their egg sacs in the wild, but haven't found one yet that I recognized. I got a pair to mate in a Petri dish once, but haven't managed to breed them yet. These spiders dehydrate faster than wolf spiders if you're not careful. 30 minutes in a dry container and they just keel over, so humidity has to be important for getting the egg sac I'd say.

No problem! The information is def. appreciated and if you do happen to stumble across a fertile egg sac, please, keep the boards informed as I am sure it'll be an interesting and fun process to document!

I def. agree on humidity being VERY important for Wolfiies, we had a friend who almost lost his first true spidiie (H. lenta) due to that mistake! Lesson learned

Thanks again for the pictures and don't forget, keep us posted, please! =)