One Tough Spider

jsloan

Arachnoangel
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I found her sitting on goldenrod flowers yesterday afternoon. Don't know what happened, but at some point she must have gotten into quite a battle, because three legs were missing on the left side and there was a large wound on the carapace. Nevertheless, there she was, still alive and with her one good set of legs up in the air and poised to capture her next meal!

I was able to ID her from the epigyne as Xysticus emertoni (Thomisidae).
 

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TheTyro

Arachnobaron
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Aw, the poor thing. What an admirable little force!

I'd probably have taken her in for a life of luxury! :D
 

jsloan

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The spider is still alive in a vial on my desk. It took a good drink of water this afternoon, and I plan to give it a fly tomorrow.

I think the actual wound is that dark "L" shaped scar toward the left edge of the carapace. The tan stuff on the carapace looks like dried hemolymph. There does seem to be a break in the outer edge of the carapace, just below the scar, like it's been split or something. It's hard to see much detail right now, because the spider doesn't sit still long enough, or in the right position for me to get a good look at it under the microscope. Eventually, after it dies a natural death, I'll check out the wound under the microscope and post pictures if there is anything interesting (like how much healing there is). Maybe I can get a clue about what happened to it?
 
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Moltar

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I bet a bird or something tried to eat her but only got away with a few legs. She's pretty tough to survive that, even more so to be that fat even after losing such a large amount of hemolymph.
 

Malhavoc's

Arachnoking
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with such a small species of spider, not b eing very large I think a bird would of downed it in one go or caused much more damage, my money is some heavy mandibled creature sinking into it perhaps a mantis
 

Spidercrazy

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thats one little fighter you got on your hands! you think she'll possibly grow any? or has she reached max size?
 

Terry D

Arachnodemon
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Jsloan, Wow! Talk about a survivor.

I'm almost equally amazed there's a Solidago sp blooming there already. None have begun here in nw La. that I've seen. Thanks for sharing. :)
 

Vespula

Arachnodemon
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My vote is for mandibled creature, also. It's a tough little girl. I'm glad you're keeping her. :D
 

jsloan

Arachnoangel
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I went to give her a fly this afternoon and found her dead at the bottom of her vial, so I plopped her into alcohol right away. I don't get it. She was fine yesterday, and I made sure the water I gave her was clean.

Anyway, I'll take a better look at her under the scope and will post some pics of the injury if I can get some good ones.
 
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jsloan

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I'm almost equally amazed there's a Solidago sp blooming there already. None have begun here in nw La. that I've seen.
The goldenrod always blooms here at about this time of year and lasts for only a couple of weeks or so. To me the flowers mark the beginning of fall, because the leaves on the trees start turning at about this same time as well. Winter is not far away here; 6-8 weeks or so. Sometimes we get our first snow as early as September, though the first permanent snow is usually in the last week of October. That means my spider season is just about over, and then it's back to looking for them in my basement for the next 6 months (however, this year I'm going to set up modified pitfall traps under the snow for any winter-active species that wander by), or IDing the ones from this season I've saved in alcohol.
 
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jsloan

Arachnoangel
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Got a couple of closeup images. The dried hemolymph is caked over the wound, making it hard to see much detail. Maybe one day during this coming winter I'll try and clean it off for a better look.

Side view:

side.jpg

Ventral view:

ventral.jpg
 
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