Spiders in San Procolo

After living for months in the city (Barcelona), I am finally back to the countryside for summer, and I’m super happy about it. I’m enjoying wonderful sunsets, having fun with gardening, and of course I’m meeting many fascinating animals. Here are some cool spiders that I photographed in the past two days/nights:

1-wolf-spiderThis is a wolf spider that I found at night, while I was exploring the surroundings of my house with a torch light and the camera. It was walking on the ground, but immobilized as soon as I went close. I’ve always seen this type of spiders walk around to hunt, instead of being on webs. Maybe they don’t make webs at all.

2-orb-weaver-spiderThis is an orb weaver, and in this period there are so many in the garden. I walk just few meters near the bushes and see like 7-8 orb weavers, each one waiting for preys at the center of its web. This is probably the most common spider in the area.

The next pictures are all about an old acquaintance: cellar spiders. It seems like, also this year, I arrived in the countryside in the middle of the reproductive period. There are several spider mums busy with eggs and spiderlings. Could these mothers be the generation that was born last year, from those eggs that I saw?

3-cellar-spider-eggsIn the picture above is a first cellar spider mother, holding her ball of eggs. She’s in a corner of the ceiling, in the kitchen.

4-cellar-spider-babiesThis is a full spider kindergarten, in the attic. The spiderlings have already hatched out, and form a constellation around the mother. They’re all under a shelf, not far from my bed! I guess I should move them out or do something soon…

5-cellar-spider-eggs-and-babies-1And here is another different spider mother. She’s near the staircase. Interestingly, part of her eggs are still closed, but some spiderlings have already hatched out. They’re still attached to the egg ball though.

6-cellar-spider-eggs-and-babies-2The same spider of the previous picture, one the day later. The spiderlings moved away from the mother a little bit, and now are at a 2-5 cms distance. The mother (in the background) continues to hold the other eggs that are still closed.

Edit July 31, 2016: While hunting a mosquito tonight, I saw a new spider with eggs on the ceiling of my room. She was in an comfortable position for me to take good pictures, so here she is. Very photogenic.

7-cellar-spider-eggs


Notes: I rotated 180° the 4th, 5th and 6th picture, cellar spiders usually hang upside-down from the ceiling.

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