Monday, September 22, 2008

tiny spider


I was photographing the crustose lichens on the old seed cases of swamp paperbark Melaleuca ericifolia when something moved.
This tiny spider survived the stormy weather of the past few days. It rarely moves far from its hiding place.
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5 comments:

Mosura said...

It has a good little possie there. I just showed my wife and she still couldn't see it at first.

The lichens are fascinating too.

Denis Wilson said...

I was wondering where it was hiding too.
What are the little red blobs on the seed capsules? You mention ed Crustose lichens, but I don't even know what they are.
Are you talking about the silvery coating or the red dots which seem to turn into black dots?
Denis

Gouldiae said...

G'day Sarah,
What a beautiful little creature. I wonder how you spotted it.
Gouldiae

Sarah said...

Hi mosura, denis and gouldiae,

crustose lichens are pretty much as the name suggests, lichens that form a crust on rocks, soil and in this case, old seed pods of Melaleuca ericifolia.
I am working on a book about the natural history of Black Sugarloaf and needed photographs of the various forms of lichens (foliose, crustose etc). When I set the tripod up to photograph the lichens the spider moved. It is still in exactly the same place two weeks later!
There are a few different species of lichen on the seed pods: The apothecia (the fertile fungal component of the lichen) of one species is red, the other is black. The silvery one has no obvious "fruit".

"The Natural News" is the newsletter of the Central North Field Naturalists, a group of people interested in all things natural. We have monthly field outings and produce a newsletter 3 times a year.

Sarah

Sarah said...

Hi mosura, denis and gouldiae,

crustose lichens are pretty much as the name suggests, lichens that form a crust on rocks, soil and in this case, old seed pods of Melaleuca ericifolia.
I am working on a book about the natural history of Black Sugarloaf and needed photographs of the various forms of lichens (foliose, crustose etc). When I set the tripod up to photograph the lichens the spider moved. It is still in exactly the same place two weeks later!
There are a few different species of lichen on the seed pods: The apothecia (the fertile fungal component of the lichen) of one species is red, the other is black. The silvery one has no obvious "fruit".

"The Natural News" is the newsletter of the Central North Field Naturalists, a group of people interested in all things natural. We have monthly field outings and produce a newsletter 3 times a year.

Sarah