Eggs! Eggs! Eggs! The sequel

Well looks like the things I was wanting to do didn't get done in a hurry, mostly due to a quick trip down south so that I could visit some of my friends I haven't seen in a while. Although I intended to do some blogging, my lack of a computer combined with no time to read around what I was going to write prevented any blogging. Upon my return in any event, I was informed of a new nursery web that had formed in the backyard made by a spider I had photographed previously, Dolomedes minor.

What I found was probably the biggest nursery spider I have ever encountered. She was gigantic and I immediately took the spider (and its equally oversided nursery) in for a quick photoshoot.



Click here for the full sized image.

As can be seen from this photo, the spider is quite a bit bigger than the last one and isn't clutching an egg sack. This is because she has already spun her nursery, which is a structure that looks something like this:



Click here for the full sized image.

So if you've ever wandered around the countryside in New Zealand and wondered what all those little white balls on plants were, they are most likely the spiderling nurseries these animals make.

Finally, another good photo that shows the spider in good detail.



Click here for the full sized image.

Easily the biggest nursery web spider I've ever found and as much of NZ fauna seems to be, was quite happy for a photoshoot so long as the nursery wasn't poked much.

In any event, I have done some stuff for blogging soon on plague and I also intend to write more about probiotics in response to some questions I recieved.