in this random rambling thread we post random pictures

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Awesome.... Interesting coloration too.... So they are related to tarantulas but adapted to cold climates and smaller.... Very interesting.

deb

 

[hennible]

Neat eh?

 

[KristyHall]

I LOVE jumping spiders..... love the Nom Wigglers

Here is the one on my desk top right now



If you watch video of jumping spiders you can actually see them changing focus inside their eyes and following movement in the environment

deb

I love Jumpers too. They are so alert and entertaining.

 

[KristyHall]

Probably Tarantula.... We have them here big time but their range is HUGE and covers most of the US.

This one is definitely an Indonesian Jumping spider.... it at most is the size of a pencil eraser....

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/tarantula/

deb

Do you know there is a type of jumping spider that is almost exclusively vegetarian?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
OK now I have to google it.....

I love this stuff.

 

[hennible]

Vegetarian spiders?! Googling away...

 

[KristyHall]

Vegetarian spiders?! Googling away...

yup! around 90 percent of their diet is a specific type of plant, but they also drink nectar, and sometimes will eat insects but it is pretty rare.

 

[collingwood]

Wow vegetarian?

 

[hennible]

Here it is

But this guy is cooler

http://listverse.com/2010/05/01/top-10-bizarre-spiders/

 

[KristyHall]

Bagheera kiplingi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bagheera kiplingi

Scientific classification​

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Dendryphantinae
Genus: Bagheera
Species: B. kiplingi

Binomial name
Bagheera kiplingi
Peckham & Peckham, 1896[1]​

​

Bagheera kiplingi is a species of jumping spider found in Central America including Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala. It is the type species of the genus Bagheera, which includes one other species, B. prosper.[1] B. kiplingi is notable for its peculiar diet, which, uniquely for a spider, is mostly herbivorous.[2] No other known spider has such a thoroughly herbivorous diet.[3][4]

Contents

[hide]​

• 1 Name
• 2 Description
• 3 Diet
• 4 Notes
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Name[edit]

The genus name is derived from Bagheera, the black panther from Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, with the species name honoring Kipling himself.[3] Other salticid genera with names of Kipling's characters are Akela, Messua and Nagaina. All four were named byGeorge and Elizabeth Peckham in 1896.
Description[edit]

Bagheera kiplingi is a colorful, sexually dimorphic species. The male has amber legs, a dark cephalothorax that is greenish in the upper region near the front, and a slender reddish abdomen with green transversal lines. The female's amber front legs are sturdier than the other, slender legs, which are light yellow. It has a reddish brown cephalothorax with the top region near the front black. The female's rather large abdomen is light brown with dark brown and greenish markings.
Only the male was described in 1896; the female was first described 100 years later by Wayne Maddison.[5]
Diet[edit]

B. kiplingi inhabit Mimosaceae trees, Vachellia in particular, where they consume specialized protein- and fat-rich nubs called Beltian bodies. The nubs form at the leaf tips of the Acacia as part of a symbiotic relationship with certain species of ants. The spiders actively avoid the ants who attempt to guard the Beltian bodies (their food source) against intruders. Although the Beltian bodies account for over 90% of B. kiplingi diet, the spiders also consume nectar and occasionally steal ant larvae from passing worker ants for food. Sometimes they'll cannibalize other B. kiplingi, especially during the dry season.
Despite the occasional consumption of meat, the spiders' tissues have been found to exhibit isotopic signatures typical of herbivorous animals, implying that most of their food comes from plants.[3][6] The mechanism by which they process and ingest the Beltian bodies is still unresearched. The vast majority of spiders liquify their prey using digestive enzymes before sucking it in.
While they feed almost exclusively on a herbivorous diet in Mexico where they inhabit more than half of Acacia collinsii trees, populations in Costa Rica, where less than 5% ofAcacia are populated by B. kiplingi, do so to a lesser extent. Although this species is mostly territorial and forages solitarily, populations of several hundred specimens have been found on individual acacias in Mexico, with more than twice as many females as males. B. kiplingi appears to breed throughout the year. Observations of adult females guardinghatchlings and clutches suggest that the species is quasisocial.[4]