As of last night, I had to remove one of the potential ‘Just Once’ candidates from the lineup, because… well, you figure it out.
This was one of the original images from its one appearance; it’s a Rhomphaea fictilium, no common name to my knowledge, and it’s a spider with a couple of curious traits, which I wrote about in the original post. But then last night, I found this guy ‘floating’ in the yard:
So, credit to the spider for being suspended right at eye-level, to make it much easier for me, but that credit goes away when I tell you that the web was only a couple of strands that weren’t well-anchored, stretching over two meters. Even on a still night, the negligent breeze was enough to move this guy several centimeters in every direction, which is pretty damn annoying when working at macro magnifications and depth – this is about the only decent frame, though I have a side view that clinches the ID with the position of the spinnerets only a third of the way along the abdomen, instead of right at the end.
I was taking a break from tasks last night when I spotted it and fired off a few frames, then came back in to search the species again to confirm that I’d only featured it once; for some reason, I couldn’t remember “Rhomphaea fictilium” from its one use eight years ago, but we already know I’m old. Later on, I realized that I could be putting some greater effort into it, including trying to photograph or video their predatory behavior, and I went back out to collect the specimen to keep in a terrarium. Naturally, it was nowhere to be found, even with the help of a misting bottle (which at least highlights all weblines that are in the area – the one that the spider was using in my pic was gone as well.) I found plenty of other spiders, all mostly boring, and a juvenile mantis. but no R. fictilium. I’ll try again from time to time, but I’m not holding out much hope.
The magnolia green jumper eggs have not hatched yet though – I just checked on those tonight. I’ll try to be sure to feature pics of the bebbies when they’re around, and really should try for more video.