Spider Sund… err… Monday is back!
Back when we lived in Florida, stumbling on cool spiders was easy. Just open your door, take a few steps, and BOOM, golden orb-weaver (not to be confused with a yellow garden spider) taking care of your wasp problem. Or role out of bed to discover your new roommate, a Carolina Wolf, is on the prowl for mice (I presume). Maybe she’ll even bring along her closest 100 kin.
But New England, with its “seasons,” is a different story*. So, imagine my surprise and delight when Begum and I were hiking around Farm River State Park and saw this little fella scurry across the path:
At Farm River State Park, CT. Picture taken with Galaxy s7.
After some quick searches, I outsourced my initial guess to the amazing sciencesphere of twitter:
@HereBeSpiders11 with the save! Looks like this is a type of ground spider (we did find it on the ground), specifically it looks like a male Sergiolus capulatus. Thanks!
Some suspect that the awesome pattern may be an adaptation to mimic the velvet ant (which is actually a wingless wasp), known for their extremely painful stings!
Looking forward to what we find on our next hike.
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*Actually, maybe it is not such a different story. Looks like we will just have to be more attentive on our next hike!
Vincent Cannataro, Ph.D. 