Tuesday 11 December 2012

Uppers and Unders

 Side view.

This female Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi set up home in the long grass and Bristly Oxtongue Picris echioides amongst the apple trees in the orchard in August.

  Underneath.

Like most sit-and-wait predators, she positions herself head down. This is the most energy efficient pose she can adopt, as explained in Piotr Naskrecki's The Smaller Majority.

 Above.

3 comments:

Ron Ron said...

I didn't see any of these last year... nor did the Staff... he thinks that the freeze and the wet killed the existing population off early in the year and it didn't recover.

Amanda said...

I don't like insects, but I can admire their beauty. Because of reading blogs, I've come to respect them.

Susan said...

RonRon: I saw good numbers in several places, including on the roadside on the back road to your place.

Nadege: That's very good to hear and I'm proud to have been part of your semi-conversion.

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