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Salticus scenicus

Posted by
Johan Dierckx (Wijnegem, Belgium) on 22 June 2010 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.

Salticus scenicus (zebra spider / Huiszebraspin, Harlekijntje) uses its four pairs of large eyes to locate prey and its jumping ability to pounce and capture it. Like other jumping spiders, it does not build a web, but before jumping, they glue a silk thread to the surface that they are jumping from so that if they miss the target, they can climb up the thread and try again.
When you take a close look on this one, you can see he/she did not miss the prey (a little fly) and is just enjoying the meal in an aplle tree in my garden...

image: Wijnegem (B) - 12/06/2010

Canon EOS 400D 1/500 second F/5.6 ISO 400 150 mm

© Johan Dierckx

The photos on this site are copyrighted, which prohibits anyone to use them to sell, give away, use in email or newsgroups, use in a homepage or otherwise showing to the public without my explicit, prior, written permission. Please feel free to use the "contact"-button below to contact me with any questions.

All species are photographed in their natural habitat, without cutting or capturing them, and with maximal respect and the least possible disturbance to the environment.

(To see species in the same taxonomic rank (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus), please use the tags provided with the image. The last tag is the Iso-code for the country where the image was taken. Image-date in DD/MM/YYYY format.)


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dang from Atlanta, United States

Nice shot of the gorgeous little guy.

22 Jun 2010 9:35am

@dang: Spent a lot of time with him/her :-) managed to get a miniseries catching a pray... but these are more documentary.

KriKridesign from Cully, Switzerland

Argh...sorry, today I can't say it is beautifull ...How big is this ?....(aglagla...)

22 Jun 2010 11:59am

@KriKridesign: This is also nature ...
This spider has a total lenght of 5 to 7 mm ... so nothing to be affraid :-)
I hope you like tomorrows image better :-)

KriKridesign from Cully, Switzerland

yes you are right! :-))) I think I'll survive!!! On your pict, looks like a monster!!!! :-)

22 Jun 2010 9:00pm

@KriKridesign: Indeed. In macro work you nearly always can see some details not visible when looking the normal way. That is for me the most interesting part in macro. And monsters can be beautiful (in their own way).

Monique from Koh Samui, Thailand

Dat zijn heel grappige spinnetjes en razendsnel! Het ene moment maak je een foto van ze en het andere moment springen ze boven op je lens :) Perfect dat je hem al jagend hebt kunnen vastleggen en deze foto is erg mooi ... zebrastrepen en prooi zijn mooi te bekijken.

23 Jun 2010 5:18am

@Monique: Het zijn inderdaad razendsnelle acrobaatjes. Het is onvoorstelbaar met welke snelheid ze hun prooi kunnen bespringen. Je weet zelf allicht wel hoe moeilijk het is met je hand een vlieg te raken als ze ergens zit... meestal is de vlieg sneller :-). Deze spinnetjes overtreffen die snelheid met verbazingwekkend gemak.

Dutch from Chicagoland, United States

Very tight selective focus though you still have relatively good clarity on the tree itself. The more and more I try to photograph bugs, the more I appreciate those of you that can actually do it.

25 Jun 2010 1:40am

@Dutch: There are indeed some experts among us... I admire their work knowing how difficult it can be ... The only way to get good results is making lots and lots of pictures and learn from the mistakes...

daniela scharnowski from Berlin, Germany

Definately my favourite models ! You caught her eating, that´s beautiful!

29 Jun 2010 7:33pm

@daniela scharnowski: When eating they are a bit less mobile :-) Made it a little more easy to get the proper focus...

Julie Brown from Indianapolis, United States

Awesome detail, and yes I see the little fly.

28 Jul 2010 3:00am

@Julie Brown: Thanks again for commenting on some older images :-)

Canon EOS 400D
1/500 second
F/5.6
ISO 400
150 mm

animalia
arthropoda
arachnida
aranea
salticidae
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