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Larry Goldstein
Lokahi
267 Posts |
 Posted - 01/25/2006 : 6:54:44 PM
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Keeping with my nascent tradition of posting some articles that have absolutely nothing to do with music, here's an interesting piece on spiders.
My limited experience with the people who frequent this wonderful website is 1) we are generally well-educated and curious, and 2) at least some care about the Hawaiian environment and natural history.
If nothing else, for me this article led to a fun connection to Keola's spider exercise. 
Larry
Here's the link for a picture: http://www.comcast.net/news/science/?CM.src=Navigation.
Here's the article:
KOLOA, Hawaii - No one had ever photographed a baby Kauai wolf spider being carried on its mother's interlocking back hairs until two Hawaii scientists caught the shot.
The endangered Kauai wolf spider is rarely seen, and the spiders themselves are blind. Researchers had previously known that the spiderlings use a row of teeth on their claws to grasp their mother's back.
But they had never been able to capture the moment.
The pictures were taken by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Gordon Smith. In November, he and graduate student Wendy McDowell found a female spider whose egg sac had just opened.
"Cave wolf spiders share a special adaptation _ their spiderlings have a row of comb-like teeth on their claws that perfectly match the spaces on the multi-branched hairs found on the mother's back," said Bishop Museum entomologist Frank Howarth in a prepared text. "This match allows the spiderlings to hold on for safe transport and protection by the mother."
McDowell has been conducting monthly surveys of several caves to check on the Kauai wolf spiders and another endangered species, the Kauai cave amphipod.
She and Smith were investigating a cave in November when they found a female spider whose egg sac had just opened. Two baby spiders crawled onto the mother's back while others waited in the sac to be born.
"We could see their little legs moving," McDowell said.
Howarth, considered by many to be the leading expert on the Kauai cave wolf spider, said he had seen the birthing process in his laboratory. But this was the first time it had been reported from the wild.
McDowell said the birth occurred during a peak in the population of cave amphipods, small crustaceans, which are a food source for the spiders.
"Amphipod numbers were higher than we've observed in the past. We don't really know why, but one suggestion is that the previous year was a very wet year, and it may have produced a bigger food impact for them," she said.
Little is known about the wolf spiders, which were first discovered in 1971 in the lava tubes and cave-bearing rock in Kauai's Koloa Basin. They have only been found in five caves within the basin.
The spiders can fit on the surface of a quarter. They don't have any eyes, and they hunt by sensing chemical compounds on the ground. Wolf spiders stalk and attack their prey instead of weaving webs.
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neeej
`Olu`olu
USA
643 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2006 : 7:25:01 PM
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| Fascinating :-D |
--Jean S |
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chunky monkey
Ha`aha`a
USA
1025 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2006 : 07:44:03 AM
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| These little guys are all that's keeping Steve Case (AOL/Time Warner) from building three, count em, three resorts in the pristine area of Kauai called Maha`ulepu (part of the Grove Farms property that Case bought). Join the fight - Malama Maha`ulepu. |
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Larry Goldstein
Lokahi
267 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2006 : 10:30:31 AM
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Aloha Chunky,
Thanks for the note about the spiders and development.
You, and I hope others, might be interested in one of my favorite environmental organizations, Kahea, also known as the Hawaiian Environmental Alliance. Here's the link:
http://www.kahea.org/index.php
Larry |
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kihoalukid
Lokahi
USA
290 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2006 : 2:44:45 PM
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| OK, add caves on Kauai to the list of places im not going to be visiting.... |
Lee |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2006 : 3:04:07 PM
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No, Lee, that is exactly where you should visit. Wolf spiders are not "wolves". We have plenty in our garden and they are very friendly. They eat bad bugs. They don't care about, and are afraid of, big monsters like you. Besides, these versions are blind.
Sarah and I have several 'piders living in our very clean New England house. We only bat them when they get too pushy and start eating our hamburgers and fries (actually the ones that usually do that are Yellow Jackets that also *love* hotdogs). They are good guys and eat bad guys.
I was once bitten by another kind spider on my foot (I accidentally stepped on her) and my leg swelled and my skin peeled off over 3 weeks, but it was NOT a wolf. It is the name that spooks you.
If spiders scare you, you should see the truly weird wasps in our garden. They have *never* been catalogued by entomologists. (Bright orange with black rings and they *love* nectar from our flowers, among the larger varieties.) Never, ever, been bitten by a bee or wasp in our garden (thousands) - only when near their nests. They never bother us and keep the bad bugs down.
...Reid
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kihoalukid
Lokahi
USA
290 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2006 : 8:46:18 PM
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| Cool Reid, ill keep that in mind. You should claim that wasp as your discovery, you could call it VespuReidous Saraopholus. |
Lee |
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