Flower Crab With Prey

[crotermund]

Crab spiders, particularly the ones that make homes out of a choice flower are fascinating to watch, especially when you catch them either in the hunt or dining on their fresh kill.



No crab spider goes hungry in this thistle.



Tearing into some fresh butterfly flesh....


_________________
Craig Rotermund
Canon 30D
Sigma 150mm

[rjlittlefield]

Wonderful shots, Craig!

The sharpness of that Sigma 150 is starting to drive me a bit crazy. (Gotta get me one of them things!)

I see that last shot as substantially tighter than 1:1. Am I seeing it wrong, or is that a crop, or did you use TC, or tubes, or... ?

--Rik

[Bruce Williams]

You've done a great job with these shots Craig. The three pics take us progressively closer to the gruesome yet fascinating action Good detail and colour too!

Excellent series of pics .

Bruce

[Ken Ramos]

Awesome shots. That Crab Spider reminds me of myself in a way, when I am eating barbequed ribs. I get barbeque sauce all over my face, in the spiders case its scales. What messy eaters we are, where are our manners, keep your elbows off'n the table, don't talk with your mouth full, lick that knife off before you stick it in that butter...
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Ken Ramos
Rutherford Co., Western North Carolina

[MacroLuv]

Wow, that was cclose, Craig!
That nasty spider even get some thirstle like pink spots camouflage.
There are visible pigmented scales of the butterfly's wings on the spider's head.
By the way I think the spider is possibly Misumena vatia or something very close.
_________________
The meaning of beauty is in sharing with others.

P.S.
Noticing of my "a" and "the" and other grammar
errors are welcome.

[Mike B in OKlahoma]

These are excellent. The third "portrait" is gruesome!

I can't wait till our bugs get out!
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Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

[crotermund]

Thanks everyone. I just love predator & prey shots, but they usually aren't too pretty. Rik - the 3rd picture is actually a crop. Nikola - I believe you are very close with Misumena vatia, however, I believe it is probably Misumenoides formosipes. In the Misumena genus you can actually see 8 eyes visible on the face, whereas the Misumenoides you only see 6 eyes with the remaining 2 facing sideways at the end of the ridge on their face.

Hmmmm, as I look at the 3rd picture closer is it my imagination or does the right chelicerae (our left) have a red droplet of blood hanging from it?
There seems to be a reflection off something red...
_________________
Craig Rotermund
Canon 30D
Sigma 150mm

[beetleman]

I`ll say a big "WOW" on these shots also Craig. The third picture, even though it is a crop, has great detail and sharpness.
_________________
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

[Moebius]

Wow, fantastic pics and focus. I know you didn't even use a tripod, either. I love the crop on that last one with the prey's scales on the predator's face.

I am wondering if the red is actually the color of the fang. I didn't think insect blood was red...

I'm envious

Ken Nelson

[crotermund]

Ok, I didn't intend to get obsessed with this, but as I examined that 3rd picture further I became increasingly curious about whether that was actually a fang visible on the bottom of his chelicerae. I know the spiders have small fangs that are used to inject venom into their prey, but I don't even know if they would be visible.

Anyway, I tried to blow it up, but it became way too pixelated to tell. I then demoed Blow Up from Alien Skin and saved another picture out.



It is still clearly blown up way too much, but on his left chelicerae he appears to have a white fang and on the right chelicerae he appears to have a red one.

Any spider experts that could confirm that they are real or that could confirm that I have a really active imagination would be helpful.
_________________
Craig Rotermund
Canon 30D
Sigma 150mm

[Adrian]

nice series of photos, the blow up looks like jpeg artifact to me