Flower Crab With Prey

crotermund · Post by **crotermund** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:37 am

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....

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:52 am

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 · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:13 am

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 · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:31 am

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...

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:12 am

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.

Mike B in OKlahoma · Post by **Mike B in OKlahoma** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:49 am

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

I can't wait till our bugs get out!

crotermund · Post by **crotermund** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:09 pm

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...

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:45 pm

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.

Moebius · Post by **Moebius** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:35 am

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 · Post by **crotermund** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:49 pm

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.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:47 am

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