2020 June 8

 

Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:   In the corner of the room behind my computer resides a spider.  I presume it is Pholcus phalangioides.  I have watched it for days.  At one time it caught a Venusia obsoleta/pearsalli.  It took it some 30 minutes to subdue it.  Then it consumed it and since the next morning, the moth’s remains are in the corner of my desk.

 

Then yesterday, I saw another slightly larger but similar spider with a less rounded abdomen approach across the wall.  I presume the newcomer was a male and the well fed resident a female. [But see Dr Bennett’s comments below.] The newcomer went directly towards the resident and they started to touch each other with their long front legs.  I assumed it was beginning courtship and I was reminded of Mozart’s “Reich mir die Hand, mein Leben!”   [Là ci darem la mano!]

 

But then the resident one turned around and rather speedily went off.  It is now under the ceiling some 1 1/2 meters above the newcomer, who has taken up residence where the other used to be.

 

Libby Avis asks: On a less romantic note, is this one of the species where the male has to be careful not to be eaten by the female?  Jeremy Tatum replies:  Not sure, but recall that on May 11 Jochen had a photograph of one eating the formidable spider Eratigena.

 

   Dr Robb Bennett writes:  The one on the right is definitely a mature female. Not so sure about the beast on the left – could be a male but I can’t tell for sure and I think it may “just” be an immature specimen. Males usually look much more spindly.  Perhaps Jochen can obtain a close-up of that spider’s head region that would enable us to tell if it’s a mature male.

 

Pholcus phalangioides (Ara.: Pholcidae)  Jochen Möhr

   But after looking at Jochen’s great movie (link below,  set to Mozart’s Là ci darem la mano, very rough free translation:  “Let us hold hands”,  Zerlina on the right, the Don on  the left) Robb writes:  Well, it certainly looks like courtship behaviour.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r4F7CFijxs&t=15s

 

 

Mr E sends a picture of a Maritime Earwig having rather a lot of trouble with spider webbing on driftwood at Devonian Park, June 7.

 

Maritime Earwig Anisolabis maritima (Derm.: Anisolabididae)  Mr E

  This young grasshopper was photographed by Mr E at Portage Inlet Park.   Since it’s a youngster, we have to be content with identification at genus level – thanks to Claudia Copley.

 

Young grasshopper Melanoplus sp. (Orth.: Acrididae) Mr E

   This beetle, too, was at Portage Inlet.  Scott Gilmore writes:  This is a tough angle but I’m pretty sure this is from the genus Agrilus.

 

Agrilus sp. (Col.: Buprestidae)  Mr E

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Chris Jochen sent me the following link to a short spectacular movie showing hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, bats sucking nectar and pollinating plants.  Not strictly within the purview of Invert Alert, but I dare say viewers will enjoy it anyway.

 

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0