Spida-a-boo

3,583
by Super User, 9 years ago
0 0
An unnamed species of spider I discovered last year by accident. I came home from a camping trip and when I unloaded my gear it was sitting on top of it, starting me in the face. Since I had not seen it in my garden I drove all the way back to see whether it came from the place we visited. After searching for 6 hrs and wanting to give up, I caught a glimpse of one, so the origin had at least been established. Next problem was to find out what it does with its strange "paddles". Suggestions were using them for jumping of water surface to even gliding. I tested both hypotheses, and David Hill helped me doing this, but in the end we concluded that neither of these would be the case. Also signalling in the way Maratus species do made no sense since the paddle shaped extension were orientated in a different way that made them useless for displaying in front of a female. Eventually I tracked down potential females and when I started to observe the male's behaviour in their presence it became all clear. Astonishing really, completely unexpected and quite sensational. I always assumed and hoped the male and the female would made, but it never happened. One day I hope to be able to bring to you the sequel and then solve the mystery of what this is all about

The music for this clip was composed, played and recorded by cellist Kristin Rule. http://www.kristinrule.com/about/
Kristine had previously produced the music for a half hour documentary called "Maratus a documystery", a story about my collaboration with Stuart Harris to find and describe a spider that he had first photographed. I loved Kristin's work and I am glad she agree to help me with this little clip.

Camera gear used: Canon C100 and 100mm macro lens