May 11, 2008

Wolf Spider Mom

On this Mothers Day I thought I would post on a dutiful mother from arachnida. Below is a sequence of shots of a mother wolf spider with her offspring.

This first shot shows mommy on the go--running errands, getting things done (GTD). You'll note the egg sac hanging from her abdomen.

Photo source: Curtis Morton
















But that precious time between creating your egg sac and feeling your egg sac pulsate with hatching spiderlings is brief. Here she attacks the sac with her fangs to tear it open and release her little ones.


















Aw, she stopped a posed for the camera (this mommy is a captive spider, though that didn't stop her from increasing the wolf spider population). She has cast aside the now empty egg sac, and her babies have climbed aboard the Mommy Express.

















Here's a closer shot of Mother Wolf Spider filling the role of transportation as she shows off her domicile to her brood. I'm just glad this maternal drama didn't play itself out beneath my bed or on my pillow or in my box of cereal or beneath the toilet lid or in my car. . .


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh god, I read the last bit as "under the toilet lid in my car..."
That's even scarier than the wolf spider

Anonymous said...

I must say I enjoyed the GTD reference very much. Even mommy spiders need to GTD!

Anonymous said...

This post has provided a full month's worth of girlie arachnophobe "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD GET IT OUT" squealing. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

This mother's day I'd like to thank mom by saying "Thanks for not eating your young/dad's head/rotting corpses".

gabbybird said...

ARRRGH!!!!!SPIDER!!!!!!
WAHHHHH!!!!BABY SPIDERS!!!!! LOTS OF THEM!!!!.......oh, man, those are creepy pics.... love them.

Annica said...

Most of the time, when i stumble upon spiders on this site, i quickly scroll down or up. Júst enough to place the pic off-screen and then i only read te text :) But that didn't work today!
I truly don't know what this post is about... :(

(btw; my naked feet are itchy and instinctively pulled up from the ground...thnx)

Unknown said...

As horrifically icky as all this is, I have to admit that first post-hatching picture is wicked cool.

Anonymous said...

My god these shots are AWESOME! Way to go on finding these!!

I had a pet wolf spider, once. Mr. Spider. I was always a creative child.

Susan Gets Native said...

*girly squealing and full body shivers*

I can't even type the sounds coming from my mouth right now.

Raging Wombat said...

gette - I'm clad you likey the GTD reference.

Anonymous said...

does anyone else see a fully formed humanoid FACE in the first picture???

the only GTD spiders should see is Guts To (the) Dirt. or Give to (the) Devil.

Anonymous said...

oh my god i just scrolled back and saw the FANGS! sweet jesus on a cracker THE FANGS!!!!!!!!!!!!
can you imagine having furry teeth twice the size of your face?!? oh god.

i'm done now.

Arachnophile said...

OK, from an arachnophile to all the 'phobes out there, you have to know that the squealing is entertainment. *LOL* *evil laugh*

Anonymous said...

Oh, you MUST read my old post about our Wolf Spider Baby experience. It made me cackle with laugther and thank sweet jesus is wasn't ME this happended to! Haha!

http://pharmgirl2.blogspot.com/2004_06_01_archive.html

Anonymous said...

Ew, ew ew. That is so freakin nasty. Big shudder when I saw the mom covered in babies. Ick.

Magnoire La Chouette said...

I had some baby spider hatch in my car door. I was at a store whne I noticed them and by the time I got home, they had all flown away.

Anonymous said...

that is not nice to call them ugly i actoely find them very cute and interesting so next time pich on some one your own size not a spider

BeckoningChasm said...

Great photos, and info that's actually kind of touching.

I tend to capture the spiders in my apt and release them outside, except in dire circumstances. Once, I had to squish a spider inside...and lots of little babies all scurried for some safety that they never reached.

I felt pretty terrible about that.