Garden Spiders mating (almost)

[jomike]

Daft_biker's thread of cannibal jumping spiders reminded me of a sequence I shot last autumn of an attempted mating between Garden spiders.

The male approached the female and stroked her with his front legs.


She wasn't too convinced and kept going into an attack posture.


He was quite determined and kept trying.


Eventually she'd had enough and grabbed him and bit him.


Then she wrapped him up for later consumption.


All shots taken with Nikon D50, Tamron 90mm macro and diffused on board flash.

Click on pic to get a larger size.

 

[Dave Stone]

Typical woman! Great shots.

 

[daft_biker]

Cracking sequence Mike....briliantly caught. It's anything but easy shooting spiders moving about on webs

Doesn't look all that different when he gets lucky though!

That's from a couple of years ago....I don't get that lucky capturing these things often. I look forward to catching a sequence like yours when the male does get eaten

 

[Deleted member 3428]

Safe sex that wasn't brilliant set Mike
Here is a couple of Enoplognatha ovata I took a while ago, him with the tender touch or her without an appetite you decide

 

[Jimidibob]

Nice discussion here boys!!!!