Leijpark013

@leijpark013 · 20 May 2021

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Leijpark013 Cucumber Spider 16 May 2021

Leijpark013
Listing by Thierry P. Dinjens · 16 May at 18:01 ·
Spiders. We know them in all kinds and sizes. There are, to do just a small grip: spiders, wolf spiders, vibrating spiders, crab spiders and house spiders. And there are also so-called wheelweb spiders. This last family is called that because they spin a web in the shape of a wheel, a round web so. Often this is a medium sized web, like from the crossspider, but there are also huge webs that are actually the size of a chariot wheel like the web of the four-wheel web spider. And: then there are small round webs and in one of these webs we find a spider that is green. A green rear body with green legs. She is named after her color and is therefore called appropriate: Cucumber spider.
Cucumber spider makes her web between green plants and then hangs in it upside down. Do you know why (many) spiders hang upside down in their web and not just with their buttocks down? This has to do with the fact that spiders are a popular snack for birds. As soon as they see the threat of a bird coming, they leave their web by jumping to the ground, while a fine thread anchors them to their web. Exactly as we rappel. If a spider hung the other way around, it must first turn around and this takes time; moreover, it may become entangled in her own spider thread that she spins with the rear body. That's why spiders hang with the head down.
The green Cucumber spider is almost invisible against a green background. So perfectly camouflaged she doesn't have a hole in which she lurks, as many other spiders have. She relies entirely on her color.
At the end of the summer, the light-coloured spiders come out of their egg and face a challenge: autumn. The biggest feature of autumn is the discoloration of the leaf. If the young spiders were to color green during their growth, then no bird would have difficulty hunting them. The Cucumber spider has found something on that: spiders that are not yet sexually mature colors brown and red, exactly with the discolorating leaves. Thus, even in autumn, they are virtually invisible. In the next spring, when the fresh green appears everywhere, only then will they become so beautiful green.
Their webs are at most ten centimeters in diameter, but also in a small web a spider can catch many small flying insects. She can't handle bigger insects, but they don't hang in her web and break through it.. If she has not caught anything for a day, she eats her protein web in the evening and has to eat. Of course, that should not happen too often, but for once it is consolation food.
In the Leijpark we find this beautiful animal, well camouflaged, but of course can be found for the all-seeing eye of Henk de Winter and his camera. Enjoy this color artist who has earned her place in the Leijpark in a unique way..