Rewilding My Lot

A few days after noticing a female Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia viridans) guarding an egg sac on the Texas Mountain Laurel tree, I found baby spiderlings! I think there may be about 50 of them, and they are staying in the vicinity of the egg sac. When it’s colder in the mornings I find them huddled together…

…and when it warms up they become more active.

This is when I wondered whether the function of the webbing around the egg sac was to be a playpen of sorts, keeping the babies together.

By this time the mother was thinner than she had been when I first found her a week earlier, and with changes in coloration. I have never seen her move away from the sac in the time I’ve been watching her.

This is a photo taken when I first noticed the egg sac (November 14, 2025)…

…and this is one taken after emergence of the spiderlings (November 21, 2025). In the second photo she is upside down relative to the first. The abdomen is the body part with the chevron markings.

I had questions! Has the mother been eating? What are the babies eating? When will they disperse?

In searching for answers I found this wonderful essay and photograph collection by Wayne Hoffman: https://goinggreenpublications.com/green-lynx-spider-predator-mother/

Here’s an extract from Hoffman’s piece: “Green Lynx Spiders have an annual life cycle, at least in the United States. Eggs are laid in fall and hatch in a few weeks.  The spiderlings overwinter on the ground in leaf litter, and climb into the vegetation in spring. They grow and mature through the summer, and mate in late summer or early fall. A female lays her eggs in a single irregularly-shaped egg sac, constructed of grayish or tan silk, and surrounded by a loose shroud of silk threads. She quits eating at this point, and spends the rest of her lives [sic] guarding her eggs and spiderlings. The spiderlings begin to emerge from the egg sac in a few weeks, but remain near it within the shroud for another month or so, before dispersing to the ground for the winter.”

Apparently I am witnessing sacrificial maternal care. This Green Lynx Spider is choosing to stay with her babies instead of eating. I will watch this situation with interest.

Another page with information about Green Lynx Spiders can be found here.