Rewilding My Lot

I have been keeping an eye on a mother Green Lynx Spider and her spiderlings since they hatched just over a month ago. Any time now, I expect the spiderlings to lower themselves to the ground, where they will spend the winter (ref). However, for now they remain close together in the webbing shroud that was built by their mother.

Every time I have visited their tree (Texas Mountain Laurel), the mother has been inside the shroud, and I suspect that she is not moving away from the spiderlings at all. Most likely she will not survive much longer — the life span of these spiders is one year (ref) and she is definitely getting thinner. However, if potential food happens to pass nearby, apparently she will still pounce and eat. Twice I have witnessed the resulting meal. Once was when I watched her suck the insides out of a Genista Broom Moth caterpillar (I don’t have photos of that).

The second incident was when I saw her mouth parts attached to a  Spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) for several hours. These are some photos of that episode.