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Cribellate Orb Weaver

Unidentified Uloboridae

Photo by John B.
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

This spotting is problematic for me and any help would be appreciated. I think what is shown is one or two adult Uloboridae spiders and numerous baby spiderlings. There are also some Pseudococcidae Mealybugs (I think) and several tufts of cribellate silk which just add to the confusion. In https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mealybug it is mentioned that ants like the honeydew excreted by mealybugs and my first thought was that the little black spiderlings were actually ants, but there are one or two which are clear enought to enable counting the legs - eight. Then in inaturalist.org there are pictures of Uloborid spiderlings (of varous species) and they all look like those in my pictures. There are also many pictures of adults in inaturalist.org which look like mine, but the problem is that there seems to be some different spiders displayed there with the same name. So, I just get confused. I think the spiders in my spotting are Uloborus sp. In inaturalist there are some which look just like mine and they are labelled Uloborus plumipes, but they look nothing like the Wikipedia picture of that species. It is a bit of a minefield. I think I should just mention that the spider in my last photo seems to have caught a small insect. I am not sure if it is a beetle or a bug. This spider was on the underside of an adjacent leaf of the same Taro Plant. I am pretty sure it was part of the main group shown in the other pictures. It probably climbed onto the adjacent leaf in pursuit of the beetle/bug.

Habitat:

Spotted in our backyard on the underside of the leaf of a Taro Plant (Colocasia esculenta) locally known as Gabi.

Species ID Suggestions

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Photographed
PublishedJanuary 18, 2023

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