Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Spitting Spider(Scytodes thoracica)

Hey Everyone! :)
Haven't made a post in a week or so ,quite frankly, I haven't had anything to post about! But that has changed! While looking with my little brother in a place that leads under our cottage( I've never looked under there before), he found something very cool and that I've wanted to have for a while....... a spitting spider!!! To be specific it is a Scytodes thoracica, and although it may be small it is very interesting with it's enlarged head, stripes, and it's very unique ability to spit a mixture of venom and webs, which it uses when hunting it's prey! It's really cool that I recently ordered some little Kenyan roaches, which should arrive tomorrow, because the nymphs should be a perfect size prey item for this small spider. Here's some pictures I got of it!



Scytodes thoracica
I also took a couple egg cases I saw near it, in case they are from the spitting spider, but they are most likely just from the long-legged cellar spiders that also inhabited that space.I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when my feeders come so I can observe it's hunting behavior! Hope you guys enjoyed this post, and until next time, good bye!

5 comments:

  1. Joshua,
    What an interesting spider. I don't think I've every seen one like this before. Now you can start collecting spiders too.

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    1. Thanks Mrs.PW! I haven't seen one before either, I didn't even know they could be found in Chicago because I haven't seen anybody on Bugguide.net who has found them in Chicago, so it was a nice surprise! Yep, now I've got an adult female T.helluo, adult male P.audax and now a S. thoracica, I have had some great collecting success!

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  2. Aww man, I love these guys! Been wanting some for years, they are so unique! Hope yours does well for you!

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    1. Thanks! I really love the look of their oversized head with the nice stripes and odd-small eyes!

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    2. Yeah, that oversized, dome-like head is on of the things that makes these so unique looking!

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