Today was a big spider maintenance day. I’ve got three lines of spiders I’m raising — R (from a spider collected at Runestone park), H (from the local Horticulture garden), and M (from the Myers garage) which I’m trying to bring to maturity, so they’re getting lots of food and care, which I want to start inbreeding and generate 3 lines of related spiders so I can start assessing their variation…and then start cross-breeding. It’s going to take a while.
Anyway, down below the fold is one that’s definitely male and might be ready for mating after the next molt. His palps look painfully swole.
Male
Female
Isn’t he handsome?
What I think might be an easy way to identify individuals is the abdominal pigment patterns, like this little lady.
I just have to train my brain to be able to recognize those spots. If a spider can do it, I ought to be able to.
O… M… G… You’re Spiderman!
PaulBC @1,
And the obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1415/
Painfully swollen palps. Is that the spider equivalent of blue balls?
Remember, the Chief Justice of the United Kingdom was, until recently — and as the title of her memoir (forthcoming in October) proclaims: Spiderwoman! So perhaps she’d appreciate some of these goings-on…