Spiders of Malaysia

    I was very fortunate to meet Lawrence Siow online today.
    Lawrence lives in Malaysia and is a freelance photographer.
    He has very kindly allowed me to post some of his amazing Macro
    photographs of Spiders that he has found.
    I look forward to seeing more of Lawrence's fantastic work!
    More of Lawrence's photography can be seen on his Facebook page HERE.

 

    Ant-mimic Spider

    Myrmarachne sp. ?

 

 

    Jumping Spiders
    Salticidae

 

    I think this beauty is the Malaysian Orange Huntsman

    Thelcticopis modesta

    Sparassidae sp.

 

    Argiope sp. ?

    Batu Pahat
    Johor, Malaysia
    All Photographs copyright Lawrence Siow 2012
    
   

Spiders of India

    My friend Julia Ratcliffe has very kindly allowed me to post this great
    photo of a Spider that she and her partner found "in the State of Megalaya
    next state to Assam in the Tribal regions of India. The wettest place on earth
    is called Cherrepunjee. It is a deep jungle valley with loads of bizarre insects
    there. We were told they find new species there often. We saw loads of these
    strange purple and black wasps about the size of your thumb and loads of
    weird spiders".

    Family : Nephilidae
    Genus : Herennia
    Possibly Herennia multipunctata, known as the Fluted orb weaving Spider.
    Many thanks to Mark Bushell for Id.
    H. multipuncta is an invasive species and is synanthropic, often found in
    houses, gardens, farms, roadsides, garbage dumps.
    Like in the related genus Nephilengys, the much smaller males mutilate and
    sever their pedipalps, which are often found stuck in the epigynum or female
    genital openings. It is suggested that they act as mating plugs to prevent other
    males from mating with the female and thereby ensure the paternity of
    offspring. The males cannot mate subsequently and such "eunuch"
    individuals continue to stay near the female. (Wikipedia)
    Cherrepunjee
    Megalaya
    India
    December 2012
    Photograph by Julia Ratcliffe