(Ch'ien writes)
>>This is probably some species of Crab Spider. They can be
>>identified by their long front legs, often triangular-shaped
>>abdomen, and sideways movement.
>
>Hi Ch'ien,
>
>It isn't a crab spider,
(...)
>The species I'm talking about has a body and limbs (as
>well as size) very similar to the wolf spider. It hunts by running at its
>prey while lying in ambush.
We have a critter known as a "wolf" spider up here. About 1 cm in length,
black, or brown, zebra striped with grey (or is it the other way around?).
These are very quick and bossy little jumping spiders that are always found
crawling around my Sarrs (and everything else) in the summer. Although I
have _never_ seen one trapped by a Sarr. (and I do check the pitchers),
very occaisionally I will see one trapped by a large VFT. I have seen one
of these guys wipe out a middlin' aphid colony in an afternoon. I quite
like them.
There always seem to be various other spiders, in summer, hanging around my
Sarrs and Neps, on and in the pitchers, with and without webs. I commonly
find a (only one to a pitcher) web in any large N. alata pitcher. I have
not noticed any one species of spider to prefer any one species of CP
although the little yellow garden spider seems to prefer smaller pitchers
and lids.
(Ch'ien writes)
>>Crab spiders are well-known for their relatively potent
>>venom (a leading cause of death amongst Sarracenia growers)
>
>Yes, second only to heart attacks while reading summer water bills! :-)
>
>Regards,
>
>Demetrios
We don't have the water problem, Demetrios. The Canadian Beaver Spider will
generally make a reservoir anywhere it can collect water with it's web
"dams". I have seen five large S. purpurea var. purpurea pitchers webbed
together on my back landing, with the resultant cup holding almost 1/2
liter of rainwater. This is great for watering other CPs or washing our
wool socks.
Regards,
Rand