Bar Harbor Arachnid

While sampling the delightful brews and insanely tasty sodas at Bar Harbor's Atlantic Brewing Company, we spied a very large spider staked out near our car. This is a female Black & Yellow Argiope (pronounced ar-GUY-o-pee), Argiope aurantia. It's also known as the Writing Spider due to the interesting patterns it makes in its web. The body on this baby was about an inch long. Don't worry, they're harmless to humans unless extremely provoked.

Spitting Spider Spotted

For a guy who's into nature, I deplore spiders. Actually, I don't really have anything against their existence, I'm just terrified of them. What is it that makes a spider repulsive, yet makes a beetle or dragonfly alluring?

The other day I opened the shower curtain of our much less frequently used second shower and discovered a very interesting arachnid just above the overflow drain. Its markings were unfamiliar, but very interesting.

I'm washing. Do you mind?

I browsed around BugGuide for a while, but didn't have much luck. Actually, I didn't know where to begin. So, I posted an ID request and quickly got an answer (how awesome is that site!). The fellow above is a male Spitting Spider in the genus Scytodes - probably Scytodes thoracica. They get their name from their ability to spit a sticky "glue" from their modified jaws. When they shoot the fluid, they move in a "Z" pattern in order to cover their prey completely. The viscous silk immobilizes their prey and the spider feasts on its bounty. Wild! Some videos of these guys in action can be found here (I had some trouble playing it). Unfortunately, I never got to see this guy in action. He's living elsewhere now.