Comments & ID Thoughts
Don't know that I have seen this fella with the two black legs....
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Jul 13, 2020
- Photographed: Jul 13, 2020
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Sandston, Virginia, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: Man-made structure (building wall, fences, etc.)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
How about a male Schizocosa bilineata?
https://bugguide.net/node/view/756856
Agreed! He looks like he dipped those two legs in black paint.
I started to wonder what function the “tibial brushes” serve, and found this* article: “The function of these foreleg modifications has been studied most extensively in the genus Schizocosa. Since the courtship displays of all male Schizocosa incorporate a seismic component, foreleg ornamentation (namely pigmentation and associated “brushes”) composes only one part of a multimodal courtship display.” “All known Schizocosa species possess a seismic component to their courtship display and seismic signaling is believed to be ancestral in this genus (Stratton 2005). A survey across wolf spiders found male foreleg ornamentation to be associated with the presence of active leg-waving… Read more »
Huh. Well who would have ever thought they served such a purpose. Like you I am imagining him waving them about…”look at me and my fancy schmancy legs. Aren’t they swell!”. Kind of the male human’s version of a shiny new luxury car showing it off to the ladies…
Haha! That’s a great interpretation. Fancy schmancy legs! I’m sure the display is fabulous. I’d look up and watch a video of it, but I’m working off of a cellphone hotspot right now and don’t want to use up all the data. I’ve seen videos of some spider displays, but only one in person – displaying to me. It perplexed me for many years, until I read that some male jumping spiders will display to any female jumper they see. Maybe he thought I looked like a lady spider. (?) I’m guessing it was Phidippus audax – he was black… Read more »
I just have to know if you include a visual reinactment in the telling of your encounter….
Oh, yes. I dance. I try to do it in the same rhythm, too. Each movement is smooth and measured, and I freeze between moves, all the while with a silly grin on my face. It’s my favorite spider story to tell.