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Comments & ID Thoughts
Pisaura mirabalis. The European nursery web spider. This is the 4th I've seen this year. They seem to like relaxing with their legs tucked in like this. They can hop up and scoot away quickly when disturbed.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: May 1, 2023
- Photographed: May 1, 2023
- Spider: Pisaura mirabilis (European Nursery Web Spider)
- Location: Southern Ireland , Ireland
- Spotted Outdoors: Low foliage (shrubs, herbs, garden, excluding flowers)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Jan 7, 2020
Jan 8, 2020
Newcastle upon Tyne, 
Nice photo, that’s interesting. That does look like an odd leg position. By “hop up” do you mean jumping? American Nursery Web Spiders can jump upward and forward. I don’t know if other Pisauridae do that.
No it was more like watching a springed instrument go from its folded position to fully extended at the press of a button. The 4 I saw ….2 pairs…Male female…were all in the same folded state. I must Google their behaviour when I get a chance. It might be part of a courtship ritual. Or maybe they were just soaking up the rays on a day that it was quite cool in the shade. It was hard to see them. They looked like a lump of detritus from a distance which was probably the point.