For the better part of the summer, a marvellous Green Lynx Spider (likely a Peucetia viridana) was living three feet outside my door. I’ve shared several pictures of her before, and it used to be a favourite pass time of mine to stand outside in late evenings and watch the Queen of Thorns sway with wind.
Green lynx spiders are hunting spiders: they don’t jump around, they don’t build giant orb webs, but they do have a Ranger’s look about them: on the prowl with their long legs and infinite reach.
The spider just sat still on most occasions when I observed it, and I’m afraid I never really got to see it hunt. This one evening I got lucky though: in the photograph below the Peucetia‘s caught herself a grasshopper easily as big as her, and then some. By the time I saw it, the hapless insect had stopped struggling.
The place where the spider rested was quite susceptible to strong winds and was only partially protected from the rain (and light rain at that), so she would often disappear on stormy evenings, and be back in her perch the morning after.
Some day late in July, she disappeared for good. We had a particularly stormy night, and I’m hoping that she skedaddled to safety.
Here’s looking at you, kid.
The Daily Critter 