Focus on the golden decorations
A male - just sort of waiting around for her to pass through several molting phases and then mating. The black spheres at then ends of his palps contain the sperm for mating
Here is our lady in the center, a kleptoparasite (Argyrodes in the upper right, and the male in the lower right
A closer view of the male - only about 5 mm in length
Her dorsal side
Another view
I went for lunch and when I returned, here she was, just hanging by a single strand of drag line silk. I did not realize the had just molted. Above her is the exoskeleton she escaped from and below, she is waiting for her new exoskeleton to harden. So she is just blowing in the wind
Here she is starting to wake up a bit
Then she started to test her new legs.
all the while, blowing in the gentle breeze
She reaches up and starts the process of climbing over her old exoskeleton, then releases it and she returns to her web
Here she is, climbing over her old exoskeleton
Drying a bit more
The climbs away from her molting station
and makes her way back to her web
A full moon
C. Frank Starmer