Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning

Argyrodes flavescens invade webs of Nephila. Here is Nephila pilipes chasing prey

Captured

Having dinner

More dinner

Fishished

Then home to the hunting position

Her ventral side

Lurking in the Nephila web are several Argyrodes flavescens - here is one manipulating a couple of circumferential strands - probably to harvest the glue drops. Note that she has linked to the two left circumferential strands forming a triangle. Amazingly intelligent behavior - how is this programmed?

Argyrodes

Here are the two strands that she appears to be linking to another strand

More of the acrobatics of linking strands and subsequent harvesting

Here it appears she is pulling strands from the right to join the other strands

And here pulling the bundle to the left

A rare look at the drag line silk from the Argyrodes

Meanwhile in another sector of the web - this little one appears tangled in a maze of silk

Sort of consolidating

More acrobatics

Stretching exercises

Here she is stealing a fly, put up for storage by the hostess Nephila

In this sequence you can see her pull strands, gathering up slack silk on the left and consolidating it for glue harvesting, I suppose

A better view of the glue drops on a strand and slack silk held by her 1st left leg (while the 2nd left leg holds the strand with glue

THere the glue drop strand is hanging slightly as she pulls on the upper left strand - and at the same time, pulls toward herslef the slack strand

Here she is manipulating the glue drop strand

Apparently attaching it to the slack clump of silk

Here the left-most strand is now tight as is the stand just above it

Now she appears to be manipulating the clump of loose silk

And she continues consolidating and tensioning strands

Here is similar exercise

Next step

Manipulating slack strands

Here connecting and tensioning the strands

Two Argyrodes

A grasshopper - face

From the side

C. Frank Starmer

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