Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning

This was quite an interesting session. The female Nephila had moved her web closer to the ground so that she was eye-level with me. The male was actively engaged in love making. This amounts to weaving a mat or carpet of silk over the female's abdomen and cephalothorax. The milky appearance that you see near her 4th legs is the carpet and the male is just behind the leg.

Here the male is on her ventral side - looking for the secret entrance where he can insert his embolus injectors.

A closer view

Here he is laying down silk

A closer view - look carefully and you can see a strand being extruded from his spinneret and manipulated with his leg

A closer view of the male and you can see the embolus injectors

This is an interesting composition of spider silk.

The female silk from her spinneret and the male walking around

Here the massive amount of silk layed down by the male is obvious. Its everywhere

Here the individual strands (and parallel at that) are clearly seen

Another view

There was a 2nd male in the web and here he is with dragline silk in place

A closer view of the male and cephalothroax carpet

And love is in the air. Here are two skippers mating

I disturbed them and the flew off - in tandem - hmmm

The landed on a different leaf and continued as if nothing happened.

C. Frank Starmer

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