Spiders

[Jayne & Corin]

Can anyone help us identify a spider? Body is about 2cm and fine, tapered legs approx. 4cm. The body is very crab-like, i.e.solid and with ridges and with yellow & brown stripes. We can't find it in our French wildlife book.


They look like this:




Any help much appreciated.

Corin and Jayne

[vinogeek]

A teacher friend used some of their vast holiday time to look it up for me: It's Argeope Lobata! Scary looking thing.....

[john]

Any word from your mate on the poison front, Corin ?

It looks like it might be that way inclined.

[Santiago]

Looks like a Spider just asking for a dose of Mageos

[opas]

http://www.wildsideholidays.com/natural ... obata.html

[Marguerite & Steve]

Was this spotted in the PO? Looks very scary to me.. ..altho it does say it has been seen in South Africa..

[Roger O]

I have them here in the garden near Carcassonne - they're quite harmless
- except towards insects, of course!!
The body as roughly the same size as that of the common garden spider in the UK but flatter.
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/galle ... spider.jpg
Source: http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forum ... -help.html

(The photo is about 2x natural size!)

[Steve&Julie]

Are there some poisonous spiders and if so what do they look like and when do you get them?

[vinogeek]

We found a False Widow in the winery the other day which gave me a shock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGuG0Sbyn1g

I've only ever seen one in all time I've lived here and that was in my cool and dark winery, so I wouldn't worry too much.
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[Roger O]

There is an excellent reference for complete coverage of spiders in France (and for that matter - almost all "creatures"!) but there is no English translation.
Here's the link for the spiders picture gallery:
http://pdubois.free.fr/gallerie.php?MyG ... ection=200
So far I haven't found anything useful in English specifically on the
spiders of South Eastern France..

To my knowledge, there is only one potentially dangerous one here in the South, but in the 15 years I've lived on the Cöte d'Azur (Antibes) and in the LR region (Le Soler PO and Palaja Aude) I've never seen one in the wild!
http://www.lost-in-france.com/wildlife- ... dow-spider

However, as for practically all venemous beasts, the rule is "if you don't bother them, they won't bother you" which means "take reasonable care and observe where you are walking, putting your hands into foliage, putting on your shoes (scorpions - if you live in country regions) etc.
One of the lesser joys of living in warm places for some, a boon for those of us fascinated by the burgeoning plethora of life here in the South!

[Sav]

Hi all

Only for people who like spiders
http://www.onemotion.com/flash/spider/

Cheers Sav

[mpprh]

http://planetepassion.freeforums.org is a useful link for local nature questions ...

Peter

[polremy]

Wasn't going to post this but you've forced my hand now:




A father watched his young daughter playing in the garden.
He smiled as he reflected on how sweet and pure his little girl was.
Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about her seeing the wonders of nature through such innocent eyes. Suddenly she just stopped and stared at the ground.

He went over to her to see what work of God had captured her attention.


He noticed she was looking at two spiders mating.

"Daddy, what are those two spiders doing?" she asked.

"They're mating," her father replied.

"What do you call the spider on top?" she asked..

"That's a Daddy Longlegs," her father answered.

"So, the other one is a Mommy Longlegs?" the little girl asked.

As his heart soared with the joy of such a cute and innocent question he replied,
"No dear...both of them are Daddy Longlegs."

The little girl, looking a little puzzled, thought for a moment, then lifted
her foot and stomped them flat.

"Well", she said, "We're not having any of that gay shit in our garden !"

[edann42]

Oh! Pol! That's homophobic, or something like that!!!!!!!

[polremy]

And maybe arachnophobic too.