Stabilimentum

Posted by Graeme Lyons , Monday 4 July 2011 21:05

I have been NVC mapping Graffham today. I saw a few interesting inverts in the process including this odd spider, Cyclosa conica. I have seen it before at Friston but I have never seen its web with the strange 'stabilimentum'. Apparently, not used for stabilising the web but more for camouflage. This particular species decorates the stabilimentum with chunks of undigested prey. Awesome!

A nice surprise were two male Hornet Beetles Leptura aurulenta. I may start thinking this species is common.
Also got these shots of a male Downy Emerald, I was hoping for more yellow, that would have been brilliant.
Called into Cowdray for an hour after work and found the RDB2 Lymexylon navale within ten minutes when it flew into my net! It looked really weird in flight, like a flying worm. It was very lively so no chance of a photo. So much for scaling back the natural history.

Posted in , , , , ,

1 Response to "Stabilimentum"

Flora Says:

Photo of stabilimentum is stunning. Never seen that before and didn't know about it. Brill.

5 July 2011 at 08:58

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Nature Blog Network