We saw a wasp stun this spider right in front of us on our deck. The spider survived a while but tonight shows no sign of life. While stunned, it posed for my daughter-in-law and me quite willingly -- moving a leg now and then, but mostly lying on this leaf and watching us out of its 8 eyes -- two at the very top, two about the same size below those, and then four smaller ones that sort of made a smile just under the other four eyes. We think it might be a 'she' with an egg sack behind her as you can see, the body has a whole huge separate-looking section behind the back few legs. All in all, a totally creepy looking thing. We both marveled at how brave we were being (once in awhile admitting that we probably wouldn't have been if it had shown much more sign of life). This photo shoot helped, in a small way, make up for the fact that while I was down the beach trying to take photos of moving water at our friends' rock garden, four eagles showed up just off our beach and stayed almost that entire time. Of course, they'd moved far down the beach by the time I returned. AGH!
A much more pleasant and fun shot is in my extras/challenges album at http://365project.org/taffy/the-also-ran-ph/2013-08-19
Oh what a capture, how lucky it stayed there motioneless, I don't think I still could have shoot it, I'm really terrifield of spiders, especially the big ones. Great details, can see the eyes!
Wow! Amazing story and capture if the wasp stung it , would only be paralyse as she would wont it a live to lay her eggs in side so it has some food for the baby when they hatch
That's a serious looking spider! Cool shot though - love the eyes! So sorry you missed the eagles........uh that would've upset me too. Maybe they'll be back before you leave.
Oh wow! Just seeing all those legs and eyes gives me shivers. I don't think I could get this close to this spider despite the limited vital signs. Kudos to a well taken and close-up shot!
Wow! At first I thought this was a tarantula! Then I recognized the leaf and obviously realized the scale. Amazing macro work, Taffy! Very brave of you, too! Great shot!
Goodness what a creature, it looks pretty nasty to me, but then anything that crawls, jumps or bites is freeking me out at the mo after my little mishap! You've captured the details so well, just love the macro world.
Well, it is a great shot (although I really don't like spiders!!) and you are certainly brave for taking it so close-up! But, truth be told, I wish it was an eagle shot. (o: hehe
What an incredible shot and story! Not a pretty spider, but a wonderful capture! He looks like he could do some damage ...he looks bigger then he probably is.
Oh-Taffy everytime I clk,ur profile i see this creepy guy----gives me goosebumps-post another happy one pls. so I could go to sleep soundly-thanks-haha:)
@jodimuli Here's what someone told me to think of if having a nightmare -- "I can always process it to my liking -- PS, or LR or Aperture -- just process away the scary stuff"! Sleep well, Joey!
@nicoleterheide It did seem like tons of legs, but there were 8.