A predator! Eeeeek!

Found this big ugly bugger on a fence post at the ranch. It was about halfway up the post and appeared to be stalking a female pipevine that was flitting around the fence. As I got closer a grasshopper jumped up and landed right next to it...in a flash that grasshopper was dinner!!! The spider quickly scurried around to the back side of the post. I had to stick my hand through the fence panels to try to shoo it back around so I could get some photos. Must have played cat and mouse with that dratted spider for ten minutes! It wouldn't let go of the grasshopper either :o)

Have no idea what kind of spider it is...will have to research the net to ID it.

Oh well, I'm not sad to see a grasshopper get caught...there are thousands of grasshoppers out there anyway. Glad the butterfly didn't land!

~ Cat

Cat-
It sure is scary looking! Ewww ! I really hate spiders....they always bite me!

Adrienne

Cat you are a mighty brave woman lol.

That's disgusting!! LOL I hate spiders with a passion! It might be a jumping spider, which comes in many color patterns.

http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/l-1787.html

Oh great...noooooooooowwwww you tell me it jumps?!!! ROLF!!!

~ Cat

Ewww, that's one big spider....looks like a tarantula.

Cat, she couldn't tell you before....we wanted the picture LOL

LOL! Y'all are soooooo funny!!!

That's quite a bright red tush on that spider!!! It's got the booty thing goin' on! lol

Hmmmmm .......... I hope you find out what species it is. I want to know! How big was it? I find this really interesting. I don't get scared too much over a bug unless of course it's poisonous. =:-O

I think I narrowed it down to phidippus....which is a type of jumping spider (thanks to Stephanie's lead)...but which one exactly...haven't figured it out. I think it's a male as I read they have red abdomens.

I don't like spiders either...but just couldn't resist getting photo for the eerie creepy crawly scare myself silly thrill of it! :o)

Don't know if ya'll remember Frank from GW's old hummie forum...he'd posted photos of a "pretty big black wasp with bright orange wings" - as he described it - he really got up close and personal and had no idea what the bugger was until I told him...it was a tarantula hawk wasp - and that the sting from that wasp on a scale of 1 to 10 was a 20!!! They call them 'chupahuesos' out here which translates to bone suckers!!! The crazy things we do to get photos!!!

~ Cat

This message was edited Jun 2, 2007 10:30 PM

looks like: Phidippus johnsoni

http://bugguide.net/node/view/54738 ...to me.

:-Deb

Deb - YOU are GOOD!!!! :-) :-)

okay, I can hardly look at the picture, let alone go outside if I EVER SAW ANYTHING LIKE THAT !

I'm screaming here in Oregon, I'm sure you can here me..... YUCK!!

Deb,

Yes, that's it. I emailed a guy from a spider website and he identified it as that. Said he was going to put my photos on his spider site...trouble is...I can't remember which website I was looking at! DUH!

Red...I can't hear your screams over mine...ROLF!!!

~ Cat

I can see why Cat! Much better than bug guide's pic. I didn't look at all of them though. When I saw thier pic it was enough for ID. Yours was a really great photo!

:-Deb