A Photo for Friday
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, August 14, 2020
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7 comments
“Mr. Spider”
July 4, 2020
Pike Road, AL
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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The first hiker on the trail every morning gets this view pretty often; his/her face clears the path of the night’s work by these lovely guys. I think that’s a Wolf Spider, by the way.
That’s Ms. Spider.
Point of biology.
@JohnMcC: That’s why you bring a stick to hold in front of you.
@Cheryl Rofer: You are absolutely correct.
Pretty sure that’s a type of Orb Weaver, I suspect Nephila.
ETA: Wrong. Nephilas are the infamous banana spiders and as such are endemic to the tropics. I suppose some may have hitched a ride tho.
I still think a type of orb weaver.
ETA2 Than again Steven, iirc you have spent some time in S America. Where did you take this pic?
@OzarkHillbilly: Actually, trekking poles. And I was hoping someone would give an actual identity; I’ve run into her kin pretty often without any introduction.
@JohnMcC: My wife likes her trekking poles for when we go hiking but she doesn’t use them for that. I will sometimes pick up a stick but usually I just let her go first. 🙂 Last year I mounted a bike flag on the front of my lawn tractor to catch all the webs. I just put it back on for orb weaver season.
@Cheryl Rofer: Good to know. I will confess to ignorance on the subject, although I suppose I should have given that Charlotte’s Web was my favorite childhood book.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Trigger warning for us arachnophobes, please!