The Tiny, Tiny Water Boatmen
The Water Boatman (Notonectidae) is also known as a backswimmer, precisely because they swim upside down on their backs. These tiny swimmers are not often noticed, as they swim underwater, unlike water striders and fishing spiders which skim across the water surface. The water boatman has a pair of powerful hind legs with long hairs modified for swimming – much like how humans use their legs in the breast stroke.
- Water Boatman (Notonectidae) busy with it’s backstroke. At the same time, it has captured a prey with it’s fore legs!
- Seemed to be having fun gliding beneath the surface?
- Hairy hind legs slightly more visible in this picture
- A grumpy-faced crab spider (Strigoplus sp.). Didn’t look particularly excited to see us
- The abdomen was surprisingly colourful with tints of red, yellow and brown
- Always wanted to get a nice shot of this horny pair, but alas they flew off before I could get a better shot 😛
- Beetle with lovely antennae
- Comb-footed spider (Meotipa sp.) with transparent abdomen
- It has this habit of flattening it’s body on the underside of a leaf. Their way of taking cover perhaps?
- Found this beautiful but super tiny crab spider (Moneta sp.) with a prey
- On closer inspection, the prey was a Pseudoscorpion! These guys are usually about 2-3mm long, so that gives us an idea on the size of the spider.
- Front view showing the Pseudoscorpion in detail
- Practice shot of a tiger beetle. Probably a Cicindela aurulenta.
- Ant-mimic Crab Spider (Amyciaea lineatipes) dangling on it’s web
- Red Tent Spider (Cyrtophora unicolor) often found in a massive, complicated web but this time it was out. Once we approached it, the big fella tried to play dead
- Spinning on it’s web
- Still spinning, felt like a circus act
- Landed on a green leaf, but didn’t think it would be comfortable there
- Finally settled down on a brown leaf. These spiders usually like to hide under a dead leaf in the middle of it’s web
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