Vacation spiders assist make the season vibrant: Leaping spiders, Salticidae and orb weavers, Araneidae

December 2021 will likely be remembered for a lot of causes, not the least of which is provide chain shortages that plague consumers this vacation season. Along with shortages of digital units and vehicles, choose-and-cut Christmas bushes are one way or the other briefly provide.  Ah, however my favourite trusty tree farm had no scarcity of bushes and, in what has change into a daily occasion, my vacation tree had no scarcity of spiders. This yr my Nordmann fir had a minimum of one tiny however very entertaining leaping spider.

Leaping spiders are not like their cousins, the well-known orb weavers made well-known by E. B. White in Charlotte’s Internet. As their title implies, leaping spiders are hunters, relentlessly on the prowl for small bugs and different spiders which they stalk, seize, subdue, and pulverize with highly effective fangs. They’re among the many most clever of all arthropods. Their tiny brains are capable of kind spatial maps and plan circuitous routes to sneak up on unsuspecting prey. They’re extremely entertaining to look at as they discover their atmosphere in the hunt for prey. Their eight eyes, two of that are terribly giant, enable them to exactly observe transferring prey. Their mating rituals are spectacularly advanced and rival these of vertebrates like Bower Birds. You possibly can watch them hunt and court docket at this hyperlink: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/160121-jumping-spiders-animals-science

After bringing a field-grown Christmas tree into the home, I discovered this little leaping spider touring my houseplants. As soon as the stare-down with the digicam man was completed, the spider continued its explorations. Watch the way it takes a shortcut from one leaf to a different at regular and one third pace, therefore the title leaping spider!

Different spiders play necessary roles within the anthology of vacation bushes and their decorations. Every year as we put the ending touches on our vacation tree, a critical debate arises relating to the amount of tinsel crucial to finish the duty. Some years in the past, I explored the murky origins of tinsel. To some, the silvery strands of unknown composition evoke photos of glistening icicles or shimmering crystals of frost on evergreen branches. However how did tinsel change into a part of a vacation custom in so many households? To aficionados of arachnids, the custom of festive tinsel has a number of totally different origins. One Christian story tells of Mary’s harrowing escape from Roman troopers as she and Jesus hid within the hills close to Bethlehem. With Herod’s legion in sizzling pursuit, Mary entered a cave searching for refuge. Spiders rapidly sealed the doorway with silk and when troopers arrived and noticed the undisturbed webs, they disregarded the cave as a hideaway and continued their search elsewhere. Typically maligned spiders saved the day! Since that point, tinsel has been strung on Christmas bushes to symbolize a glistening spider internet and to commemorate the spider’s miraculous deed.

Different tinsel legends from Germany and the Ukraine inform of spiders escaping the deadly brooms of housekeepers by hiding in darkish corners of the house throughout preparations for vacation celebrations.  After exiting their redoubts on Christmas Eve, spiders excitedly explored the evergreen bushes that had been introduced inside after which left behind wonderful cloaks of gossamer webs. When Father Christmas arrived that night time and noticed the grey spider webs, he miraculously modified them into glowing silver strands, a lot to the delight of households who seen the bushes on Christmas morning. Since that point, tinsel has been strung as an emblem of the exceptional occasion.

Within the wild, leaping spiders prowl vegetation in search of prey and, apparently, amuse themselves by taking tiny bungee jumps from excessive locations.

Many spiders survive winter’s chill as eggs protected in silken sacs. If the spider’s final hang-out was a spruce or fir, then egg sacs could enter houses as stowaways on Christmas bushes. Within the heat of vacation houses, eggs hatch and people could also be recipients of dozens of sudden guests. For those who uncover a spider egg sac in your Christmas tree or contemporary evergreen boughs, merely pluck off a small piece of infested department and place it and the egg sac outdoors on a shrub. This can enable the spiders to hatch simply in time to ship a deferred vacation present of pest management in your backyard. And as for my lovable leaping spider, properly prey is scarce throughout winter months in my house. My spider was launched on a hemlock the place overwintering woolly adelgids could serve up a vacation deal with for this intelligent hunter.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Maryland Christmas Tree Affiliation for offering the inspiration for this episode. The fascinating article “The execution of deliberate detours by spider-eating predators” by Fiona R. Cross and Robert R. Jackson was used as a reference for this episode.