Monday, April 9, 2012

"Jumping Spider" on a Butterfly


I had gone for a hike in the Skyline Drive part of the National Park, and noticed a butterfly on the trail ahead of me. It was flying low along the trail, and it landed just ten feet from where I was hiking. I had a camera with a macro lens in place, so I tried to get a shot of it as it stopped on a piece of grass. I noticed that it had something on its back near the “hinge” point of its wings. Through the macro lens I could see that it was a small spider. I took a few pictures, and then tried to brush the spider off with a twig. This wasn’t successful, as the spider evidently had a firm grip on the hinge of the wings.  Took a very close shot of the spider, and then left the two of them alone to play out the scenario. The spider in the picture almost looks like a piece of construction equipment.
 It’s possibly this type of spider: http://www.cirrusimage.com/spiders_jumping.htm