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Lolcats have a ceiling cat and a basement cat (and loldogs have a walldog). It’s only fitting that InsectPOD should have a bug for some side of the room. I like the thought of combining the spiritual loftiness of ceiling cat with the sinister schemings of basement cat into a single entity, so I give you: ceiling spider.
Also, it was actually on the ceiling when I took the picture.
This spider has moved into my house following the cloud of gnats, beetles and midges that came in last week. He’s about 4mm long (2cm legspan). The short “fifth pair” of legs by his face are actually his pedipalps, which is how we know this little guy is a, well, a guy.
He really gets around; I saw him in the kitchen last night and 20 minutes later he had returned to his station by the living room light. He moves fast when he wants to. His hunting style is pretty straightforward: he goes and stands still in a well-lit area, and when a gnat lands within about a centimeter of his face, he lunges forward and grabs it. This means that although he can’t see very far, he hunts by eyesight. This ambushy behavior combined with the long legs and fair¹ eyesight lead me to believe that it is a cousin to the crab spider family.
Either way, he’s in my house, eating my bugs, and that makes him a Good Guy™.
Addendum:
Sharp-eyed reader tceisele notes: Hey, this might be a three-fer! It looks like there is a mite on the abdomen of the doomed gnat!
I started to write this reply in the comments, but it’s so full of Gratuitous Educational Content that I figured I’d merge it into the post proper. Also, I get to talk about poop, so you know it’s extra postworthy. My response:
Oooh, you may be right!
My first thought was that it was gnat poop: spider prey often “let go” when eaten. This dot is on the side of the abdomen, however, so unless this gnat had a colostomy beforehand….
Another possibility is that it could be a puncture wound. I’ve seen wounds like that ooze when jumping spiders miss their killing bite. Jumpers usually try to envenomate at the back of the neck, most insects are incapable of attacking something holding onto the back of their head, and the venom goes right into the spinal ganglia causing quick brain death at best and paralysis at worst. Sometimes they miss, and end up biting the abdomen. They’ll hold onto the bug as the venom works its eventual way through the innards; once it’s dead they’ll turn it around and bite it in a more convenient spot for feeding.
I see three problems with my second theory as well: first, that drop of ooze is way too big for the size of bite this spider can inflict; second, there is no matching drop on the other side of the bug (remember that chelicerata have opposable, scissoring jaws); and third, the bug is translucent green: extrails² would tend to be clear or green as well.
So… yeah! I think you’re probably right. The size and specularity of the dot is also consistent with the kinds of mites we get around here, so it is indeed entirely possible. Thanks!
¹ I say fair eyesight, but remember that we’re talking about spiders here. Many web-dwelling spiders are mostly blind and hunt by vibrations, while wolf and jumping spiders have the best vision of spiders–they can see clearly up to a meter away and can see movement from several meters out. This is a spider that can see and hunt by eyesight, but can’t run or jump, only pounce–so it can only see a centimeter or two away.
² entrails that have failed to stay en.
