Arachnid life and [not] death

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During my reconnoitering through Great Hills Park on May 2, about half an hour before I encountered the green anole that graciously put on a display for me, I noticed a funnel web in the low vegetation next to the trail. Not knowing if a spider was waiting inside the funnel to pounce on any small prey that ventured onto the outer portion of the web, I knelt to have a look. When I did, I could see that there was indeed a spider in the narrow part of the funnel, but then to my surprise I noticed that there was also a dead spider at the top of the outer part of the web.

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Update: In a comment below, Spider Joe explained that what I took to be a dead spider was actually the cast-off exoskeleton of the live spider in the funnel. See his detailed comment for more information.

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For the technically minded, I’ll add that this forested part of the trail was pretty dark, so I turned on my flash and stopped my macro lens down to a small aperture for extra depth of field.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman