Webnesday (55)

Last Thursday I had another spontaneous volunteer in my saga of spider experiences. Well, actually it volunteered to Squiddy, who was over here for a brief but cautiously-distanced visit with the Elf and the Sprite for a session on the swing I’ve made for them. Quite an arachnophile herself, she spied it on the railing of our deck and called it to my attention. I carefully offered it a ride on a fading straw flower that we still had in a small vase, and it accepted. It’s a new variety for me: It’s commonly known as a flattened jumping spider and, in my Spiders of New Zealand book, only the genus (Holoplatys) is given. It was really quite small, with a total leg span of not much more than one centimeter. It was quite active, and I managed to get only one image that I consider suitable for offering here. Hope I see another one soon! (Click the pic for more detail.)