I spent the whole day doing some stuff in the city, so now, before falling asleep, I have the time & energy only for a low-effort post. Now, you may think that I could skip a day, and decide not to post today. Well, I'm afraid that this isn't an option. My compulsive urge to post something every day won't let me do it.
(Enlargeable)
Fortunately, I have plenty of old unpublished photographs that can come in handy on an evening like this. In this one, you can see a spider from the Araneidae. The name of the species is Araneus diadematus. The color can vary a lot from one individual Araneus diadematus to another. The one shown in this photograph is somewhere in the middle between the darker and lighter versions.
The females, which are considerably larger and heavier than males, build the typical orb webs. Their legs are specialized for spinning that kind of web.
You can mostly see them hanging heads down in the center of the web. If the web looks empty, there is a probability that the spider is hidden in nearby foliage, with one claw hooked to a signal line connected to the orb. When the web is disturbed by the prey caught in it, the spider quickly arrives, delivers a bite, and wraps the prey in silk. The initial bite serves to paralyze the prey and minimize the danger of the spider herself being stung or bitten. Furthermore, the enzymes injected with the venom start the liquefaction of the prey's internal structures.
Here you can see the same spider, lit and photographed, in a slightly different way.
The two photographs that ended up in this short post were taken in my garden. The year was 2009. Back then, I had the Canon EOS 350D camera. The CANON EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro. And the Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX. All that equipment was used to get these two shots.
*AND THAT'S IT. I'LL PREPARE SOME PHOTOGRAPHS FOR TOMORROW'S POST, AND THEN, I'LL GO TO SLEEP. AS ALWAYS HERE ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK. *