I had often seen photos of mating Big-Jawed Spiders (Tylorida striata) but had never seen a pair myself. Knowing that quite a few were found in Dairy Farm, I went there early ahead of the rest and stared hard into the bushes in search for the horny pair!

The Tylorida striata that I found were all perched on their webs early in the morning, with most of the webs built horizontally. Found a web with a pair of male and female spiders and knew this had to be the day! Alas, they didn’t seem keen on performing their biological roles and I gave up after almost an hour.

#1 The lonely male Big Jawed Spider

I went on to meet the rest but didn’t manage to shoot any interesting subjects that stayed long enough for me…. and this lasted for the entire morning! Left whatever spiders and bugs I found to the rest, and I went back to the lovenest to see what the couple were up to now.

It was 11am and I realised that… the webs were all gone! They must have closed shop to get on with other more important business! I peered over and under the area and sure enough, the pair had already gotten into the mood… mission success!

#2 The female is all ready and the male approaches, armed with swollen pedipalps (a.k.a. male genitalia for the spiders)

#3 They were hidden under a leaf, all photos were rotated for better viewing. Could not stop moving… which made it a little difficult for me to capture as well. Most people might think that they were fighting!

#4 Static version, the pair kept twitching!

#5 Close up shot. Palps in motion!

#6 Tried to do a rocking animation in 3D so that you can have a better vision of the scene

Some other random subjects found in the day…

#7 Eucharitid Wasp

#8 Orb weaver resting after dismantling it’s web in the morning

#9 Front view

#10 Close up on it’s head

The pictures did not come out sharp this time round, perhaps the humidity did fog up the lens!

The complete album can be viewed here.

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