Space Aliens?

Doesn't that look like a space ship!

I meant to post sooner and have three others started … but meanwhile I’ll post this one while my juices are flowing and I have the material at my fingertips .  I've got artwork to finish up on the others.

Is that formation in the photo cool, or what!  I found it and puzzled.  The dome is about an inch across.

I figured it probably was some kind of spider web, when I first found it … and even spotted the soft silhouette of a spider hiding just inches away.  But what kind?  At home I did a twenty minute search through my big spider book, “Field Guide to the Spiders of California and the Pacific Coast States”.  None of the webs described was anything close.  Time to back up and go more slowly. 

At last I found a spider family that probably fit – Metepeira species.  They are orb weavers, but sure don’t create orbs like proper orb weavers.  The are also unusual in that they often live in close proximity with others of their kind.  I found three of these little domes within about 50 yards of each other … and the only other similar one I remember seeing was a hundred miles away, near the Oregon coast. 

By now I was really curious.  Did I really find a Metepeira?  I told Dale I wanted to go back today with a small white bucket.  He was a bit skeptical, but humored me.  Back we went.  I looked more carefully and found two more little domes, a total of five.  I picked one on which to perform my experiment.

Dale and I got ready with our cameras.  I slipped the bucket under the little dome and tapped gently.  Sure enough!  Out popped the spider.  Just a little more jiggling of its web and it when into escape mode – it dropped straight down, and right into my bucket.  Success. 

Such a pretty little spider … rather hairy and with delicate creamy markings on its back … body about one fourth inch long. 

After we took a few photos I gently tipped my bucket and released the spider about an inch from its cobweb dome.  In it went, back home with quite an adventure to tell. 

BugGuide has since verified it is Metepeira.  To get the exact species I needed a belly shot too.  Now there is a challenge for me!

There are only 13 species of Metepeira in the United States and only a few of those on the West Cost.  Building near each other is expected.  My five weren’t connected, but they were near each other and then I couldn’t find any more.  Mine were in dead portions of Scotch Broom found along a roadside and near a creek.

In the Southwest the biggest colony of Metepeira involved hundreds of thousands of spiders.  The webbing measure 4 meters across, 2 meters high, and stretched for nearly two football fields! … my thanks to Bug Guide for that information.