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Photo#374232
Adult Female - Tenuiphantes zebra - female

Adult Female - Tenuiphantes zebra - Female
Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada
March 1, 2010
Size: BL = 2mm
Female on the snow, holding several springtails in her chelicerae. Ambient temperature was about +12C. She'd had a small web inside a deer footprint in the snow, but had been startled by the camera flash and was fleeing when this picture was taken.

Feeding on the snow
John, I've seen plenty of spiders walking around on the snow, but your picture is the first I ever saw of one eating anything. And I see how much darker T. zebra is out your way.

 
There are a lot of them out a
There are a lot of them out and about now, adult males and females. Most of the females are building tiny sheet webs in depressions in the snow, and I'd say that most of them are feeding well on springtails. They seem to be able to hold several in their chelicerae at the same time ... and they hang on to them: when I approach the spiders usually drop out of their webs and play dead, except that they keep the wad of springtails in their mouths while they do so. Then, after a few minutes they climb back into their webs and resume their meals. I posted a few pictures of another one in its web, catching springtails, here:

http://forum.canadianarachnology.org/viewtopic.php?t=837

Sometimes the springtails are so abundant the snow looks like it's been sprinkled heavily with pepper.

Have you found many of their webs where you are?

Yes, if I hadn't seen the epigyne from one of yours I'd never have thought they were the same species! I'll post more pictures of them from my area, including the epigyne, sometime this week.

 
Depressions in the snow
I guess I haven't been looking at the right places on the snow. I haven't seen any of them in the web, only ones walking on the snow. It looks like I'll have to wait until next winter. It was 60 degrees today, and most of the snow has melted.

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