Neoscona mating series - Neoscona - Highland Park, Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA August 14, 2017
While photographing at the moth light on the back deck, I knocked the slip-fit styrofoam flash diffuser off the nose of the lens and it fell off the side of the deck. This happens all too regularly and is a royal pain: I have to go down the stairs and wade into the ivy bed to retrieve the diffuser. But once I got down there I discovered these courting spiders and stayed to watch the action. (There were at least 2 other females in the immediate vicinity as well.) Sorry for the poor focus on some of the shots -- camera wouldn’t autofocus, so I was stuck using manual focus in very dim light. Times below start from 1st photo timestamp, which itself was ~1 min after the 1st sighting. Starred photo is the current one.
I would love to know more about what’s going on here. It looks like after mating the female immediately extruded eggs in a droplet of fluid (though the droplet looked clear -- maybe eggs are tiny?), which she then wrapped in silk. Have not been able to find much on the web about spider reproductive behavior (and what I have found doesn’t seem to match the observations here very well); links or info welcome. Also need confirmation on the species.
00:54 Approaching by fits and starts; female with pearly yellow abdominal extrusion
01:12 Now touching
01:48 Male, having made his rush, now clasping the female (duration ~30 sec)
04:07 Partly disengaged, touching via legs; jointly holding 1st amber droplet extruded rapidly (~20 sec) by female, with 2nd droplet growing (this is how they stayed for 6 min)
09:12 Female wrapping amber droplet in silk; male moving off but still touching packet with 1 foot
*09:43 Droplet wrapped in silk, attached to web; dorsoposterior view of female
10:33 Male after moving off
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