Tuesday, my off day, afternoon was a lazy one where I spent sleeping at my in-laws after doing some shopping in the morning. So coming 4 pm I decided to explore the area there while the rest of the people in the house was dozing. Didn't know my in-laws actually lived very near to a actual forest reserve. I found a road which lead up to a path leading into the reserve. Damn, this is no abandon estate or undevelop wasteland. This is actual "hutan belantara"/jungle. The growth is bloody thick, huge trees and you know this is real jungle by the sound... the sort of distance echoy chirping of various insects. If ppl tell me to be careful here, I'll definately heed their advice. I wouldn't go in without a parang and thick boots, and definately not alone!
I was only at the edge, as there were some dogs kept in cages along the side of the path leading inside. I think they are used for hunting. I asked my wife later back in the house about the area and she said where we were sitting, ppl used to hunt for wild boars. Confirmed.
I hung around the path, looking at the interesting atropod world.
A nest with crab spider slings bursting out.
I saw this ant spider scurrying around on a huge leaf, on closer examination i realized it was actually eating, not sucking, but actually eating rather quickly very tiny insects also scurrying on the leaf surface. It grabs like 1-2 insects per second. Amazing.
After about 20min browsing the edge, I decided to move into the greens a bit more. There were some tall large-leaves human-planted ornamental plants there. It was a heavily shaded patch of land.
Because there were few plants growing under this sunlight-deprived spot, I quickly found one with a nest.
Whoa, there is a large unknown jumper with eggs inside. I took the whole plant back. Unknown jumper 1.
Very soon I found another, but this time the nest is more tightly woven and can't really see the spidey inside. Looks like a Plexippus paykulli. Took it back. Unknown jumper 2.
Still early, I slowly moved around the area. Some plants recently cleared. But I was dangerously close to what looks like a deep hole superficially covered by fallen plants. Wonder what lurks beneath. A look at the growth.
I went back to under the shaded area and decided to do the smart thing - observe leaves against the sunlight.
Hold and behold! Right thing to do. I spotted a huge shadow!
Hello...
I slowly took a large tranparent pill container and covered that guy...and then suddenly, it jumped right into the container and went berserk!! It was smashing itself hard against the container wall and in a split second, before i could even pull back my hand to close the container with the cover in my other hand, it sprang right out and onto my forearm. Although i was not startled, for a moment i thot i might get bitten. But it jumped away and hit leaf litter. Damn, this guy is strong and lighting fast.
Well, I slowly searched the litter and found it again, trying hard not to be seen. After a few powerful jumps, I finally got it. Whoa...what a fella. It has one arm missing. Unknown spider 3.
A while later I saw another a small one perched on some fallen twigs. Unknown spider 4.
It was around 6 when a couple of guys came to the dog area. The saw me but didn't say anything. But after a while one guy walked up and told me he was going to let the dogs loose. I friendly introduced myself as nature love but took the hint and left. There were no sign or fence to say that was private land and the spot i was at is just a few meters from the parking of a low cost flat. I figure these guys just sort of claim the area for their hunting purposes.
Back in my in-laws, while bathing, I found out I brought another friend back. I felt it on my back while soaping. You got it...a leech. Two tiny wounds on my leg were still bleeding and the inside of my tracks were blood soaked.
Pics half an hour later, still bleeding.
Astonishing such a small minute wound would spill so much blood. Powerful anticoagulants.
Back at my own home, here's unknown spider 3 - Berserk.
Notice the "brush" of hairs on the underside of its forearm.
He measures 11mm in head to tip of tail(the pic shows 10mm cuz of the angle). It loses to the last Bavia female i had(17mm) in length because its abdomen is much shorter than the elongate Bavia. But the head size is the same i think.
Compare to "Spider Bandar". No fight.
Crab. Unknown 1 died. While observing it in the wild, I noticed it was weak and unresponsive with legs curled in. Back home, i found it dead outside its nest with a flat abdomen. This must be the female species given the close proximity, similar size and head structure. It has a white centre streak down its head.
10.5mm
Unknown 2 in nest changed skin back home! What spider it holds?
Holy cow, another male of the same species. A slightly smaller one. I measured it at 10mm.
Notice the small abdomen against the big head. Last pic shows its alert stance. I'll name him Nightmare.
Unknown 4 also died for er..unknown reason. Now I'm keeping this 2 males( i think) of an unknown species.
They are doing well, and are strong fly eaters. Berserk eaten till its tummy is fat while Nightmare had taken a smaller fly and a leafhopper. Later when i have time i will post a clip on them. Meantime, can anyone ID this species? I can't seem to find anything on it on the net except maybe this clip that looks like the same species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruugXsFoBUcThis post has been edited by mindstorm: Sep 21 2008, 01:11 AM