Hitchhiker

[rebeccmeister]

Lots of animal care work today.

Right now we are getting in new shipments of crickets once every two weeks, to help feed the small army of spotted leopard frogs that arrived just before the COVID shutdown. I noticed an...unusual 8-legged cricket in this shipment:









I don't know what kind it is.

The morning ride was stormy and damp, making me think of how the Aggie rowers liked to say to each other, "Contrary to popular belief, crew is a water sport." Same, except for bicycling.



Between the pollen, warmth, and humidity, and the cat alarm going off randomly at night, I'm feeling rather lethargic today.

Comments

[sparklysky]

That's an unusal cricket yes! At first I thought it was a spider!

[rebeccmeister]

Hehehe, it *is* a spider. :^)

But I don't know what kind! I am hoping someone on the internets will help me to identify it.

[twoeleven]

It looks very familiar. I'm gonna hazard a guess and say wolf spider
(Lycosidae), genus Hogna, based on the markings.

[altamira16]

Do you have the iNaturalist app? How good is its guess on what your new friend might be?

[rebeccmeister]

A friend tried it out for me, and iNaturalist suggested a Thanatus spider. After looking through pictures of various Thanatus spiders, I suspect it's Thanatus vulgaris, the cricket thief spider! It behaves similarly to a crab spider. Which seems very appropriate, given where I found it.

I know I should really start using the app myself, but I turn into a whiny 5-year-old anytime I have to install a new app on my creaky phone.

[twoeleven]

But a surprisingly articulate whiny 5-year-old. :)

Also, *whoops* I was way off in my guess. :P I'd say all spiders look alike to me after being smacked with a rolled-up newspaper, but I usually have beautiful orb weavers in my gardens.

[moodyduck]

Where do the crickets come from?

[thisnewday]

"When a mommy cricket and a daddy cricket love each other very much..." (Mike Meyers voice, "Cat in the Hat," lol...)

[moodyduck]

Ha! You got me there. Precision in language...

[thisnewday]

While, at the same time, I reveal my mature and impeccable taste in cinema, lol..

[rebeccmeister]

Good question! They come from Armstrong's Crickets, in Louisiana.

[cmcmck]

Handsome beastie whatever sort it is!

[mallorys_camera]

Whoa! A cricket/spider hybrid! 😀

[thisnewday]

Otherwise known as a spicket. We could call her Farrah Faucet, lol...

[rebeccmeister]

LOL!