Saturday, April 11, 2009

A Dynasty Begins

I was busy mowing the lawn and flinging grass over the fence, when a strange sight caught my eye. A handful of grass appeared to be defying gravity and staying suspended in the air.

GrassCaughtInWeb

 

It didn't take long to realise that it was a spider web holding the grass afloat. Closer inspection bought me face to face with my first argiope.

FirstArgiope1

 

Sunlight and shadow seem to have inspired this beautiful creation. In fact, areas of light and shade are where this striking beauty will create her webs, as they offer her excellent camouflage. She is a member of the argiope genus, a common family of spiders found in gardens around the world.

She lived in a majestic orb web, with a centerpiece 'X' drawn with a zig-zag pattern of silk. Placing two legs on each arm of the 'X', she calmly awaited her prey. Vivid patterns mark her on the top and underbelly.

Here is a shot from the top, framed between the house and garden:

FirstArgiope2

 

She lived here for several days before finally disappearing, web and all. I suspect the gardener must have brushed her away, as he did not want any ghastly fauna tarnishing his precious flora.  Though she was gone, she was only the first in a lineage of argiopes who lived on in the Domestic Jungle. I'll be posting more of her legacy as time passes.

8 comments:

Hari Narayana said...

Awesome Pics and nice description. Good work...

Unknown said...

Hey Vikram,
I'm Anand here,your sister Anitha's batchmate in college...the photos are wonderful, the orb web spider of the argiope genus is breathtaking...do you regret the disappearance of spider,if so why didn't u guard the orb web and instruct the gardener...

VikramAdith said...

Thanks for the comments guys. :D

@ Anand: The spider was just the first in the dynasty ... she left enough eggs to make sure that there would always be more of her kind decorating the garden.

Ragster Go11 said...

Astounding images Vikram! You are talented behind the lens as your are at the keyboard!

Taher Kagalwala said...

Dear Vikram,

I liked those pictures very much. You should write some details of which camera you use and how you composed the picture also.

VikramAdith said...

Thanks Dr. T, I'll add more about how I take the pics as I go on.

AKI said...

Do you really live there??!!....Seems like a scary-wild jungle..
Hmmm and as many have said, amazing photography...which cam yar??...i never knew u could do something like this apart from non-stop coding:D

VikramAdith said...

Thanks maestru! I use a Panasonic-Lumix DMC-FZ30.

And yep, The Domestic Jungle lives up to its name. ;-)