Scytodes thoracica

I have added this image in response to another picture of Scytodes thoracica, which also quoted my poem. To read more of my spider poems, see delta-intkey.com/britsp/www/poems.htm

 

SCYTODES THORACICA

 

Abdomen a stretched bladder, leopard spotted

And ponderous, with legs too long, you stalk

The sleeping fly, with only six eyes, in darkness.

 

Bristles at your jaundiced joints will feel

The hum of her dormancy, sense

The inrush of air through spiracles at rest.

 

You do not rush, or even touch her yet,

But retch poison web from your open mouth,

A zigzag puke of silk, to stick her to the floor.

 

The fly wings strum, the feet drum ineffectually,

And Scytodes, tentative spitting spider, bites her,

Apologetically, on one leg. Waits for death,

 

And then, like a tender embalmer, unstitches

The silk shroud, bears her on the bier of her wings,

Whispers her orisons, while other spiders sleep.

 

Source material: Scytodes thoracica, the spitting spider, is nocturnal, and ranges widely at night in search of sleeping insects. It has poor vision, and only six eyes, but senses the presence of its prey through bristles on its legs. The cephalothorax of Scytodes is uniquely enlarged, since it has to house additional silk glands, which normal spiders retain in the abdomen only. When the spider wishes to make a kill, it does so by standing at a distance, and spitting zigzags of poisonous, gummy web over its victim, sticking it to the ground. Only then does the spider venture closer to the prey, delivering the death bite. When the prey has expired, the spider frees its body from the web, and carries it off, to suck it dry at leisure. The spider’s appearance is very distinctive, with its yellowish body covered with dark blotches, its domed cephalothorax, and absurdly long legs. The small genus occurs on all continents except Antarctica.

 

Done