Largest Spider in the Country, Almost - _TNY_4354
The fern spider (Dolomedes plantarius) along with its Dolomedes cousin, the raft spider, are the largest spiders in Sweden (with plantarius perhaps being a tiny bit larger). A fully adult female can reach 25 mm in body lenght.
I have never seen a D. plantarius though - or at least I thought so.
While looking through and processing photos from around the house back in April, I came across this one which I at the time of taking the shot thought was a Pisaura mirabilis and due to the smaller size I didn't even consider it being one of the Dolomedes species. Both Dolomedes and Pisaure belong to Pisauridae so I wasn't too far off.
Looking at it now however, there is no doubt that this in fact is a fern spider - just not an adult one. I've learned that they can reach the impressive age of four years so this is obviously a couple of years away from that.
April in Sweden can be pretty cold (it was this year) so that fur which makes me think of alcantara probably was quite useful.
Largest Spider in the Country, Almost - _TNY_4354
The fern spider (Dolomedes plantarius) along with its Dolomedes cousin, the raft spider, are the largest spiders in Sweden (with plantarius perhaps being a tiny bit larger). A fully adult female can reach 25 mm in body lenght.
I have never seen a D. plantarius though - or at least I thought so.
While looking through and processing photos from around the house back in April, I came across this one which I at the time of taking the shot thought was a Pisaura mirabilis and due to the smaller size I didn't even consider it being one of the Dolomedes species. Both Dolomedes and Pisaure belong to Pisauridae so I wasn't too far off.
Looking at it now however, there is no doubt that this in fact is a fern spider - just not an adult one. I've learned that they can reach the impressive age of four years so this is obviously a couple of years away from that.
April in Sweden can be pretty cold (it was this year) so that fur which makes me think of alcantara probably was quite useful.