I take a camera (although just my mobile today) along on my Dog Walks to bring you some of the sightings that I see on my morning walks, these photos are rarely going to be great quality as its hard enough keeping an energetic Dog entertained and get close enough to anything. They also help me identify where species are so that I can plan to return.
This morning I saw a Female Napoleon Spider in very typical surroundings on a Daisy-leaved Toadflax (Thanks for Marja for ID’ing this plant on yesterday’s Walk).
The Napoleon Spider (Synema globosum) gets its name due to the markings resembling a silhouette of Napoleon Bonaparte (I don’t see it myself!). The photos were shot and edited in Lightroom on my mobile as I didn’t take a camera this morning.
It is a member of the Crab Spider species which instead of spinning a Web they wait on flowering plants to catch their prey.
The male’s colouring is black with white marks whereas the female can been seen in various colours of red, yellow or white. As the photo shows, I’ve also seen Orange ones. They are very small with the male reaching just 4mm and the female twice the size at 8mm.
They can be found throughout most of Europe but very common in the Mediterranean and Iberian Peninsula.