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St Andrews Cross

St Andrew's Cross Spider

A male Saint Andrew's Cross Spider, no bigger than the head of a thumb tack, tickles thin thread he has attached to the web of a huge female attempting to seduce her but there is an unexpected third party!

Here the tiny male (right) has got her attention by tickling the web. If you look at the last two legs on her upper side there is something dark protruding between them.

The object protruding from beneath her huge body turned out to be the leg of another male. Two legs missing meant he had probably not been unscathed in his first encounter with the larger female but having survived and been accepted he was tucked beneath her body (below)

Perhaps the body language should have warned the newcomer. Here she dances and twists toward him, the first suitor still tucked beneath her. As she did this the little suitor who had been tucked beneath her dropped from her body to the ground and actually stood watching from the window sill almost 30cm away as the drama played out

She played with him for a few minutes. Treating him as though he was a potential suitor and then seemed to tire of it. She drew him to her and bit into him. (Right)

The most surprising act of all was when the injured male climbed back up the web to her side as soon as the newcomer was dispatched. The newcomer can be seen underneath her. The body language she displayed to the little injured male as he approaches is relaxed and totally different from her anxious contortions as she met his competitor

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