Male observed walking over open baren area next to road, waving second pair of legs while lifting abdomen at an appropriately 45 degree angle. Ants at the same location included Pogonomyrmex, forelius, tapinoma, dorymyrmex, and solenopsis species. Seemed to have two parasitic mites on the left side of its 'face'.
City Nature Challenge 2020: Quarantine Edition!
These spiders are prolific this time of year - they love hanging out in the horseherb.
This spider was found inside its trap-door retreat, made under the bark of a කෝං(schleichera oleosa) tree, 1.5-2m above ground. The spider and its retreat were safely removed along with the piece of bark it was attached and the spider was gently extracted from its trap using a pair of forceps. after photographing, It was returned to its retreat and the piece of bark was safely attached to the tree.
1.-Dorsal aspect 2.-Dorsal aspect 3.-Retreat 4.-Retreat (Arrows indicate the doors) 5.-Front door 6.-Front door 7.-Back door 8.-Ventral aspect 9.-Ventral aspect 10.-Eye arrangement 11.-Eye arrangement 12.-Scopula 13.-Fangs 14.-Ventral aspect(Epigynum?) 15.-Ventral aspect(Epigynum?) 16.-Retreating 17.-Retreating 18.-Microhabitat
Some notes on behaviour- Was quite docile and didn't try to bite. When disturbed, ran to find a corner of the container that I used to keep it when photographing.