Garden Orb Weaver Spider- Sydney, Australia

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

I took the macro lens out over the weekend hoping to photograph some spiders in the garden. I found a number of Garden Orb Weavers in the shrubs along the driveway and spent some time photographing them. The fact that they spend a lot of time under their webs made the whole task a lot harder.

More photographs inside.

 Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

Garden Orb-weavers are common, non venomous spiders found in Australia. They are usually brightly coloured and vary in terms of size, shape and colour within Australia. They are nocturnal feeders and weave their webs in the evenings. One of the spiders I saw over the weekend was actually in the process of weaving its web. It was interesting to actually see how the spider set about creating such an intricate web.

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

I had been trying to figure out how spiders actually sets about creating a web across a void when I came found an article which actually described the process. Apparently the spiders use air/wind to spread the initial line across a void. The spider is said to move to a vantage point and raise its abdomen and release a steady stream of silk from it's spinnerets. The wind will then pick up the silk and carry it until it snags on a solid object. Once the initial strand is firmly snagged, the spider will move out along it to build the web.

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

Interestingly the Orb-Weavers build a web every night and then remove it at dawn, unlike some other spiders who stay in the web day and night. Apparently the reason for this behaviour is predator avoidance. Although the "orb" section of the web disappears, some of the support lines will be left in place. During the day the spiders "hide" near a location where these support lines meet a solid object.

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

These photographs were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100mm macro lens. The lighting was again from a Canon 430EX II fired at 1/8th from high (relatively) camera left. Like with the photograph of the Weaver Ants the strobe was handheld. It's not the easiest thing to do when you are trying to lock focus using a macro lens!

Weaver Ant - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Weaver Ants are one of the most common ant species found in Sri Lanka. I came across a nest in the garden and used the macro lens to photograph them. These ants are known for their skills in building nests by weaving leaves together using larval silk. Colonies can be extremely large and sometimes consist of up to about half a million workers.

More photographs inside.

 Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Interestingly the "worker" ants fall into two categories based on physical size. The major worker ant is about 10 millimeters in length and the minor worker ant is about half that size. There is said to be a division of labour based on the type of worker ant. The Major workers forage, defend, maintain and expand nests and colonies whereas minor workers stay within the nest and tend to the young and "milk" insects within close proximity to the nest.

Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) - Colombo, Sri Lanka

These ants are extremely territorial and can be quite aggressive when defending their territories. Although the ants do not have a functional sting, they are capable of delivering a painful bite onto which they spray formic acid resulting in intense discomfort. Some indigenous farmers in southeast Asia are known to use them as natural bio-control agents.

Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The worker ants are capable of exchanging information by means of chemical and tactile signals, particularly when foraging and defending the colony. When a forager comes across a new food source it lays down a pheromone path to help recruit other workers to the source. These trails are also laid by patrollers to recruit workers to defend the colony from intruders. Tactile communications, such as body shaking, are also used to stimulate activity in other workers.

Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Photographing the ants was not easy as I wasn't using a tripod at the time. I had to balance the camera as well as a handheld flash while trying to compose these photographs. The fact that the ants were very active at the time (defending their colony from me) didn't help matters. I used a Canon 7D and the 100mm macro lens for all the photographs on this post. The light source was a handheld Canon 530 EX II.

Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) - Colombo, Sri Lanka