- Spider on the Snow shows spiders during the winter in the Juneau area. Most of them appear to be Hammock Spiders (Genus Pityohyphantes). What I think is happening:
- 1. Lots of springtails run about on the surface of the snow. I suspect the spiders may be going after them. I have seen and photographed beetle larvae eating springtails on the snow.
2. From what I have read the spiders are freeze resistant but not freeze tolerant. I brought several of the spiders that appeared frozen home and gradually warmed them up and none “came back to life.”
3. When the temperature warms and rains, or the snow starts to melt, and then the temperature plummets the spiders may not be able to access the leaf litter where many normally reside during cold snaps. This may be the main reason I see so many “frozen” on the snow surface.
For information about spiders and springtails in winter look at The Ecology of Inter-active Collembolans and Spiders
And SEASONAL VARIATION OF TREHALOSE AND GLYCEROL CONCENTRATIONS IN WINTER SNOW-ACTIVE INSECTS
And Hibernation and Winter Habits of Spiders and Subzero Temperature Tolerance in Spiders: The Role of Thermal-Hysteresis-Factors and Ecological Aspects of Cold Resistance in Spiders * (A Comparative Study)
