More poisonous spider images

A few more...

Poisonous spiders

In Cali there's latrodectus hesperus and latrodectus mactans. Mactans has the full hour glass whereas hesperus has the broken one. Black widows also come in brown and red in the eastern U.S. They can get to .7 inch long with legs to 1.5 inches or more. They have a tangly cobweb with sticky silk. Usually they are low lying in dark dry hideouts. Such as logs or rock walls. However, they are seen in roof awnings with the web descending 12 feet down to the ground level. They can live over a year and females have a good 30 egg sacs in some cases. These may contain 500 or more baby spider lings. They have voracious appetites. Watch for any especially sticky webs. Babies are yellow with white, red and black stripes. They too display the hour glass. A rarer spider loxoceles is in some parts of the area. Almost as big as the widow, look for the violin shape on its head. It has a tan brown appearance. (violin spider)

Verdugo Mountains Las Flores side 10/3/2009 2

Some more pics.

Verdugo Mountains Las Flores side 10/3/2009

This hike in excellent weather...a nice 75 degrees. Many birds hovering about, especially jays and black birds. The fushia still in bloom along with yellow daisies. Trail paved most of the way and good enough for bicyclists. In January, for a very few days, one can see the whole basin cleansed from the layers of smog that typically hang over it. Today a finger of fog coming in and almost a whole moon near the end of the trail. Nice reddish buckwheat dotting most of the area. This trail goes down the southeast side to Glendale College.