Spiders in the Garden at RiverBend Lodge

                Jumping Spider Salticidae Thyene (male)

                Hairy Field Spider Araneidae Neoscona

                Jumping Spider Salticidae Baryphas Ahenus

                Jumping Spider Salticidae Hyllus

Silver Vlei Spider Tetragnathidae Leucauge

"South Africa's Spiders need all the friends they can get. Thousands are killed every yearsimply because they look scary, when in fact most are relatively harmless. Fortunately, an unlikely expert has spent most of her working life studying - and championing - these facinating creatures" Scott Ramsey writing in the Autumn Edition of WILD magazine.
All of these photographs were taken in the garden at RiverBend Lodge. There are many more species which I hope to capture.
The expert referred to by Scott Ramsey is Ansie Dippenaar who is the Curator of the South African National Collection of Arachnida at the Agricultural Research Council in Pretoria.
Some interesting facts about Spiders. The one which really caught my eye was the fact that "there has never been a recorded death from a Spider bite in South Africa". (Ansie Dippenaar)
"Spiders are the seventh most diverse group of organisms in the world. There are 170 000 estimated Spider species of which 40 000 are currently described. There are 2 000 specise in South Africa of which 1 054 are endemic" (WILD Magazine Autumn 2011)

Our grateful thanks to Ansie for identyfying these Spiders.