A furniture shop owner from Greater Kaohsiung has cast new light on a rare arachnid known as the “ogre-faced spider.”
Hsu Kun-chin (許坤金) published his findings on the shedding and mating processes of the Deinopis spider genus in last month’s edition of the 2011 Nature Conservation Quarterly.
His publication in a magazine run by the Executive Yuan’s Endemic Species Research Institute has earned him tremendous feedback.
Photo provided courtesy of Hsu Kun-chin
Taking time out from manning his shop, Hsu joined the Kaohsiung Natural Observation Association (NOA) because of his fascination with gardening and frequently went with other like-minded friends on field trips to take pictures of ecological habitats.
During an observation trip in May 2008, he happened upon a strange type of spider in the mountains around the former Liouguei Township (六龜) that NOA chairman Chen Jen-jie (陳仁杰) later said belonged to the rare Deinopis spider genus.
The Deinopidae family consists of stick-like elongated spiders that weave unusual webs they suspend between their front legs. They then stretch the web to two or three times its initial length and cast it onto their prey, entangling it in their web.
The practice has also earned it the nickname “net-casting spider.”
Hsu said the Deinopis genus of the Deinopidae family is quite rare, both in Taiwan and abroad.
Because Deinopis are nocturnal and brown-colored, they are extremely difficult to notice when they hide amid trees in daytime, Hsu said, adding that to study the unique habits of the Deinopis more closely, he had visited the mountains 23 times.
“Though I often encountered boars and poisonous snakes on those trips, I never wavered from my goal,” Hsu said, adding that he had also brought some Deinopis spiders back home to keep.
The spiders’ nocturnal habits initially created problems for Hsu’s family, but they eventually came to support his passion after seeing how engrossed he was in his research.
During his research, Hsu discovered that the shedding process of the Deinopis did not match the description in textbooks.
Even more rare, Hsu managed to take pictures of the male Deinopis weaving a sperm web, which is used for mating.
The Deinopis’ mysterious comings and goings, as well as its particular way of hunting, are a fascinating subject, Hsu said, adding that he hoped that by sharing his observations with the public, more people would develop an interest in, and a desire to protect, the rare arachnid.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS