Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: exoskeleton

(+9 insets above) This is a developing cluster of male pine cones surrounded by many needles, which are this plant's leaves. The pine cones we are familiar with are female cones. On a pine tree, male pine cones are usually found in clusters like this one, and are concentrated near the bottom of the tree, while the female cones are concentrated near the top. This arrangement helps to ensure cross-pollination between pine trees. There is another story here too, if you look closely. On the right side of the cluster, you will see a small spider, and if you look down below, you will see its newly shedded skin or exoskeleton. My apologies for posting so infrequently. I am busy working on my book, and now that the last day of frost has arrived, I have a garden to plant. And of course, there are a zillion other things going on...work, life, etc! :D Explored on May 6, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

This is Rocoe's moulted exoskeleton! Isn't this fascinating?!!

This morning I took a peek at my darling little spider friend who lives on our porch and noticed that during the night she'd shed her skin! (There is a picture in a note above) This molting is actually called "ecdysis", and is something that happens in many invertebrates. Roscoe continues to grow and although I keep called him a male at first, this spider is most definitely a female, as the males of this species are much smaller. She will continue to grow and is probably sending out pheremones with a hopeful mate to appear sometime soon! Let's cross our fingers, I'm very excited about the upcoming egg sac! :D If you would like to know more about spiders molting, Wiki has a good page about this process here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecdysis