Sunday night I was in the woods later
than I meant to be, so I called on my new super-bright headlamp to make it
the last little bit home. As I walked I began to see tiny points of bright neon
green in the leaf litter around me. These continued all along the path, in
clusters and singly, but all a startling green. I thought, “Maybe water
droplets? Maybe glints of light off the mica that is so prevalent?” So I picked
out one bright light to zero in on and put my face close to the ground to discover…
Spider’s eyes!
Yikes!
I do not particularly fear or dislike
spiders, but if the little green lights each belonged to one of these
creatures, they were everywhere! Later I called on our master-master naturalist,
Todd, and he reassured me, “Seems like you are describing one of the wolf spiders…most
reflect green light.”
Professorially, he referred me to an article
which describes how the structure of the secondary eyes of lycosoid spiders
reflects green light. The eyeshine occurs when light hits the eye at just the
right angle, not unlike “red eye” in our favorite family photos. “This
guanine-based reflective surface is thought to increase visual capabilities in
low light.”
I had to refer to other sources to
confirm that “secondary eyes” in spiders are the eyes on the sides of their
heads. These give spiders nearly 360 degree vision! https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/wolf-spider/#/wolf-spider.jpg
Next time you shuffle through the leaf
litter, just think of who may be out there! And know that they are watching...
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Thanks for your comment and interest! NOW GO OUTSIDE!