Lynx Spider; Peucetia viridans

This green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans) hides from the blazing sun yesterday afternoon. He has good vision with eight eyes but even the sight of me coming toward him with the camera lens was not enough to get him to move back into the sun. At the time I made this image it was 94 F. He would move around behind the stem of the flower, but not atop into the sun. Had this been a female protecting her egg sac she would likely have lunged at me and bit me.

The females are currently protecting their egg sacs (through October). The sacs contain 25-600 bright orange eggs but to the naked eye appear something like a ball of fuzz on bushes, shrubs or flowers. She will stay with the sac for up to 16 days, awaiting their hatch (depending on air temps/humidity they hatch in as little as 11 days). After they hatch the postembryo remains in the egg sac, where it molts after 10 to 16 more days.

Thus, these fascinating creatures will be on the same flower, shurb, or plant for about four more weeks making this a prime time to observe and photograph. Yesterday I was not going to lay in the grass with the ants to get the perfect shot. One day I'll take a blanket and see if I can get a better shot of this guy.