Photo Discussion
Category: Friendly Praise Archive

Misumena vatia

After moulting, an arthropod is described as teneral; it is "fresh", pale and soft-bodied. Within one or two hours, the cuticle hardens and darkens following a tanning process similar to that of the tanning of leather. It is during this short phase that the animal grows, since growth is otherwise constrained by the rigidity of the exoskeleton. Growth of the limbs and other parts normally covered by hard exoskeleton is achieved by transfer of body fluids from soft parts before the new skin hardens. A spider with a small abdomen may be undernourished but more probably has recently undergone ecdysis.

If you think that a flower is missing something when there is no insect on it... you might be an Entomologist