Happy Face Spider "Family" by Richard Palmer

I constructed this group portrait for GigaPanMagazine.org  Volume 2, Issue 1.

See also gigapan.org/gigapans/11192/ and gigapan.org/gigapans/9435/ for context.

The tiny Happy Face Spiders (HFS) are denizens of Hawaii's cool rain forests, generally above 3000' (900 meters). The middle row shows a female HFS with her clutch of eggs. The next three images were taken about 6 weeks later: second from left is the same individual who was guarding her eggs; the next image shows the relative size of the spiders, and the right hand image shows the keiki (baby) spiders. The remainder show other patterns from Mount Ka`ala, O`ahu. The color patterns vary between islands. You can see one spider having a meal, and a couple of others with eggs. Most of the color patterns have been named. From the top row, left to right: black stripe (not very original), big grin (a First Lady variant), a Charlie Chan variant, Lei Lehua, another Chan variant.
Middle row, the "First Lady", the first HFS described and photographed after their rediscovery on Mount Ka`ala in the late 1960's.
Bottom row: a third "First Lady" variant, another Lei Lehua variant - munching on an introduced bark louse, Groucho, and the Clown.

All photos copyright Richard Palmer, 2010.