When we hiked to Queen's bath (look at Jan. 23 2005 posting on the blog) I thought this lowland waterfall looked like good Tetragnathid habitat. The problem was it is VERY low elevation (10-50 m) habitat and most of the lowland area on the Hawaiian islands have been overtaken by exotic plants and animals. I was advised by researchers at the Bishop Museum to stick with the high elevations if I was to to have any chance of finding native species of Hawaiin long-jaw spiders (Tetragnathidae).

This stream flows down to the ocean. I came back here at night to sample for Tetragnathids since they are nocturnal and build their webs at dusk and leave them by morning. 

SUCCESS!!!...sort of....

I found this Tetragnathid, called Tetragnatha stelarobusta, quite abundant along the stream. This is the first Kauai record for this species [it was described by Rosemary Gillespie from specimens collected in Maui J. Arachnology 1992 20:1-17]. but it is not Doryonchus raptor. Right family wrong genus. Oh well.

This is an adult T. stelarobusta hiding against a twig. These spiders are very easy to overlook during the day as they hold their well-camouflaged elongated bodies against a twig or thin grass reed.

This is a young T. stelarobusta (I believe) on the remains of its web. You can see the sticky droplets on the web.

This is the end for the stream. Beyond Max the stream ends in a waterfall that spills into the Pacific ocean, which was very angry today. High surf warnings.