Stretch spider portrait

I found this female stretch spider, Tetragnatha, in the garden this evening. I remembered that they have lovely faces and I gave it a try on the white bowl aiming for a frontal shot. They have their eyes in two rows, the bottom central pair facing forward. The face shot also allows to see its enormous fangs. After a short session in the bowl, I returned the spider to her leaf and she rapidly climbed to her retreat.

The resting position of Tetragnatha on a leaf.

Stretch spider identity revealed

There is a population of Stretch spiders Tetragnatha sp., on the wildlife garden. On Saturday I popped in with my youngest daughter and there was an adult female by the pond, sitting in the centre of her web, which was almost horizontal, about 20 cm from the surface of the water. She noticed the disturbance and retreated to one end of her web. Fortunately still exposing her underside so I could photograph the areas that make it possible to identify the species: the sternum with a paler centre and the epigyne or genital opening. Matt Prince and Dr Richard Pearce on Twitter confirmed her ID as Tetragnatha extensa, a species likely to be associated to water.