The culprit -- a crab spider. Invasive. I don't know when they were brought in, but they weren't here when I was a boy. They were common on Bougainville. They seem to be seasonal in some way, although I don't know how that works. In other years, the population would explode in November-December. This year, that didn't happen until this month. I should do some research. I have noticed that the classic garden spider (also invasive, but of long tenure here) has become rare. I've noticed a few lately, small ones. There may be some ecological niche competition happening, or it may be that the old spiders are more vulnerable to some new predators, such as the invasive lizards, or the invasic coqui frogs, or the invasive whatever. Writing about this is making me unhappy. So many invasives. So few barriers to their entry. So little public awareness.
2015 01 30