what Mr. Google has to offer about bromeliads.
While looking for articles about Spanish Moss,
TILLANDSIA usneoides (Linnaeus) Linnaeus, 1762
I found some remarks, that they have encountered a spider
called Pelegrina tillandsiae Kaston, 1973
which appears to live exclusively in this bromeliad.
It belongs to the family of the jumping spiders (Salticidae) which is
containing more than 4,000 species............
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salticidae
This particular species spreads from North Carolina to Florida and Texas.
Unfortunately i could not find any photos yet, just one of a realted species,
Pelegrina dithalea
I wrote the author Wayne Maddison to find out a bit more about it,
here's what he wrote:
"Not too much is known about the ecology and behaviour of Pelegrina
tillandsiae. All of the collections to date suggest that its habitat
is exclusively Tillandsia. All species of Pelegrina live on foliage
of plants, with some species preferring small herbs (e.g. Pelegrina
insignis), others preferring small deciduous trees (e.g., Pelegrina
proterva), and others preferring coniferous trees (e.g., Pelegrina
flavipedes and Pelegrina exigua). While Pelegrina tillandsiae appears
to prefer to live on Tillandsia, there is no indication that it has any
special biological relationship with Tillandsia other than using it
as a habitat. Of course, no one has studied this, so perhaps there
is an interesting ecological relationship that remains unknown."
Here is they whole story (incl. some drawings):
http://salticidae.org/salticid/diagnost ... llands.htm
Fortunately I havent found 'em in my usneoides ......... so far
Cheers Timm
!