Did you know there are spiders that use the bodies of their prey as a disguise? How about ones that fish, or even embrace a vegetarian diet? If you're not arachnophobic, why not take a look at...
- The Spiders That Fish for Dinner
- The Acrobatic, Silk-Slinging Ant-Slayer
- The Cunning, Cannibal Portia Spiders
- The Bat-Catching False Widow
- The "Vegetarian" Spider
- The Long "Necked" Living Fossil Pelican Spiders
- The Webs That Span Rivers
- The Sinister Corpse Puppeteer
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| A fishing spider scans the water for prey... (slipacre) |
The Spiders That Fish for Dinner
As incongruous as it might sound, there are spiders that hunt water-dwelling insects or fish - in fact, this hunting technique seems fairly common in all warm climates.The Dolomedes spiders are an example of fishing arachnids. They are typically large and robust creatures that actively hunt prey rather than relying on a web. They tend to lurk at the edge (or sometimes partially on top) of water, waiting for the tell-tale noise and vibrations of aquatic prey.
When something swims too close, the spider may grab it and deliver a venomous bite... or use the hydrophobic hairs on their body to rush out onto the water's surface. No small animal near the surface is safe from these predators!
The Acrobatic, Silk-Slinging Ant-Slayer
The Austrian ant-slayer spider doesn't sound that impressive - but this diminutive arachnid is about half the size of its chosen prey and employs a web-spinning trick worthy of a Spiderman comic... or Attack on Titan.Euryopis umbilicata hunts banded sugar ants using silk and acrobatics. Prior to an attack, the spider sticks a line of silk to the tree and waits for an ant to walk underneath. It then springs from the bark and drops down past the ant, tagging it with sticky silk before falling out of reach.
With the prey now partially ensnared, the spider climbs back around and circles the victim whilst unspooling more silk. Each circuit wraps the ant with more and more webbing, eventually leaving it unable to move. Only then does the spider move in and administer a venomous bite!
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| Portia spiders can "fake" the struggles of prey... (terski) |
The Cunning, Cannibal Portia Spiders
If Portia spiders had a motto, it would be "send a spider to kill a spider." They are arachnophagic, preying on less intelligent spiders using custom-tailored hunting strategies... and they can even learn from past hunts.The fringed jumping spider (Portia fimbriata) is just one example of these cunning arachnids. It resembles a bit of leaf-litter - and combined with unusually good vision for an arachnid, it can usually get the drop on a potential victim. Sometimes Portia fimbriata creeps onto webs and drums the silk to mimic the struggles of a trapped insect. If hunting another jumping spider they may approach with a slow and jerky gait, lulling the prey into a false sense of security.
These predators are also able to adapt strategies mid-hunt. On one occasion observed by researchers, a Portia that failed to lure an orb-web spider into striking distance... so it climbed above the web and abseiled down on a strand of silk, getting close enough to land a lethal bite!
The Bat-Catching False Widow
Despite their resemblance to the deadly black widow, false widows are pretty harmless to humans - their bite is about as serious as a wasp sting. It's thought that they arrived in the UK during the 1870s as stowaways from the Canary Islands and Madeira, establishing themselves in the south of Britain.One worrying example of these spiders is the noble false widow Steatoda nobilis, a spider with an appetite far beyond its body size. One web found in a village in Shropshire contained the corpse of silk-wrapped pipistrelle bat pup, complete with a spider bite. A day later, a still living (but trapped) adult pipistrelle was released from the web by an observer.
These ambitious eating-habits are not limited to the inhabitants of Britain. In their native hunting grounds, the false widows have been known to capture and kill small snakes and lizards - which is rather impressive for a creature with once centimeter body!
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| Some acacias offer "housing" for ants... (AR2019) |
The "Vegetarian" Spider
This Latin-American spider makes use of the relationship between ants and some acacia plants. These acacias produce detachable food packages for the ants (called Beltian bodies) whilst the ants guard the plant from pests and other hungry animals. This opportunistic arachnid snatches some of the Beltian bodies for itself - along with the occasional ant grub, given the chance.
The ants don't take kindly to this. Like a cat-burglar, the spider must use stealth and acrobatics to get past any sentries or patrolling soldiers if it wants to get away with a meal.
If things go wrong and if finds itself cornered, the spider has another trick up its eight sleeves - it's actually a jumping spider, meaning that it can leap from leaf-to-leaf and leave any crawling pursuers far behind!
The Long "Necked" Living Fossil Pelican Spiders
If you ever need inspiration for a horrifying otherworldly creature, the pelican spiders have you covered!
These alien-looking arachnids are living fossils and take their name from their massive chelicerae (mouthparts.) When not in use, these are tucked down the length of a weird "fake neck" that's pretty unique amongst arachnids. The end result looks like the head and neck of a pelican sprouting form the body of a spider!
Despite their goofy looks, these creatures are relentless assassins with an appetite for other spiders. At night, they follow the traces of silk left by other arachnids until they encounter a web. The pelican spider then lies in wait for the unsuspecting prey to crawl too close... and then the chelicerae swing out to impale the victim.
Here's where the strange "neck" and long chelicerae show their worth. Prey is impaled and held in place far from the body of the pelican spider, where it cannot retaliate while it's being pumped full of venom!
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| Some spiders could spin a web across this... (Natalia Pedraza) |
The Webs That Span Rivers
Spider silk already has a tensile strength far beyond what you might expect, but Caerostris darwini takes things to the extreme - it uses dragline silk up to 10 times stronger than Kevlar to construct massive webs.
Darwin's bark spider can be found in Madagascar, where it builds webs across small rivers - these can reach 2.8 square meters in size. The anchor threads used to secure these webs can be up to 25m in length.
Darwin's bark spider can be found in Madagascar, where it builds webs across small rivers - these can reach 2.8 square meters in size. The anchor threads used to secure these webs can be up to 25m in length.
The webs produced by this spider are certainly impressive - researchers are attempting to unlock the genetics behind them, as the silk could be a cheap alternative to the expensive processes involved in making Kevlar.
The Sinister Corpse Puppeteer
Ants can offer a plentiful food supply to a spider, but hunting them can be incredibly risky. Sure, a spider might be faster and deadlier than the average ant, but that's not going to be much consolation when its nestmates grab and butcher the arachnid before it can even finish its meal!Perhaps that's why at least two members of the ant-eating Zodarion spiders have developed a ghoulish disguise to get away with their crimes. Not only do the spiders superficially resemble their prey, they will "bluff" their way past guards using their victims.
The spiders will tap the antennae of suspicious ants with their forelegs then hold-up the body of their victim for the ant to smell - and if all goes well, the ant recognizes the scent of a nestmate and lets the spider pass unharmed. Of course, this all relies on the poor vision of an ant and the freshness of the victim - it's a high risk , high reward ruse that can end in the spider's mutilation or death if discovered!
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