Spider vs spider, little one wins

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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rjlittlefield
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Spider vs spider, little one wins

Post by rjlittlefield »

Last year I documented the mating season of large European house spiders (Tegenaria gigantea = Eratigena duellica), around the outside of one of my windows.

This year that species has been essentially absent. Instead, we have seen only a much smaller species, which I now think is probably Parasteatoda tepidariorum, the "Common House Spider".

Today the reason for the switch became evident: it seems that the little ones are eating the bigger ones!

Image

https://spiderid.com/spider/theridiidae ... idariorum/ reports that:
This species is quite the athlete, often subduing prey that is much, much larger than itself. We have personally witnessed prey to include other spiders such as the foldingdoor spider, Antrodiaetus pacificus, and even small lizards. Guarisco (1988) documented this spider feeding on a Sphodros fitchi, a species of purseweb spider.
I notice that the small spider has apparently attacked only the knee joint of one leg, yet the large spider is obviously dead as a doornail. I am reminded of other reports of spider predators who attack legs, with the outcome that either the intended prey quickly self-amputates the attacked leg, or it succumbs to the attacker. Clearly this one has done the latter.

Crop from Canon EOS R7 with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens, 1/25 second, f/11, ISO 800, handheld, Topaz Sharpen AI.

--Rik

Scarodactyl
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Re: Spider vs spider, little one wins

Post by Scarodactyl »

I watched one of these guys catch and defeat a large wasp in my house. I was sure it would just wriggle out of the web, obviously too big for the spider to even try, but nope. The wasp put up a good fight, constantly stinging at the spider but never quite hitting. They really are remarkable spiders!

hayath
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Re: Spider vs spider, little one wins

Post by hayath »

Super takedown! They've bided their time waiting :)

MarkSturtevant
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Re: Spider vs spider, little one wins

Post by MarkSturtevant »

A good capture! (for both of you). :D
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

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