07 December 2013

Argyrodes antipodiana — a kleptoparasitic spider


These tiny spiders, commonly called dewdrop spiders (for an obvious reason), are just 3–4 mm long and live in the webs of other spiders, usually Eriophora pustulosa, where they steal prey from the host spider's web. This one was on its way to retrieve a  sciarid (dark-winged fungus gnat), which might have been too small to alert the host spider to its presence.


[6 December 2013, Olympus OM-D EM-1, 60 mm f2.8 Macro , ISO 1600, 1/320 at f8]

All content © 2013 Pete McGregor
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2 comments:

  1. Zhoen8 December 2013 at 07:23

    Takes the crumbs, as it were. Tidies up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. pohanginapete8 December 2013 at 15:29

    Zhoen, apparently they've been known to snack on the host, too.

    ReplyDelete

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