That is a spider being killed by a wasp. As near as I can determine it's a Spider Wasp. And that's no small spider. It was at least the wasp's mass. One of those big, hairy, Shelob kinda spiders. Apparently it was no match for the wasp.
Lu saw the initial strike by the wasp. It came in from behind the spider, jumped him and took him by surprise. Stinging him to death or immobility in a bare second.
By this point the spider may or may not have been dead. I'm voting on the latter because I saw it's legs twitch every time the wasp went back and stung it again. Dead or not the wasp dragged the spider off the porch and into the gravel next to the concrete.
Every time the spider would twitch the wasp would pounce on him and work him over again.
I thought the wasp was going to drag him into a void in the concrete but we later saw that he'd drug him way over to the other side of the porch. This shot was post Angus investigation where the wasp decided that a large black dog was a bit more than he could handle. Just a few minutes later though, both wasp and spider were gone.
Neither Lu nor I had ever seen a wasp kill a spider before. These large spiders are common and if you'd have asked me I'd have sworn the wasp bad enough to kill one of these monsters was the product of a delusional mad scientist mind. It wasn't even a fight. That spider was badly over matched and taken unawares.
Nature is neither cruel nor capricious. It is reality. Some are predators and some are prey. Even predators can find themselves on the lunch menu quicker than they can comprehend. And there is certainly a lesson in there for us all. Carrying is fine but without training, awareness and a willingness to use your tools and will to prevail we run the same risk as the spider.
Don't be lulled into a false sense of security. There are wasps in the world. And they're hungry. Watch your back. Or better yet, hang out with another spider you trust to have your back.
Six
10 comments:
Nice post... I thought I was a kid back on my living room floor watching "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom".
Good job tying in/analogy carrying in the real world as well.
Indeed Sir. Great post!
Nice play-by-play. And good on Angus that he stayed back. Murphy woulda just ate 'em both.
Much appreciated Coop. I was channeling Marlon Perkins.
Thanks Keads.
Which just proves that there are predators and there are Big Dogs ML. Murphy is The Big Dog.
That was really interesting... thanks for sharing...
Dann in Ohio
No problem Dann. Thanks for stopping by.
That spider is soon to be Gerber Baby Wasp food.
Oh moooom. Not spider again!
What a great opportunity to see this in action! I've cracked open many wasp nests to see paralyzed spiders fall out. Apparently, there are some species of wasps that specifically hunt one type of spider or another. I understand that a variety of blue mud dobber specifically hunts black widows. I don't know if that's true, but it makes me glad when I see the blue mud dobbers!
Thanks Michael. I was amazed when Lu told me what was happening. I had no idea such wasps were around these parts. It's quite a world we live in.
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