Categories

Black Widow, Iguanas and Lizards

Tags

food chain

Orb Weaver with Skink Pt2
July 24, 2009
I sent two images earlier today and got one more of the same unknown orb weaver with her skink. By now he’s collapsing on himself from her nonstop feast. As my son said, “Cool. Spiders are like vampires!”
Resa in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA

Uknown Spider Feasting on Lizard
July 24, 2009
Saw this unknown spider had caught a baby skink it its web last night. I tried to get a decent night shot as the spider was biting the skink’s tail. The poor little lizard was twisitng fruitlessly. This morning the spider had turned the now dead skink and was working on it’s face. My kids enjoyed seeing the circle of life in action. I hope you enjoy the shots as well.
Resa in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA

Hi Resa,
We are thrilled to be able to post your awesome documentation, though we have a certain fondness for lizards.  We do really hate those television commercials with the animated gecko though.   Your spider is not an Orbweaver, but rather a Cobweb Spider.  We believe it is the highly variable Common House Spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, based on images posted to BugGuide.  Spiders are able to incapacitate much larger prey when the prey becomes entangled in the web.  We have photos in our archive of a Golden Orb Weaver feeding on a Hummingbird and we have linked to an image of a Golden Silk Spider eating a Finch.

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