Categories
Funnel Web Spiders, spider waspsTags
food chainthis bug killed the wolf spider. what is it??
June 28, 2010
Hi Bug Man. I saw this on the porch Saturday and posted it FB and even my good friend with a BS in Entemology doesn’t know what it is. Help??
Lee Coggins
North Carolina
Spider Wasp and Spider Prey
Dear Lee,
This is some species of Spider Wasp in the family Polpilidae. Adult females sting spiders to paralyze them and then drag them to a nest where an egg is laid on the spider. The paralyzed spider provides food for the growing larva. Adult Spider Wasps take nectar from flowers as food. Your photo is quite blurry, but we believe this might be a Spider Wasp in the genus Priocnessus which is profiled on BugGuide which indicates that they prey upon Agelenid Spiders. Spiders in the family Agelenidae (which are also profiled on BugGuide) are known as Funnel Web Spiders, and many species resemble Wolf Spiders, so it is possible the spider in your photo is a Funnel Web Spider, but again, your photo is too blurry to provide anything more conclusive.
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