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Crab Spider eats Monarch Caterpillar in Canadian Milkweed Patch

Life (and death) in a milkweed patch
December 28, 2010
Location:  Manitoba Birds Hill Provincial Park, Canada
Hi Daniel:
Every July tens of thousands of people descend on Manitoba’s Birds Hill Provincial Park for one of Canada’s, and North America’s, oldest and largest folk festivals (we haven’t missed it for more than 30 years!). In 2006 I discovered the most impressive milkweed patch I have ever seen, wedged between a parking lot and an oak forest, and was thrilled with the abundant and diverse bug life I found there. To my dismay, however, I then watched the patch get systematically destroyed over the next few days as festival goers heedlessly drove and parked all over the patch in an effort to get closer to the shade provided by the adjacent trees. This is generally a ‘green’ crowd so I think it happened more out of ignorance than callousness, but the result was the same. When the same thing happened in 2007 I decided something needed to be done. So I contacted both park and festival staff to plead my case for the protection of this incredible island of diversity, particularly since it is located in the middle of a provincial park.

milkweed patch karl 300x206 Crab Spider eats Monarch Caterpillar in Canadian Milkweed Patch

Milkweed Patch Saved

When we arrived for the 2008 festival I went straight to the patch and was delighted to see the whole area cordoned off, as it has been every year since. Unfortunately, 2008 was one of our coldest wettest summers in recent memory and the milkweeds were barely knee-high and not flowering. The next year was almost as bad, but in 2010 our glorious summer weather returned and the milkweeds were nearly chest high and flowering profusely – and the bug watching was spectacular! The attached photo of what I believe is a Xysticus punctatus Crab Spider finishing off a hapless Monarch caterpillar is one of my favourites from 2010. The other two photos show the milkweed patch after the 2007 festival, and protected in 2010. If you or any of your readers are interested, I have uploaded a collection of photos taken at this location since 2006 (with more to follow next year, I am sure). I am still working on some of the identifications and I am not certain about some of the ones I have inserted, so any comments or suggestions would be welcomed and appreciated. Regards.  Karl

xysticus punctatus monarch cat karl 2010 300x206 Crab Spider eats Monarch Caterpillar in Canadian Milkweed Patch

Crab Spider eats Monarch Caterpillar

Hi Karl,
We love hearing how your conservation activism made a difference.  You did not attach any images, so we took the liberty of lifting a few from your web posting.  We might be interested in posting a few more butterflies and dragonflies if you give permission.  We especially love the Milkweed Meadow as an important and diverse ecosystem, and we recently created a unique tag for postings related to Milkweed.

xysticus punctatus monarch cat karl 2010 2 300x206 Crab Spider eats Monarch Caterpillar in Canadian Milkweed Patch

Crab Spider eats Monarch Caterpillar

Thanks for bailing me out Daniel; I forget my attachments all the time. These were the files I was going to send but I am also fine with what you put up (although I suppose they don’t quite match the text).  Go ahead and borrow anything you like, or let me know if you have anything specific in mind. I have thousands of photos that I have been meaning to organize and perhaps upload, but I just haven’t been able to find the time. Perhaps next year.  Have a great new year! K

milkweed patch 2007 karl 300x222 Crab Spider eats Monarch Caterpillar in Canadian Milkweed Patch

Destroyed Milkweed Patch in 2007

Thanks for sending additional images Karl.  We have posted the 2007 image with the mutilated Milkweed Patch to accompany the original posting.  We will let you know if we post any of your other wonderful images.

Posted 28 December 2010 § brush footed butterfly caterpillars § Crab Spiders ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Black Footed Spider

Spider
Location: SE lower Michigan
December 27, 2010 2:20 pm
Can you help me identify this spider? We have spotted them a few in our home.
Signature: H. Smith

black footed spider michigan 300x222 Black Footed Spider

Black Footed Spider

Dear H. Smith,
Your spider is a Black Footed Spider or Yellow Sac Spider, Cheiracanthium mildei, a species that was introduced from Europe.  It was once believed to be a species whose bite could cause necropsy around the bite, but that speculation is no longer believed.  The revision can be read about on the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene website.

Thank you so much for taking a look at it.
We really do appreciate this awesome service to those of us out here that have no clue as to how to identify these things.

2

Posted 28 December 2010 § Sac Spiders ‡ Comments (0) °

Crab Spider eats Hummingbird Clearwing

Whats for supper?
Location: Coal Creek, Queens County, New Brunswick
December 9, 2010 5:24 pm
Hi, I found a Goldenrod Crab Spider on a lilac bush with another bug clasped in its jaws. Is the Goldenrod’s prey a Hummingbird Moth? If so do you know what species it is?
Signature: Christophe

food chain crab spider clearwing canada christophe 300x228 Crab Spider eats Hummingbird Clearwing

Crab Spider eats Hummingbird Clearwing

Hi Christophe,
We went back through some old mail today to try to answer a few questions we did not respond to this past month and we came across you awesome photograph.  We are guessing that this photo was taken some time before it was submitted because lilacs bloom in the spring.  The Crab Spider has captured a much larger Clearwing Moth in the genus Hemaris, and we believe it is the Hummingbird Clearing, Hemaris thysbe.  You can compare your image to the photographs posted on the Sphingidae of the Americas Website.

Posted 26 December 2010 § Crab Spiders § Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Huntsman Spider from Japan

Huntsman Spider?
Location: Okinawa, Japan
December 24, 2010 8:50 am
We have a lot of spiders like this in Okinawa, Japan. I believe it is a Huntsman, (family sparassidae), but I’m not sure. The spinnerets can be seen well, as can the eyes. What do you think?
Signature: Hooray for bugs!

huntsman japan 300x240 Huntsman Spider from Japan

Huntsman Spider

Your suspicion that this is a Huntsman Spider is correct.  It is probably Heteropoda venatoria, a species that has spread to many port towns because of the importation of bananas.  Natural Japan has a nice entry on this species.

huntsman japan 2 300x275 Huntsman Spider from Japan

Huntsman Spider

Posted 25 December 2010 § Huntsman Spiders ‡ Comments (0) °

Nursery Web Spider from Kenya

More spiders
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
December 22, 2010 5:30 am
Hi Bugman,
More spider close-ups from Kenya!
…
Picture 2: A Crowned Nursery-Web Spider (Rothus purpurissatus)from the family Pisauridae.
Nursery-Web males must bring a food-gift to the female before she will mate with him. They then build a web specifically for holding the eggs and baby spiders (hence the name Nursery-Web). Once the babies have left the web, the female eats the web and regains a percentage of the protein from the silk.
…
Signature: Zarek

crowned nursery web spider kenya zarek 300x286 Nursery Web Spider from Kenya

Crowned Nursery Web Spider

Hi Again Zarek,
As we continue to post the numerous images you have sent to us, we are reminded that despite being separated by an ocean and the equator, your description of a Crowned Nursery Web Spider’s mating habits is quite similar to related species in the family Pisauridae that live in North America.

Posted 23 December 2010 § Nursery Web Spiders ‡ Comments (0) °

Green Huntsman Spider from Kenya: Octuple amputee after Wasp Attack!!!

More spiders
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
December 22, 2010 5:30 am
Hi Bugman,
More spider close-ups from Kenya!
Picture 1: Green Huntsman Spider (Olios correvoni)from the family Sparassidae. I watched in awe as all 8 of his legs were removed with surgical precision by a spider-hunting wasp!
…
Signature: Zarek

huntsman amputee kenya zarek 300x223 Green Huntsman Spider from Kenya: Octuple amputee after Wasp Attack!!!

Huntsman Spider without Legs

Hi again Zarek,
We are finally getting around to reading and posting your final email, again with three different species that need to be separately archived, and we are in total amazement of this image of an octuple amputee.  We are salivating at the thought that you might have some images of the Spider Wasp in the act of removing the Huntsman Spider’s legs.  If you do, please send us a few.

I wish I had that picture!!!  I didn’t have my camera on me when the whole thing went down.  I had to run and get it after marking the spot where the dead spider lay – after the fact.
Here’s what happened:
I saw a spider hanging on a single strand of silk from a tree branch and saw something flying around it.  Whatever it was that was flying flew straight into the spider and there was a bit of a tussle mid-air.  Then the insect flew off, leaving the spider flailing wildly from its silk strand.  The wasp (though I didn’t realize it was a wasp until later) flew back, hit the spider once more and the spider dropped to the ground.  I quickly got up from where I was sitting and called other people over.  We watched this wasp systematically, and with surgical precision, cut off each leg of the spider with its mandibles.  The spider seemed to give no resistance, so I assume that last hit from the wasp was a sting that either killed it or anaesthetized it.
Once all 8 legs (minus the pedipalps you see in the picture) had been removed, the wasp picked up the spider under its belly with its two middle legs and began walking across the pebbles it was on.  Some distance away, it stopped, flew off, then flew back again and stuck its stinger into the spider’s head. Do Pompilidae wasps oviposit in Huntsman spiders’ heads??  I’ll look it up and find out.
The wasp then flew off and didn’t come back.
One of the most exciting wildlife kills I’ve ever seen in the Mara!
Here’s a link describing almost exactly what I saw:
http://www.sciencentre.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Animals+of+Queensland/Insects/Wasps+and+bees/Common+species/Spider+Wasps
However, as I said, the wasp did not carry it away very far.  It certainly didn’t carry it to a burrow.
Oh ya, it was a Batozonellus spp. wasp from the family Pompilidae (subfamily pompilinae)

Posted 23 December 2010 § Huntsman Spiders ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Wolf Spider from Kenya

Spiders
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
December 22, 2010 5:01 am
Hi Bugman,
As you mentioned you don’t get many entries from East Africa, here are a few close-ups of the spiders I live with.
…
Picture 3: one of my favourites – A Wolf Spider from the family Lycosidae. Geolycosa spp.
Keep an eye out for more. I’ve got tonnes!
Signature: Zarek

wolf spider kenya zarek 300x257 Wolf Spider from Kenya

Wolf Spider

Hi again Zarek,
Thanks so much for sending us this fine close-up photograph of a Wolf Spider, but we wish you had also included a shot of the entire spider as well as additional information on the circumstances surrounding the sighting.

Hi Daniel,
Wolf Spider.  Again, my apologies for only including the close ups of the spiders’ faces.  I do have pictures for each of these that includes the whole body.
These Geolycosa Wolf Spiders are very common in Masai Mara, Kenya.   They’re often confused for baboon spiders, but are, in fact Araneomorphs, while Baboon Spiders are Mygalomorphs.
These Wolf Spiders live in circular burrows in the ground and come out, mostly at night, to hunt actively.  However, I found this particular one mid-morning wandering around in the grass.  He was very obliging at first for his photoshoot, but eventually got tired of it and wandered off.

Update from Zarek
same wolf spider
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
December 23, 2010 4:33 am
Hi Daniel,
Here’s a full body shot of the Geolycosa spp Wolf Spider in the previous picture I sent. With legs and all, he’s probably about 7-8cm long and about 5cm wide.
Signature: Zarek

wolf spider kenya zarek 2 300x224 Wolf Spider from Kenya

Wolf Spider from Kenya

Posted 22 December 2010 § Wolf Spiders ‡ Comments (2) °

False Button Spider from Kenya

Spiders
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
December 22, 2010 5:01 am
Hi Bugman,
As you mentioned you don’t get many entries from East Africa, here are a few close-ups of the spiders I live with.
…
Picture 2: A ”False Button” Steatoda capensis. Came to this conclusion after much discussion with others and much searching.
…
Keep an eye out for more. I’ve got tonnes!
Signature: Zarek

false button spider kenya zarek 300x245 False Button Spider from Kenya

False Button Spider

Dear Zarek,
Thanks for sending an image of a False Button Spider, Steatoda capensis,  from the family Theridiidae, the same family that includes the highly venomous Widow Spiders.

When I first found this one (Steatoda capensis), I was a little afraid that it was a Brown Button, but I could never get a good view of the underside of its abdomen to look for that red hourglass shape.  I searched and searched online and finally found some good pictures that pretty much exactly matched what I was looking at.  None of the Latrodectus (widow) pictures I found matched.
Steatoda’s sometimes prey on Latrodectus species, though their venom is not considered to be as dangerous to humans as the black or brown widow’s venom.  Some Steatoda do still have relatively potent venom, though, so I’m still not going to be picking it up and fiddling around with it.
Zarek Cockar

I forgot to clarify, while some Steatoda can have slightly dangerous venom in their bite, this particular one, Steatoda capensis, does not.
Just a general note:  A good reference for Southern African arachnids is the African Arachnid Database (AFRAD), put together by Dr. Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman, a well recognized arachnid expert in SA.  Website: http://www.arc.agric.za/afrad/afradmain.aspx

Update from Zarek
False Button Full Body
Location: Masai Mara, Kenya
December 23, 2010 4:38 am
Hi Daniel,
Here’s a full body photo of the False Button Spider (Steatoda capensis) I sent in earlier.
She was about 3cm long.
There were two that hung around my tent for several days.
Signature: Zarek

button spider kenya zarek 300x255 False Button Spider from Kenya

False Button Spider

Thanks for the full body view Zarek.  The resemblance to the Widow Spiders in the genus Latrodectus is much more evident in this image.

1

Posted 22 December 2010 § Cobweb Spiders ‡ Comments (1) °

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