an amazing little spider holding on to a HUGE fly
Hi Bugman,
I am the person from Mexico who sent you pictures of a sulfur butterfly and several snout butterflies last year. This time I am simply giving these new pictures as a gift to you. I found this in my garden yesterday and thought it was rather amazing. This tiny spider managed to catch such a huge fly, all on its own! I heard a buzzing sound coming from the plants nearby, and I thought it might be a bumblebee, so I went to see; But what I found instead, was a huge fly trying to get away from this tiny little spider, who was trying very hard to hold on to a leaf as this fly tried to buzz away. Eventually it lost grip and both insects fell down, after about 30 seconds of struggle, but they fell softly on other leaves from a different plant, and from there I picked them up with my hand (by gripping one of the fly’s legs), and placed them on a surface for photographing. For a while I thought this huge fly was going to fly away even with the spider still attached! The spider was solidly attached to this fly all of the time, without letting go at any time. For the next 7 minutes or so, the fly stopped buzzing and simply stood there, still standing upright, looking in different directions occassionally, and acting in a seemingly very unconcerned way. Then it finally succumbed to the spider and stopped all major movements, and collapsed (although it still continued moving very slowly). At no moment did the spider show any fear for my presence. After the fly collapsed I took them back to the leaves, and I let the spider grip on to a leaf. But even though it was holding on with all/most of its legs, it was still very slowly being pulled down by the fly’s weight! So I gave it a hand and pushed the fly from the bottom up carefully, and this helped it place the fly in a much better place. That was quite an experience! I never thought such a tiny spider would be able to catch such a huge prey, although it definitely was having MAJOR problems doing so. Regards,
Humberto
Hi Humberto,
What a fascinating account of a Jumping Spider in the family Salticidae, capturing a fly. Jumping Spiders do not make a web. They have excellent eyesight and they leap onto their prey.