Jumping spider with dinner

[Ecooper]

Last weekend I was enjoying the beautiful weather by preparing a nice BBQ dinner for the family. We had just sat down at the table (out on the deck) when my youngest son pointed out a “spider carrying another spider” (as he put it) on one of the deck posts. It turned out to be a juvenile Phiddipus jumping spider feeding on another spider (possibly a philodromid crab spider). Naturally I wanted to take some photos, but I opted to eat first and shoot later. So we all had dinner together: the humans ate sockeye salmon, nugget potatoes roasted in herbs and olive oil, Caesar salad, corn and a crisp white wine (yum!); while the arachnid feasted on its hapless cousin (tentatively identified as a philodromid crab spider).

Somewhat surprisingly the spider was still there when we finished eating (it even waited while I did the dishes)…

Photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M5, Zuiko 6omm micro 4/3 macro lens and 16mm + 10mm extension tubes.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

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P5110417 jumping spider feeding on spider prey copyright ernie cooper 2014 by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

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P5110377 new jumping spider feeding on spider copyright ernie cooper 2014 by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

 

[Lodos]

nice shots..

this is quite common in spider world.. despite historically there was interest in use of spider fiber in industry, there were no friendly ways to mass produce them like silk fiber.. one big obstacle I heard was; if you place two spiders in a cage, one eats the other eventually.. ie numbers always drop!

some female spiders also eat their male parties after a date (possibly for the same reason only female mosquitoes love to bite us; to get some protein for the newcomings). Some males of spider species are smart that they provide their prey to the female before mating.. not only the male survives but also nature wins here, ensuring the dating is complete as in otherwise female can also eat the male before the job done.. "o good dinner, but not my type for... lets look for another food/date"