It was amazing to watch a spider feeding on a fly. First the spider made an elaborate web, scurrying to and fro. Later when a fly got trapped, it just stayed still as if it had gone off to sleep. I took as many snaps as possible with the lens a few millimetres away from the spider. Focussing was difficult, and the lighting was bad as it was getting late in the evening. It was amazing how in a matter of seconds, the poor fly was sucked dry, and it seemed as if the spider had somehow turned the insides of the fly into liquid! The white milky liquid can be seen in some of the photographs.
In the above snap we can see that the spider has got hold of the fly and is initially spinning a web around it, probably to restrict its movement. This is seen more clearly in the photograph pasted below:
A fully satiated spider then scampered off the web and grabbed hold of a leaf, probably to go off to sleep after a successful meal, of course with a visibly distended abdomen!
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Great
ReplyDeleteSpiders always feed this way.
ReplyDeleteThe 'poison' is actually proetolytic (protein-breaking) enzyme which dissolves the tissues.
Afterwards, they just suck the liquid food and discard the outer skeleton (exoskeleton).
Great observation! Bravo!
Jyoti Parruck