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Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Fly and the Spider


If you had any doubt about the flycatching ability of a spider look at the difference in size between this barely half-grown lynx spider and its green bottle fly prey. I do not know how many flies it takes to grow a spider; once these spiders start preying on larger items, they grow at a phenomenal rate through the summer, then mate, produce eggs and die. Lucky there are fewer flies in winter.

1 comment:

Marvin said...

Lynx spider venom must incapacitate quickly or else the size difference could be a problem.

Marvin @ Nature in the Ozarks