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Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Collection of prey
























I found this collection of discarded hymenopteran carcasses beneath the lair of a green lynx spider high up in the abutilon palmeri. These spiders like most are general predators, taking the good and the bad with them in their quest to produce more spiders. Peucetia viridans females choose nesting positions high up in the shrubbery. They stay there for weeks while mating, producing and protecting the egg case and tending the hatched spiderlings and so are very likely to take pollinator insects as prey. The dead here include honey bees, possibly a leaf-cutter bee, and a sweat bee of some sort and finally a crabronid wasp, maybe genus cerceris.

1 comment:

Cindy said...

I like the picture on the lower right. Back-lit view from underneath. I've never seen a spider from that angle.