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Fun Fact: Wasps are known to eat spiders! At least the ones that lived near my front door do. Never expected to see so many dead spiders come out of that tiny little nest-
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Posted by wazamatit 1 year ago Report
super cute!!
Posted by Skulker 1 year ago Report
The wasps aren’t actually eating the spiders themselves, they’re feeding them to their larvae.
Also the spiders are all still alive, but paralyzed.
Here’s what’s happening: a wasp made a little structure out of mud, stuffed it full of spiders that she’d paralyzed with her stinger, laid a single egg in it, then sealed it shut with a bit more mud and left to do it all again somewhere else. That egg would eventually hatch, and the larva that had been in it would then eat all the spiders (while they’re still alive), pupate into an adult, then chew its way out of the chamber and fly off.
Posted by rafe 1 year ago Report
That's.. really interesting actually! Equally interesting as it is incredibly morbid, thanks for the info :3
Posted by Skulker 1 year ago Report
Most wasps are solitary and non-aggressive, but they’re not as noticeable as the eusocial, aggressive minority.
The silent majority are also all parasitoids, which means that they have to engage in parasitic behavior that eventually kills their host in order to complete their life cycle. Some wasps paralyze spiders, caterpillars, or another kind of insect and seal them inside some kind of chamber with an egg, which will hatch into a larva that will eat the paralyzed prey alive (even saving the vital organs for last); while others inject their eggs into their victims, which will be eaten alive from the inside by the larvae when they hatch.