Paralyzed

[FundyBrian]

This large spider had been paralyzed by the blue mud wasp and was being dragged to its doom. I watched while the wasp dragged the spider across a big rock. The spider never even twitched. The mud wasp lays an egg on the paralyzed prey and buries it. When the egg hatches it will have fresh live food food to eat until it is big enough to go after its own prey.
Fusion. Cropped a bit and edited in Enlight.

 

[RoseCat]

View attachment 99978
This large spider had been paralyzed by the blue mud wasp and was being dragged to its doom. I watched while the wasp dragged the spider across a big rock. The spider never even twitched. The mud wasp lays an egg on the paralyzed prey and buries it. When the egg hatches it will have fresh live food food to eat until it is big enough to go after its own prey.
Fusion. Cropped a bit and edited in Enlight.

When I saw this I thought for sure the prey was the opposite. Eek... nature can be beautiful and gruesome.

 

[JillyG]

When I saw this I thought for sure the prey was the opposite. Eek... nature can be beautiful and gruesome.

Yes, what Catherine said.

 

[lisamjw]

View attachment 99978
This large spider had been paralyzed by the blue mud wasp and was being dragged to its doom. I watched while the wasp dragged the spider across a big rock. The spider never even twitched. The mud wasp lays an egg on the paralyzed prey and buries it. When the egg hatches it will have fresh live food food to eat until it is big enough to go after its own prey.
Fusion. Cropped a bit and edited in Enlight.

Wow! I'm sure that was fascinating, albeit a little creepy, to watch! Great photo.

 

[sinnerjohn]

Fascinating stuff, how big was the spider actually?

 

[FundyBrian]

When I saw this I thought for sure the prey was the opposite. Eek... nature can be beautiful and gruesome.

I thought it was rather amazing the wasp was able to bite and paralyze the spider. You would think the spider would put up some sort of defence. Perhaps it was complacent in its position as predator and didn’t anticipate an attack.
Whenever I hear people talking about “getting back to nature” I wonder if they realize what they are actually saying.

 

[FundyBrian]

Fascinating stuff, how big was the spider actually?

I was going to say, about the size of a silver dollar. But the silver dollar has changed size and you probably don’t have any Canadian silver dollars handy. I would say about 38mm. A bit more than 1.5”. Of course that’s not big in tropical countries but quite respectable in our short summer.

 

[ImageArt]

Geez, so the hatched egg eats the spider while it's still alive! That's Hannibal Lecter stuff!

 

[RoseCat]

That's Hannibal Lecter stuff!

I know! <shivers>

 

[rizole]

I thought it was rather amazing the wasp was able to bite and paralyze the spider. You would think the spider would put up some sort of defence. Perhaps it was complacent in its position as predator and didn’t anticipate an attack.

Wasps are quick, efficient predators, there's whole classes of them that parasitise other insects and arthropods. I don't imagine the spider gave up it's life easily.

 

[MsDee]

Wow!