Comments & ID Thoughts
This is the top view of the spider I posted earlier.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Nov 18, 2021
- Photographed: Nov 18, 2021
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Tucson, Arizona, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: On Flower,Desert area
- Found in web?: Yes
- Attributes:
She’s Argiope trifasciata, a Banded Garden Spider. Thank you for submitting dorsal and ventral images. Garden Spider is an alternative term for Orbweaver Spider. I like the views with the seeds in her web. Anyone here know how they eat a semi-solid substance like their webs? I’ve watched different types of orbweavers (they are in about 7 families)start to eat their webs. They roll sections or the entire web into a rope or ball. I wonder if they inject digestive fluids into it or if it is soft enough to pass through their narrow digestive tract?
https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/biology/arachnology-and-entomology/spider-myths/myth-spiders-only-suck This may be the answer to my question. According to this science museum spiders can inject the enzymes (like Cobweavers) or regurgitate enzymes over the surface of their food (like orbweavers). I didn’t know that spiders can digest prey from the preys’ outside to inside. The link I included has photos of what the difference looks like. Delicious!