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Comments & ID Thoughts
Fun With Arachnids: This is an Opilione arachnid (not s spider) eating a Ladybeetle from the posterior ventral area.
Today I learned that Opiliones have a glue substance on their pedipalps for grabbing prey. They chew with chelacerae. My photo might show the palps holding the prey, I'm not sure. The Opilione was able to walk and carry the beetle at the same time. The setting is a wet brick.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Oct 28, 2022
- Photographed: Oct 27, 2022
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Nashua, New Hampshire, United States
- Spotted Outdoors: Ground layer (leaf litter, dirt, grass, etc)
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Awesome information and as always teaching new stuff!
Thanks! I realized that I had no idea how an Opilione could catch or kill an insect its own size. They don’t have fangs. It might have found the beetle already dead or killed it. Either way, I didn’t know how it was cutting up the beetle. The beetle is quite chopped up. I learned that they have lobster-like claw pincers on their chelacerae. When I took the photos I didn’t know what the big orange thing was that the Opilione was carrying and eating. The Opilione was very focused on keeping and eating it. I don’t check my photos… Read more »