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Comments & ID Thoughts
Sowbug Killer Spider? It looks like a sowbug in the bottom right, wrapped. Do they wrap the sowbug to preserve for eating later? Also, wondering what the looping thing is that's almost as big as it's body, and that it's dragging either behind or in front. The spider is under the sink cabinet corner by the wall in a small bathroom on the lower floor, next to the door to the washer/dryer and to the stairs down to the enclosed basement that has small floor windows open to the outdoors but with screens. The photo was taken 10:30pm, 31mm/f2.4, iPad. I have several other photos taken at the same time but with the spider in slightly different positions, if I can send those. That corner looks like its lair - can't see a web but there is tiny detritus.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Aug 26, 2023
- Photographed: Aug 20, 2023
- Spider: Dysdera crocata (Woodlouse Hunter)
- Location: Los Angeles, Silver Lake house above the SL Reservoir, California, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes: Prey
Apr 12, 2024
Apr 12, 2024
Harrow, 
First, wow, your iPad takes much better photos than mine does! I just went a week without a phone and had to resort to iPad photography. Yes, it’s Dysdera crocata, also called a Woodlouse Hunter. It’s only slightly in a defensive posture. They can really contort their legs over the body, it looks bizarre. The loop thing looks like a pair of clear wings. Like an insect’s pair of wings. Lacewing Bugs (Neuroptera) have wings kinda like that. They’re plentiful right now. Some spiders do wrap bugs as left-overs to finish later. The silk is effective, like plastic wrap. I… Read more »
I hear the phone cameras are excellent, but i only have a flip phone, so I’m glad the iPad photo compares favorably. Thanks for all the information. Lacewings! Yes, that’s exactly what it looks like. Good hunting night for the spider, hey? Your spider that ate off the wasp for three days – small spider? Wasps seem too small to be 3 days’ worth of meals!
Dysdera Croatia
Not Dysdera Croatia but Dysdera crocata!
LOL! We don’t get to make up the names. 🙂 I think it was a Nursery Web Spider, Pisaurina mira, that ate her predator for 3 days. There were many extra snacks between meals, she was very good at catching insects. Every night I checked to see what her latest victim was.
Sorry for the late reply – got distracted by the holiday season. Nursery Web Spider! I looked it up and was surprised that the Nursery Web is the one the female weaves to throw over her own eggs, not that they hang out in human baby nurseries, as i had assumed. Beautiful long legs and clearly, from your info, a hearty appetite!