Posted by
Sundew on 02-08-2008 22:56
#1
Hi,
Yesterday I saw this young
Araneus diadematus spider in my garden. I took a photograph because of its nice colours and then noticed a yellow "swelling" on the side of its abdomen that is obviously a larva. I know Pompilid wasps burying paralyzed spiders with an added egg, but I did not know that unburied lively spiders can be attacked by parasitic larvae. Which insects can be such parasites?
Thanks for any information, Sundew
#3
Pompilidae wasps only paralyze them... and then they give the spider to their larvae... and the spider is ate alive (it is like a dead-alive)...
Sphecidae wasps predate on spiders, for example. And Ichneumonoidea wasps parasite the spiders.
In diptera, only the famous Acroceridae flies parasite them. Acrocerids are really true ENDOparasitoids of spiders.