The junebug making a dinner for the golden silk spider was so colorful I just had to get an image. While I was shooting my daughter pointed out to me there was a 3rd party in the picture. Argyrodes nephilae is a new one on me, so I tried for a while to try to get a good shot, but they are soooo small, I was having a tough time.

This did however give me time to observe an unexpected behavior. The A. nephilae repeatedly climbed over to the golden silk's spinnerets and yanked on the attached strand until the golden silk moved a little, then it ran about an inch away. About a minute later it would come back an do it again. I watched this cycle at least a half dozen times.

Can anyone offer me any insight as to just what was going on here? It appeared to be just blatant harassment...