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Black Widow wins - Latrodectus hesperus - female

Black Widow wins - Latrodectus hesperus - Female
Antelope Island, Davis County, Utah, USA
August 13, 2018
I watched a wasp drag a Neoscona spider across the sand for a long distance. After passing a small bush, it was ambushed by this Black Widow. They fought tooth and nail (so to speak) for quite a while. I took video of the whole thing that I will post a link to some time later. Anyway, the Widow won but not without a valiant fight by the poor wasp.

I posted the videos to youtube but this link will take you to Part 3, the biggest battle (best viewed full screen):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ2WDYgtYLU

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Black Widow wins - Latrodectus hesperus - female Black Widow wins - Latrodectus hesperus - female

Great
capture!
The widow believed the Neoscona was alive and stuck in a snare line due the wasp pulling on it. That's why throughout the struggle the widow consistently wrapped and envenomated the already paralyzed Neoscona.

The widow seemed unaware of the wasp. Had it been aware of the wasp, it would have either tried to capture the wasp or fled to safety of it's retreat.


Widows often prey on ground spiders such as wolf spiders that easily get snared in a widow's viscid snare threads. That snare and capture was very close to what would have happened with living spider prey.

Linked the video just in case you weren't sure how. If no link is what you intended, I'll remove it.
Could also add the other three video links if you wish.

Thanks for sharing.

 
It was fun!
Thanks, Jeff, for your comments. I was confused as to why the widow didn't try to take the wasp, too, so your explanation clears that up. It's moments like these that make bug chasing so much fun. I'll just leave the one link and if anyone wants to look at the others on youtube, they can check the other links there. Thanks, again.