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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Cimicomorpha » Assassin Bugs (Reduviidae) » Thread-legged Bugs (Emesinae) » Emesini » Stenolemus
Photo#214375
Role-reversal, Bug eats spider! - Stenolemus
Copyright © 2008 Kris Light

Role-reversal, Bug eats spider! - Stenolemus
Oak Ridge, Anderson County, Tennessee, USA
August 15, 2008
Size: 3/4"
I watched a slow-motion drama unfold this afternoon on the window facing at the back of my house. The assassin bug nymph stalked this spider for over an hour. The nymph used its antennae to feel for a vulnerable spot to attack the spider. Unfortunately, a supper break interrupted my viewing, by the time I got back out there an hour later the bug had attacked the spider and was eating its own supper!

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Role-reversal, Bug eats spider! - Stenolemus Role-reversal, Bug eats spider! - Stenolemus
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Contributed by Kris Light on 15 August, 2008 - 7:35pm
Last updated 15 November, 2019 - 11:09am

Bug eats spider
I was watching four of the common house spiders over several weeks. Three of them had their webs vertically, one above the other, and the fourth was nearby. They were different sizes and colors and could be told apart. I was interested in how they seemed to play 'musical webs'. As the days passed, they regularly exchanged webs. Then, one day I saw two adult Stemolenus bugs waiting at the edges of two of the webs. The next day all four spiders were gone, never to return.
… Paul Krombholz, 18 September, 2010 - 6:32pm login or register to post comments

Nice behavior images -
I can't see it that well, but I think the spider may be a Parasteatoda - common house spider...
… Ken Schneider, 9 September, 2008 - 6:16pm login or register to post comments

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