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Photo#401617
Green spider - Oecobius

Green spider - Oecobius
Alameda County, California, USA
May 27, 2010
Size: ~3 mm bl
On an exterior windowsill, sheltered by a porch roof, afternoon. Spider stayed still in the position shown beside what is evidently a dead caterpillar. Ants nearby were carrying particles (caterpillar bits, I presume). Twenty minutes later, the spider lay on its side and seemed to feed on the caterpillar, at the head end, but did not position itself for an eye photo.

Moved
Moved from Spiders.

***
Maybe a Wall Spider?

 
Yes,
in the guide here

 
That surprised me
The others from here that were identified as wall spiders were brown, and they ate ants. Caterpillar wouldn't be a typical food for them. The question remains, who spun the webbing?

 
Ants
I never knew they ate ants! I've been raising 2 since April, but I never knew they ate ants. I'll have to try giving them some! Mine have been eating tiny Hemiptera and springtails that I get sweeping the grass and clover. Of course, I feed almost all of my spiders the same thing unless they are large, then I try small moths and flies that come to the lights.
This is the kind I'm raising

 
..
The one in your thumbnail looks like a pretty mature, perhaps even gravid female...

 
That one
is a sibling(?) of the 2 I have. There were many living on our hotel balcony and I brought 2 different individuals home from vacation. Maybe it is time to check them for maturity.

 
Oecobius spin small, flat ten
Oecobius spins small, flat tent-like webs, if I remember correctly; perhaps the caterpillar got too close? I was wondering, too about the greenish cast of the spider -- until I noticed the color of the caterpillar.

-K

 
Yes, small webs
Other Oecobius here make very small webs in architectural corners and wait for ants to enter. I favor crediting the caterpillar with the web. This webbing looks like a greater quantity than Oe. would make at one time.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. More to the point, I'm not an arachnologist.

Possibly, ants attacked the caterpillar as it started to tie itself to the surface. Compare . Maybe the spider was lying in wait for ants.

I don't find any other green Oecobius on BugGuide or Google Images. Would eating caterpillar flesh turn a spider's abdomen green?

 
Yes, I think you're quite rig
Yes, I think you're quite right. As to your question -- only if it was a green caterpillar. :-)

-K

 
..
Revisiting this once more, I'm not so sure about the caterpillar spinning the web. I, at least, can't say one way or the other.

 
Web probably by the spider
though I suppose a spider could come across a caterpillar preparing to make its cocoon.

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