Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#715361
Female eating her eggs(?) - Castianeira longipalpa - female

Female eating her eggs(?) - Castianeira longipalpa - Female
Cowichan Valley, British Columbia, Canada
October 17, 2012
Size: ~10mm body length
Found on the deck. At first I thought she was making an egg sac, but then I realized she was actually eating the eggs. It looks like the sac was never finished. Perhaps she began making it, but decided for whatever reason the area wasn't a good spot and then packed up?

ID is based on similarity with the individual I found before, just a couple of meters away in the door:

I thought they might be the same spider since I released the old one on the deck, and she was pretty plump. Not sure. The golden carapace hairs are more sparsely distributed on this one, but I can see similar imperfections in the pattern on the abdomen...

Images of this individual: tag all
Female eating her eggs(?) - Castianeira longipalpa - female Female eating her eggs(?) - Castianeira longipalpa - female Female eating her eggs(?) - Castianeira longipalpa - female

Female eating her eggs
very strange. Nice find.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.