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Female Wasp Spider, home patch
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We first encountered these fascinating spiders (Argiope bruennichi) in September 2020. Between 5th and 9th September last year I recorded four females, the large striped ones, in our home patch.
We have enjoyed watching them again this year, though we have never seen more than three at a given time. This morning we discovered a second egg-sac in the long grass, so we hope this means that there will be more Wasp Spiders in 2022.
These spiders like natural grassland, and we suspect it is our lack of mowing, the result of a pledge we made at the Suffolk Wildlife Trust Summit, that has attracted them to our wild garden. The long grass has certainly attracted grasshoppers, a key food source.
The discovery of a new egg-sac seemed a good moment to post some of our Wasp Spider photos. I hope you enjoy them!
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Female with prey
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| Ditto |
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Female with egg-sac
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Female near the stabilimentum
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You can read about the 'ultra-violet reflective' stabilimentum or zigzag section of web here in the beginning of an article.
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Underside of female (with egg-sac)
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Female with egg-sac
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Damp weather; female with parcel of prey
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| Stabilimentum |
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| Evidence of two different spider species in close proximity | |
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Female upside-down, with egg-sac
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Female and egg-sac
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| Female |
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| Underside of female. Stabilimentum | |
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| Stabilimentum |
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Do you see the tiny spider on the right? Is this a different species?
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The male Wasp Spider is much smaller than the female. It is light brown and has two yellow lines running along the underneath of the abdomen.
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Is the same spider as the tiny curled creature in the photo above?
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... and this? Do leave a comment if you know.
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Wasp Spider egg-sac spotted on Sutton Heath near Woodbridge
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My thanks to David (Gill) for a couple of the photographs in this post.
