Enoplognatha ovata
maybe 4 mm
This morning, a day after I found the female Enoplognatha ovata, I went out and found two spiders in the exact
spot on the leaf where the female ovata had been yesterday. One is a ground spider and I think the other
is a crab spider. The ground spider (on top) is dining on the other. I was not happy about the disappearance
of the beautiful Ovata and I'm afraid one of those two spiders consumed her.
But, the good news was that underneath the overhanging part of the leaf was a male Enoplognatha ovata so I got to
take a few photos of him later on this afternoon and they turned out quite well. I did notice that as I was taking the
pictures there was a zebra spider in the vicinity but I was pretty sure the male cobweb spider could hold his own,
even though he was missing a back leg.
I was wrong. I went over and sat down in my lawn chair to review the photos on my camera. It took only a few minutes and then
I went back over for more pictures. I was shocked to see the zebra spider had moved in and attacked the Ovata. As you can
see from the photo, the cobweb spider is now TOAST. I love jumping spiders but this one is on my hit list for killing the
last of the Enoplognatha ovata pair. © Carol Davis, 7-20-2009 in Taylorsville, UT
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