(four photos)
Steatoda triangulosa
These small, beautiful brown and tan Steatoda triangulosas inhabit my shed. I check on them every
now and again to make sure they are working hard. On July 13 I noticed the debris right below this
one's web and decided to take a picture. The next photo shows what I found. © Carol Davis 7-13-2015
That top insect is about as alien-looking as it gets. After some consideration, I decided it must
be a millipede or centipede. Yuck. The little black one is probably a Bluegrass Billbug. Just that
one "milli-centi-pede" alone would make Lt. Ellen Ripley shudder (don't get on any spaceships
with that thing unless you take some Steatoda spiders with you!) How big and brave
are these tiny spiders. Take a look below. © Carol Davis 7-13-2015
Today (July 18) I found a spider in the web of the above-mentioned Steatoda triangulosa. I can
only assume it came to investigate the Steatoda's web, maybe thinking it had an easy meal or
maybe because it was just plain hungry. Cobweb spiders like the Steatodas and the Black
Widows are always a force to be reckoned with because of their speed in capturing and
wrapping prey. Next is a close-up of the unfortunate meal. © Carol Davis 7-18-2015
You can see that the victim has had the life force taken from it and will soon be cut loose and join
the "alien" and weevil on the floor below the web. From this angle it's easier to tell it's an actual
spider rather than the jumble of hairy appendages in the previous photo. © Carol Davis 7-18-2015
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