When watering my citruses today, a movement caught my eye in one of the bowls. A tiny black parasitic wasp in a struggle with a spider twice its size. I did not have my camera with me and of course, I could not go and get it, so I snapped at least a few pictures with my phone. I assume the wasp has won and laid the spider aside for afters because it has left it lay there all limp and motionless, danced around a bit and then left.
Pictures below the fold – content warning spiders and predation.
They struggled for quite a while, but I only managed to make one usable picture towards the end. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
When the spider seemed subdued, the wasp has laid it aside and started to run around in number 8 figures. I assume it was memorizing the surroundings in order to find it later, I have observed parasitic wasps do this around the entrances to their nests before. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
The poor spider is probably still alive but paralyzed, destined to become a snack for wasp larvae. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
The tiny wasp took a short break outside the plant bowl. Black-clad like a ninja – how fitting for a kick-ass assassin of the tiny world. Tacticool too. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Such a pretty predator, though.
It’s hard to beat a tactical black exoskeleton.