Butterflies caught in spider web

John Shuey jshuey at tnc.org
Mon Aug 30 10:52:14 EDT 1999


Joe notes that the monarch was gone and that there was a hole cut in the web.
Most likely, the spider cut out the monarch and discarded it as a toxic
intrusion into its meal plan.  I've seen this with the Genus Heliconius in
Belize, spiders simply discard them rather than fool around with a potentially
toxic meal.

John Shuey



joe at bio.umass.edu wrote:

> Oscar,
>
> That is _Miranda aurantia_ the golden garden spider.
>
> Nice photos!
>
> Joe
>
> Oscar Gutierrez wrote:
> >
> > Near where I work there is a small pond that is surrounded by brush and
> > wildflowers. I usually go and take a walk around the pond for lunch. The
> > other day I came across a large spider web which had a monarch butterly
> > struggling to escape. ...
> --
> --------------------
> Joseph G. Kunkel, Professor
> Biology Department             joe at bio.umass.edu
> University of Massachusetts    http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel
> Amherst MA 01003





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