What are the natural enemies of spiders? A rundown of common predator animals
Spiders are found all over the world except Antarctica, and they are the natural enemies of many agricultural and forestry pests, playing an important role in biological control. Protecting and using spiders has become an important part of biological control, but in nature spiders themselves also have many natural enemies. Let us take a look below at what the natural enemies of spiders are!
What are the natural enemies of spiders
Spiders have many natural enemies. Toads, frogs, lizards, centipedes, bees and birds all prey on spiders. Some parasitic wasps parasitise spider eggs, the larvae of some parasitic flies develop inside spider egg sacs, and the insects of the small-headed horsefly family are almost all parasitic inside spiders in larval form. Spiders often use various methods to defend against enemies, such as discharging venom, hiding, camouflage, mimicry, protective coloration, vibration and so on. When they cannot escape and their appendages are gripped by an enemy, they simply cut off their own appendages and walk away; in any case, the severed legs will regenerate when they moult.
What food do spiders eat?
Spiders are carnivorous animals with a broad diet. Most of their food is insects or other arthropods, and sometimes they can prey on animals several times larger than themselves, such as the South American bird-eating spider, which sometimes preys on small birds, rodents and the like. But spiders have no upper jaw and do not directly swallow solid food. After catching prey in their web, they first inject venom secreted by the venom glands in the chelicerae into the captured prey to kill it, and the digestive enzymes secreted by the midgut are poured into the tissues of the prey torn apart by the chelicerae, quickly breaking it down into liquid, which is then sucked into the digestive tract. When feeding them artificially, insects such as locusts, crickets, butterflies, flies and yellow mealworms are the highest-quality feed for spiders.
The lifestyle of spiders
1. Wandering type: wandering spiders roam everywhere hunting and feeding, with no fixed dwelling, completely not building webs, not digging holes and not making nests. These include the family Lycosidae's relatives such as the family Zodariidae, the genus Pardosa and most of the family Lycosidae.
2. Settled type: some settled spiders build webs, some dig burrows and some build nests as fixed dwellings, such as Uroctea and the genus Ariadna.
Common species of spiders
1. Bird-eating spider (tarantula): the whole body is brown, the individual is extra large, generally about 7 cm long, and some can reach 10 cm long. It has the ability to build its own dwelling nest, mostly living in burrows around dry fields or in places overgrown with weeds, hiding in the hole during the day and going out at night to hunt. Its reproductive capacity is very strong and its venom output is also high. Each female spider produces 300 to 500 eggs per year, and every 200 bird-eating spiders can yield 1 gram of venom at one extraction. It is produced in Guangxi and Yunnan in China as well as in Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries.
2. Chinese wolf spider (Lycosa sinensis): the whole body is densely covered with fine black, white and yellow hairs; the cephalothorax and back are brown, with a yellow-brown longitudinal band in the centre. It is broad at the front and narrow at the back, with a distinct median furrow, and a body length of 3 to 4 cm. It is a burrowing spider, mostly digging holes and building nests in crop fields such as cotton, wheat and soybean in plain areas. It is produced in Shaanxi, Shandong, Henan and other provinces.
3. Rhabdomastix spider (Nephila clavata): this spider has a body length of 3 to 5 cm. The back of the cephalothorax is dark brown, the chelicerae are black, the pedipalps are yellow, there is a short yellow rod-shaped spot in the front half of the centre, and a yellow lattice-shaped spot in the rear half. It often moves in orchards and farmland crops such as rice and corn as well as among forests. It is especially most abundant in forest areas, often building complex triple golden large webs on plants or tree branches. It is a web-building spider and is good at preying on various flying insects. Each female spider breeds 800 to 900 young spiders per year. Every 400 to 500 spiders can produce 1 gram of venom. This spider is produced in all regions of southern China.
4. White-fronted huntsman spider (Heteropoda venatoria): this spider has a broad, short and flat body, with legs extending to the left and right so it can walk sideways. It is relatively large and is one of the common spiders indoors. It is good at walking and easily hides. It lays eggs in May and June, and each female spider can breed 500 to 600 young spiders. 600 spiders produce 1 gram of venom at one extraction. This spider is produced in Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other provinces and regions.
5. Grooved hard-skinned trapdoor spider (Atypus): the spider's body length is 3 to 4 cm. The whole body of the female spider is yellow-brown, the cephalothorax and back are arranged in a fork shape, and the chelicerae are long columnar. The sternum is grey-black, surrounded by 8 small grey-white round spots. This spider is of the burrowing type, and its nest is tubular, with radiating spider silk around the entrance of the hole. Each female spider breeds 800 to 900 small spiders per year, and every 800 to 1000 spiders can produce 1 gram of venom. This spider is mainly distributed in Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and other provinces and regions.