Spider wrapping butterfly in silk

AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,355
22,534
I was watching a Gatekeeper Butterfly when it landed and seemed to be behaving strangely. I aimed the R5 + RF 100-500mm from about 1.5m away and saw through the evf that it was being attacked by a spider. After being completely wrapped, it was taken away and suspended from a stem. I think it is a Four Spot Orb Weaver spider. The wrapping is best seen in a an animated gif in the next post.

309A8121-DxO_Orbweaving_spider+gatekeeper_butterfly-ls-shm.jpg309A8126-DxO_Orbweaving_spider+gatekeeper_butterfly-ls-shm.jpg309A8150-DxO_Orbweaving_spider+gatekeeper_butterfly-ls-shm.jpg309A8155-DxO_Orbweaving_spider+gatekeeper_butterfly-ls_shm.jpg309A8167-DxO_Orbweaving_spider+gatekeeper_butterfly-ls-shm.jpg309A8200-DxO_Orb_weaving_spider+wrapped_butterfly-lssm.jpg
 
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