Unusual prey: spiders eating snakes | Hacker News Reader

Unusual prey: spiders eating snakes

unibas.ch

58 pointshhs16 comments

Slightly off topic but one of the craziest things I've ever seen: this snake has a tail that looks and moves like a spider and uses it to lure prey...it is really unsettling.

Iranian spider-tailed viper tricks bird https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFjoqyVRmOU

Pseudocerastes urarachnoidesis in known as “Iranian spider-tailed viper” because of its unique elaborated arachnid-like caudal structure.The snake, reported only in western Iran so far, uses its tail movements for defence and hunting. By moving the tip of the tail, the structure is reminiscent of a moving spider, luring potential prey.

Those poor birds!

I haven't seen a spider eat a snake, but it's fairly common knowledge here in Australia if you find a lot of dead skinks [0] (a lizard) around you have Redback spiders. The skink is many times larger than the spider.

Our Redbacks look similar to the USA Black Widow, and like the Black Window displays the sexual cannibalism while mating behaviour. And surprise surprise, the article says 80% of the spiders that eat snakes live in Australia or the USA.

One notable difference between the two is that, unlike the USA Back Window, a bite from an Australian Redback can and has killed people. You will hear Australian's refer in a joking tone about the Redback under the toilet seat. Don't be fooled by the tone. It isn't a joke.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_garden_skink

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider

> One notable difference between the two is that, unlike the USA Back Window, a bite from an Australian Redback can and has killed people.

How is that "unlike the USA black widow"? Wikipedia suggests they are more or less identical:

> The venom of the redback spider is thought to be similar to that of the other Latrodectus spiders.

> According to NSW Health, redback spider bites were considered not life-threatening

> In 2016, the death of a bushwalker from a redback spider bite was widely reported. Apart from that, there have been no deaths due to redback bite since the introduction of antivenom.

Compare

> In historical literature, fatalities were reported at anywhere between 0.5% and 12%,[2] but studies within the past several decades have been unable to confirm any fatalities from this or any of the other U.S. species of Latrodectus (e.g. zero fatalities among 23,409 documented Latrodectus bites from 2000 through 2008).

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus_hesperus )

> In the United States, no deaths due to black widows have been reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers since 1983.

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus )

> Deaths from the Western Black Widow had been reported as 50/1000 in the 1920s.

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus_mactans )

These articles all seem to agree that (1) Australian latrodectus and American latrodectus are similarly threatening; (2) the risk of death is significant if treatment is not available; (3) there is no significant risk of death when treatment is available.

Black Widows are also deadly. They live in woodpiles where I’m from and every year there’s someone who gets bit and is rushed to the ER. They don’t kill instantly but you can die within a day or so (especially children) if not treated.

I find nothing more disturbing than an invertebrate eating a vertebrate. It happens but it shouldn’t.

Same. Same same same. Absolutely no, not ok. This ain't 'Nam. There are rules.

Try not to learn too much about the ocean, then. Avoid bobbit worms in particular.

Tongue eating louse is even worse

I've seen this first hand here in Western Australia...

Was cleaning out my garage and found a redback had recently caught a baby dugite. very cool.

Have also seen them catch and eat skinks and geckos and I once saw photo evidence of a small mouse. I like spiders in general, but redbacks are one that give me involuntary shivers. (plus those fat black house spiders we get)

With respect to fight or flight / survival, this seems impressive:

> Another new finding from the meta-analysis: spiders can subdue snakes from seven different families. They can outfight snakes 10 to 30 times their size.

Not a snake but still surprising http://erikaishikoro.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-2598.html

Freaked me out a bit first time I saw it

Though global warming may eventually obviate this, I feel like the phrase “except Antarctica” can be omitted in most cases where it’s used.

I thought spiders were much older than insects. Why would they be primarily insectivores?

It seems like it'd be an amazing haul of resources for a spider.

You'd be the Spider King.

The article mentions in a side note that the spider doesn't consume much of it.

"When a spider catches a snake, it will often spend hours or days feasting on such a large prey. Spiders have an irregular feeding pattern. When a lot of food is available, they eat in excess, only to go hungry for long periods again afterward. They store excess food as energy reserves in their body and use it to tide them over longer periods of starvation.

"Still, a spider often eats only a small part of a dead snake. Scavengers (ants, wasps, flies, molds) consume what remains."

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