A Miagrammopes sp Dinner—Flies on the Side
by Vanessa Ting
The stage is set for this Miagrammopes sp spider. With one end of its horizontal single-line web glued to a twig, it holds the other end tight with its legs stretched out so that its whole body looks like another skinny stick. When a passing insect touches the web, the spider lets go of one end. The sticky string will spring back into a ball with the unfortunate insect trapped inside. Look closely at the picture above and you can see the spider holding its neatly-wrapped dinner.
The Miagrammopes sp is part of the Uloboridae family—the spiders in this family are furry, dull-coloured and not poisonous. Read more about the other members of the family here.
The body of the Miagrammopes sp itself is only 8 to 12 mm long—about the width of a fingertip. It is usually found in bushes on jungle fringes, that is, if you can see it at all! Before going on your nature walk, check out other pictures of the Miagrammopes sp here.
This photograph was taken by Dzulhelmi Nasir, a postgraduate student from the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity.
If you know of other more fascinating spiders, do tell us about them! Send us your photographs!
