For the identification of insects and other fauna and flora of South Africa.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Spider and egg - False Button Spider (Steatoda capensis)

I found this small spider at work and put it in a plastic film bottle to take home and photograph. When I opened it up, I discovered she had laid a large size egg inside.
I decided to let her loose outside and gently moved her and the egg onto the ground next to a tree.
No sooner was she out and tried to move her egg to a place of safety, when the ants came along and tried to take it away from her. I thought that she would chase them away.
Instead, she gave up and went to huddle against the tree leaving her eggs to the ants to carry away.

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