pirate spiders?!

I'm sure you're all aware of the ginormous "communal spider web" that appeared in Lake Tawakoni State Park, near Dallas, this summer. Yes, yes, very good, you say, but what does this have to do with LEVIATHAN's proper purview? Well, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (in an article apparently written by a bright six-year-old) that the web was woven by a number of species working together, including something called a pirate spider.

Friends, how did we miss the boat, as it were, on the redoubtable pirate spider? For, it turns out, not only is there such a thing as a pirate spider, but said pirate spiders are actually cannibal pirate spiders. From the authorities at the Museum of Cape Town:

"At night it will vibrate the web, mimicking either captured prey or a courting male spider of the species that occupies the web. The duped spider will rush to investigate and once within reach, the mimetid will move forward with such stealth that the movement is barely noticeable. The four anterior legs are stretched over its prey and it is quickly drawn forward, its legs pinned down with the spines on the attackers forelegs. The mimetid then bites the prey in the femur, instantly immobilizing it. It is not known whether the bite kills or merely paralyzes. Bristow observed that if the prey is bitten on the body, a vigorous struggle ensues that requires an additional bite to the legs to subdue it."


yar!