The pirate spiders, also known as cannibal spiders (family Mimetidae) are a family of spiders that typically feed on other spiders.
The Mimetidae family contains roughly 200 species divided between 12 genera, of which Mimetus and Ero are the most common. Mimetida are usually yellow and brown and are usually 3 to 7 mm long. Mimetidae can be recognized by the rows of spine-like hairs on their long front legs.
Mimetidae usually hunt by picking at the strands on their prey's web to simulate the movements of eaither a trapped insect or a potential mate. When their prey comes to investigate, they are instead captured and eaten.
Baby spiders hatch in the egg sacs and live on yolk until their first molt, so it’s possible that this piratespider was actually eating young spiders rather than eggs.
Spider guru Hank Guarisco is in town teaching me to identify spiders with a microscope.
A spider in the house is a butterfly in the house.
Spiders reproduce by eggs laid in silk bundles called egg sacs, and the male (usually significantly smaller than the female down to 1% for Tidarren sisyphoides) is likely to be killed by the female after the coupling, or sometimes before intercourse has occurred.
When sexually mature, a male spider will spin a web pad onto which the contents of the abdominal reproductive organs are discharged and then the seminal fluid is transferred into the cavities of the palpi; when an individual secures a mate he thrusts the palpi one at a time into her abdominal genital openings.
The widow spiders, brown recluse spiders, hobo spiders, and yellow sac spiders are the dangerous ones among U.S. spiders.
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