Ladybird spider  (Eresus sandaliatus)

Learn about the scientific name of this species and how it fits into the tree of life at Nature Navigator.

Biology

Ladybird spiders live in burrows with silk trip-wires covered with dense fluffy threads that radiate outwards to catch their prey. These include large insects, including devil's coach horse and violet ground beetles. The female rarely leaves her burrow and the male only emerges for two weeks in May to breed. Having found a burrow containing a female, the male plucks at the trip wires in a way that distinguishes him from prey; this protects him from becoming a meal. After mating, the female lays up to 80 eggs in a cocoon in her burrow during the summer and guards them until the spiderlings hatch in July or August. She feeds them on regurgitated food and finally the spiders eat their own mother, the female can therefore only breed once. The spiderlings disperse to make their own burrows in the following April, and are mature after three or four years.

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