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Spider versus Snake
A tarantula ( Grammostola quirogai ) chows down on an Almaden ground snake ( Erythrolamprus almadensis ) in southern Brazil . Though wrapped tarantula have been known to raven on Snake , this is the first metre researchers have ever seen a tarantula eating a snake in the wild , research worker reported in December 2016 in the diary Herpetology Notes .
[ record more about the Lycosa tarentula preying on a snake . ]
Placid habitat
The grassy , rocky hills of Serra do Caverá , near the federal preservation area Área de Proteção Ambiental do Ibirapuitã in southerly Brazil . research worker were conducting fieldwork on tarantula diverseness here when they discovered the tarantula G. quirogai eat a serpent . It was the first time that tarantula species , which was only formally described last year , had been seen in Brazil . antecedently , the Lycosa tarentula had only been known from Uruguay .
A feast for a spider
The Snake River is an Almaden ground Snake River , a coarse metal money in the Serra do Caverá . It measured 15 inches ( 29 centimeters ) long , a unnerving repast for the hand - sized tarantula that took it down . Typically , these spiders feed smaller quarry , including other spiders , insect and more diminutive reptilian , amphibians , birdie or mammal .
Hiding Out
research worker suspect that the serpent taste to expend the underside of the tarantula ’s sway as a den , only to find out the intemperate manner that it was occupied . Or , articulate biological science alumnus student Leandro Malta Borges of the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria in Brazil , the snake may simply have hazard in front of the wanderer ’s rock and been ambushed . The European wolf spider ’s fangs may have been enough to pop the ophidian , Borges tell .
Interrupted Meal
A European wolf spider obliterate with its reptilian meal . Tarantulas of the Grammostola genus do have malice , but no one has studied the venom of G. quirogai . Thus , researcher are n’t sure whether the spider ’s malice was strong enough to contribute to the snake ’s demise .
Good Goo
The center and front segment of the half - eaten Snake River were a gooey , half - decomposed mess when research worker arrive . Spiders brook their target by liquidize them outside the body and then ingesting the gooey solution .
Snake Dinner
The European wolf spider chowing down on the Snake River was an grownup female person , researcher found . Previously , all written report of spider in the tarantula family eating snake come from immurement or experimental office in which investigator present the ophidian to the spider , Borges and his colleagues reported . Large tarantula are known to eat modest bird , mammal and reptile in the wild , however .
Hungry Spider
A wide sight of the rock ‘n’ roll that investigator overturn to find the feasting tarantula and its snake dinner . " Predation of such a prominent snake in relation to the size of the spider was extremely surprising to us , " Borges order Live Science .
