Mary Allen
The wasp spider gets its name from the yellow and black stripe pattern on its body that resembles that of a wasp. Sometimes it is also called the zebra spider.
Characteristics
What does the wasp spider look like?
With their bright yellow and black striped abdomen and brown and black ringed legs, the wasp spiders cannot be overlooked. The body of the female is up to 2 cm long, while the males remain much smaller and are only four to six millimeters long.
Wasp spiders belong to the subfamily of zebra spiders. The zebra spiders, in turn, belong to the orb-web spider family and are closely related to the cross spiders. Like all spiders, wasp spiders have eight legs, a head, and an oval-spherical body. When young wasp spiders get bigger, they have to shed their skin because their hard skin armor cannot grow with them.
Where does the wasp spider live?
The wasp spider has spread from the Mediterranean to northern Germany in recent years. Wasp spiders live in both dry and wet habitats – the main thing is that the place is sunny. They like paths and forest edges and also gardens with bushes that are 30, but at most 70 centimeters high.
What types of wasp spiders are there?
The subfamily of zebra spiders includes about 150 different species – but we only have the wasp spider. Due to its striking pattern, it cannot be confused with any other spider.
How old do wasp spiders get?
Wasp spiders live for about a year.
Behavior
How does the wasp spider live?
Wasp spiders are known for spinning a particularly eye-catching and beautiful web. The threads of the web are very dense. It consists of 32 spokes – that’s what the threads that lead outwards from the center of the net are called. The catch area of the net is about 30 centimeters in diameter.
Most notable, however, is a wide zigzag band running down from the center of the web. Sometimes there is a second zigzag band pointing upwards. The researchers are still arguing about the purpose of this zigzag band. Some believe that it serves to make the net extra stable and strong.
Others suspect that it is a “love trail” meant to lure the male to the center of the web to the female at mating time. And still, others believe that the zigzag ribbon is for camouflage: If the spider sits at the end of the ribbon in the center of the web, its striped pattern is not noticeable against the background of the ribbon – the wasp spider can therefore lie in wait for its prey unnoticed.
Wasp spiders build their web vertically between plant stems and very close to the ground. If a prey gets caught in the web, the spider quickly crawls up to it, attaches it with a thread, and in a few seconds ties it up with many threads, quickly rotating it around its own body axis. The prey is wrapped in this way and then hung up on a thread from the net. Now the spider paralyzes its prey with a bite and then sucks it dry.
In case of danger, wasp spiders drop to the ground or swing their web around vigorously for minutes, so that the enemy can no longer determine exactly where the spider is sitting. Young wasp spiders can be observed from about May, adult spiders from July to August, and the females also until October.
Friends and foes of the wasp spider
Wasp spiders are on the menu, especially for hungry birds. Incidentally, the biggest enemies of the male wasp spiders are the female wasp spiders: they usually eat them after mating. Some parasitic wasps are dangerous for young spiders: They lay their eggs in the cocoon with the spider eggs – and their larvae then feed on the spiders that have hatched. Wasp spiders are harmless to humans.
How does the wasp spider reproduce?
Late summer is the mating season for wasp spiders. Then the male approaches the female sitting in the net with twitching movements. If it stays still – almost as if it were sleeping – it is ready to mate. The female raises his body to allow the male to crawl under his belly.
Once mating is over, the female wakes up again. Then it’s mostly up to the male: he’s eaten up by his partner. However, some males manage to flee quickly before the female wakes up. By the end of August, the female’s abdomen is thick and filled with eggs. Egg-laying time begins. The spider builds a solid cocoon out of spider threads. First, she builds a cup-shaped base into which she glues 300 to 400 eggs.
Then she weaves a brown supporting layer on the sides, lines the inside with white threads, and closes the cocoon with white threads. These different layers ensure that the inside of the cocoon has exactly the right climate for the eggs to develop. Before she lays her eggs, the spider mother deposits the so-called yellow egg cake in the cocoon, which serves as food for the spider babies.
The finished cocoon is securely anchored to blades of grass or branches with spider threads. Usually, the females are so exhausted after building and laying their eggs that they die. When the young spiders hatch from the eggs about a month later – i.e. still in autumn – they have to manage on their own. They remain in the cocoon throughout the winter and feed on the egg cake. Only in May or June of the next year do they leave the cocoon. To do this, they bite a hole in the cocoon wall. Just three months later they are adults and can reproduce.
How does the wasp spider hunt?
Wasp spiders do not chase after their prey but lie in wait for it in their web. Once a grasshopper or other insect gets caught in the sticky threads, the spider grabs it, wraps it in the thread, and kills it with one bite.
Care
What does the wasp spider eat?
Wasp spiders are predators and live exclusively on various insects. Her favorite food, however, is locusts. That is why wasp spiders mainly build their webs in warm, sunny places. There are many locusts living there and there is a good chance that one of them will get caught in the spider’s web.