Quick read: Crab spiders, a dead bee and parasitic flies AKA "Sex, Food and Photeotape"

 

Ok, so what we have here is a female flower crab spider (Thomisus citrinellus) eating a honey bee (Apis mellifera). The poor bee didn’t see it coming, as the crab spider was cunningly camouflaged to look like the petals of the flower it was sitting on (or most commonly, underneath).

On the bee, you can see many jackal flies (Family Milichiidae) which are kleptoparasites (it’s a thing, check the link) and feed on the bodily fluids of the dead bee.

Remember, the bee’s body (yes, including the knees) has turned into mush inside the exoskeleton because the spider injected digestive enzymes in addition to the venom, so with very minimal effort, the flies can get a pretty nice soup!

What’s that baby spider on top of the female you're asking? That’s no baby, it’s a full-grown male! About to become a daddy soon. It’s guarding the female, who is full of little spider eggs.

At this point you’re probably thinking “She doesn’t need his help, seems like she can take care of herself” and that’s true, but he’s not guarding her against potential predators, he’s guarding her against something you can see in this photo, but hadn’t noticed yet (go on, have another look).

Look at the top right corner, see something out of focus that’s not the flower? These are the legs of another male!

The male on top of her is trying to make sure that the male in the corner (and others, cause let’s face it, she’s a hottie) are not trying to mate with her as well.

Makes you wonder, was he successful? who’s the real babies daddy?

This photo was taken in Caesarea, Israel.