Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) feeding on snakes (Reptilia: Squamata)

• Published in: The Journal of Arachnology
• Main Authors: Martin Nyffeler, J. Whitfield Gibbons
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: American Arachnological Society 2021
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-20-050

In this paper, 319 incidents of snake predation by spiders are reported based on a comprehensive global literature and social media survey. Snake-catching spiders have been documented from all continents except Antarctica. Snake predation by spiders has been most frequently documented in USA (51% of all incidents) and Australia (29%). The captured snakes are predominantly small-sized with an average body length of 25.9 ± 1.3 cm (median = 27 cm; range: 5.8–100 cm). Altogether >90 snake species from seven families have been documented to be captured by >40 spider species from 11 families. About 60% of the reported incidents were attributable to theridiids (≈0.6–1.1 cm body length), a spider family that uses strong tangle webs for prey capture. Especially the Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti Thorell, 1870), the African button spider (Latrodectus indistinctus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1904), an Israeli widow spider (Latrodectus revivensis Shulov, 1948), and four species of North American widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus C.L. Koch, 1841, Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935, Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775), and Latrodectus variolus Walckenaer, 1837) – equipped with a very potent vertebrate-specific toxin (α-latrotoxin) – have proven to be expert snake catchers. The use of vertebrates as a supplementary food source by spiders represents an opportunity to enlarge their food base, resulting in enhanced survival capability. Interestingly, the snakes captured by spiders also encompasses some species from the families Elapidae and Viperidae known to be highly toxic to humans and other vertebrates. Not only do spiders sometimes capture and kill snakes, quite often the tables are turned – that is, a larger number of arthropod-eating snake species (in particular nonvenomous species in the family Colubridae) include spiders in their diets.