![]() These spiders are not considered to be dangerous. Net-casting Spiders mature in summer, when mating and egg-laying occurs. Each sac is suspended among low foliage, either dead or living, by a short silk stalk and is further disguised using leaf debris. Life history cycleĪfter mating has taken place the female Net-casting Spider constructs strong spherical brown flecked egg sacs. An unused net is sometimes stored by hanging it on nearby leaves for the next night's hunting, or the spider may eat it. Net strikes will also be made at flying insects that stray too close. If successful, the spider silk-wraps the prey item, bites and paralyses it, and then feeds on it. When an insect walks across this 'target', the spider plunges its net downward to envelop and entangle it. In order to have an aiming point, the spider often drops splashes of white faecal droppings onto the leaf or bark substrate over which it is poised. ![]() The net is a blueish-white square of wool-like cribellate silk, whose coiled lines are designed to stretch and entangle prey. The spider also assumes a head-down position when it is waiting for prey, except that it now holds its net with the front four legs and suspends itself by the back legs and spinnerets from support lines to surrounding foliage. When at rest, the spider hangs from vegetation with its head downwards, its long body and long, thin front and back legs held together on each side, giving the spider a stick-like appearance. ![]() They are primarily nocturnal, feeding on ants, beetles, crickets and other spiders.
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