On Wednesday, Araneus diadematus ate brunch.
Judging from the size and shape of the mummified-in-silk prey, I’d say it was a fly. The temperature was already near 50 that morning and would rise up to 60 in the afternoon. Diptera weather! There were also two gnats stuck to the web, but these were so small they hardly seemed worth the effort to eat after all the juices sucked out of the big fly.Which was reduced over a few hours to a gnarly ball of gristle.
In three months of sporadic observation, we’ve only seen this spider eat once.
Keep the reports coming! Have you named her yet?
I’m afraid I don’t speak arachnid (for want of a better term), so I have no way of asking her her name. Imposing a name would thus seem presumptuous, as well as anthropocentric.