CLOSED: What sort of spider would lay these

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neddandelion Crawley, United Kingdom Aug 07, 2009

Having just returned from a vacation in Duni, Bulgaria I got straight on the internet to try and discover what sort of spider lays large chocolate brown eggs with only one spider in each. I havent had any success so came on here in the hope someone will be able to help me out.

We have taken a photo but the camera is playing up so I am unable to show you at the moment.

The eggs were discovered in my sons bedroom in a 5 star hotel that is cleaned daily, ,so they appeared overnight. I initialy thought they were chocolate that had become stuck on the curtains and sofa and got cross with my son and his friend (both aged 16) I thought they had left some chocolate in the room that got melted on to the fabrics...both denied this.

Anyway...on closer inspection, my sons friend prised one of these chocolate shapes off the sofa with a lot of difficulty it was like they were superglued on with a black tar like substance that left a stain behind. Inside each one was a spider..cocooned in silk..just one spiderling and a fair size too. There were 12 eggs in total with one spider in each. The cleaners were called came in and removed them but my lads were too scared to sleep in the room, for fear the mum was watching and would be upset her babys had been removed...also what sort of size must the mum be to lay such sizeable eggs.

I cant see any spider eggs that resemble large chocolates in a dark brown colour, only white or pale brown...so am at a loss to guess what the parent could be.

My daughter wondered if instead of being baby spiders they were adult ones captured and bound up as prey by another creature...does anyone know anything about Bulgarian spiders? The area we stayed - Duni is part of a nature reserve and wild life is abundant so it could be anything....I am just curious and appreciate any thoughts on what the breed of spider may be.

Many thanks

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Aug 07, 2009

What you encountered most likely were the mud 'nests' constructed by certain wasps in the family Sphecidae known as mud daubers. The female wasps provision these nests with living but paralyzed spiders that the wasp larvae then feed upon. See
http://tinyurl.com/krpmd2 for an example of such a nest. Different species make differently shaped nests; some make very cylindrical nests, and may be referred to as 'organ pipe' wasps. There also are wasps with similar habits in the family Vespidae called potter wasps that make mud 'nests' shaped like little pots - see http://tinyurl.com/msj7fz

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froghollowlady Letohatchee, AL Aug 07, 2009

Our mud daubers make a mound of many mud tubes with numerous stunned spiders in each tube, and an egg. I don't think they have live births....some could! maybe.
I don't think I'll be going to Duni anytime soon...lol lol

Jody

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