The spider that fakes moth perfume and fishes with a sticky ball
This spider builds no web. It fakes a female moth's perfume, then swings a sticky ball at whatever answers.
Which one is REALLY true about the Bolas Spider?
The short version
The bolas spider spins a single silk line tipped with a sticky blob, then releases a chemical blend mimicking female moth pheromones. Male moths fly straight to it and it swings the bolas to snag them mid-air. Some species change the blend through the night to match whichever moth is flying.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Bolas Spider builds no web at all, and hunts with a single line of silk instead.
- ✓The Bolas Spider spins that line with a heavy sticky blob on the end, then hangs from a branch holding it in one leg.
- ✓The Bolas Spider releases a chemical blend that copies the scent a female moth uses to attract mates.
- ✓The Bolas Spider swings its sticky bolas at the male moths that follow the fake scent, snagging them in mid-air.
- ✓The Bolas Spider can switch its scent blend through the night in some species, to match whichever moth is flying at that hour.
You could line up about 122 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
This spider does not build a web. It makes a weapon and goes fishing for moths. Meet the bolas spider, which spins a single line of silk with a heavy sticky blob on the end. Then it hangs from a branch, holds that line in one leg, and waits. But how do you catch a moth in the dark? The spider cheats. It releases a chemical blend that copies the scent a female moth uses to attract mates. Male moths follow that scent straight to it, and when one flies close, the spider swings the bolas and the sticky ball catches it in mid-air. Some species can even change the blend through the night, targeting whichever moth is flying at that hour. It is chemical warfare and precision fishing, run by an animal barely the size of a pea. Follow for more weird animal facts.
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“The Bolas Spider builds no web at all, and hunts with a single line of silk instead.”
“The Bolas Spider fires boiling toxic spray out of its body in rapid machine-gun pulses, up to 500 times a second.”
“The Bolas Spider spins that line with a heavy sticky blob on the end, then hangs from a branch holding it in one leg.”