This was a new spider for me and one that apparently is seldom seen as it is shiny and appears wet as if it were a fresh bird dropping. They are active only at night. They get their name by hunting with a sticky ball on the end of a silken line resembling South American gauchos throwing their bolas. They hang on a horizontal silk line and hold the bolas with one leg. It swings the bolas at certain kinds of moths that are drawn to the bolas by a pheromone sex attractant. The moths become stuck to the the bolas by a sticky chemical adhesive.


Lake Redman
YorkCounty, PA