Gallery: Bat-Eating Spiders: The Most Terrifying Thing You'll See Today

  • Argiope savignyi
    01

    argiope-savignyi

    Adult Proboscis Bat (*Rhynchonycteris naso*) entangled in a web of *Argiope savignyi* at the La Selva Biological Station, northern Costa Rica (photo by Mirjam Knörnschild, Ulm, Germany).
  • Nephila pilipes
    02

    nephila-pilipes

    Dead bat (*Rhinolophus cornutus orii*) caught in the web of a female *Nephila pilipes* on Amami-Oshima Island, Japan (photo by Yasunori Maezono, Kyoto University, Japan).
  • Nephila pilipes
    03

    nephila-pilipes-3

    A *Nephila pilipes* male \[the tiny-looking spider\] may be feeding on a bat (superfamily Rhinolophoidea) entangled in a web in Australia as well (photo by Carmen Fabro, Cockatoo Hill, Australia).
  • Nephila pilipes
    04

    nephila-pilipes-2

    A small bat (superfamily Rhinolophoidea) entangled in web of *Nephila pilipes* at the top of the Cockatoo Hill near Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia (photo by Carmen Fabro, Cockatoo Hill, Australia). The spider pressed its mouth against the dead, wrapped bat, indicating that it was feeding on it.
  • Avicularia urticans
    05

    avicularia-urticans

    Adult female *Avicularia urticans* feeding on a Greater Sac-winged Bat (*Saccopteryx bilineata*) on the side of a palm tree near the Rio Yarapa, Peru (photo by Rick West, Victoria, Canada).
  • Araneid Meal
    06

    araneid-meal

    A bat caught in the web of an araneid spider (possibly *Eriophora* sp.) in Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica (photo by Cassidy Metcalf, USA).
  • Nephila clavipes
    07

    nephila-clavipes-2

    Volant juvenile Proboscis Bat (*Rhynchonycteris naso*) entangled in web of *Nephila clavipes* photographed in a palm swamp forest near Madre de Dios, Peru (photo by Sam Barnard, Colorado Springs, USA).
  • Dead Bat
    08

    dead-bat

    Dead bat (presumably *Centronycteris centralis*) entangled in an orb-web in Belize (photo by Carol Farneti-Foster, Belice City, Belize).
  • Nephila clavipes
    09

    nephila-clavipes

    Dead bat (*Myotis* sp.) entangled in a web of *Nephila clavipes* in La Sirena, Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica (photo by Harald & Gisela Unger, Köln, Germany).
  • Nephilengys cruentata
    10

    nephilengys-cruentata

    Live bat trapped in web of *Nephilengys cruentata* in a thatch roof at Nisela Lodge, Swaziland (photo by Donald Schultz, Hollywood, USA).
  • Nephila clavipes
    11

    nephila-clavipes-3

    Dead bat entangled in web of a female *Nephila clavipes* in tropical rainforest in the middle of the Rio Dulce River Canyon near Livingston, Guatemala (photo by Sam & Samantha Bloomquist, Indianapolis, USA).
  • Nephila pilipes
    12

    nephila-pilipes-4

    Dead vespertilionid bat entangled in the web of a female *Nephila pilipes* in the Aberdeen Country Park, Hong Kong (photo by Carol S.K. Liu from AFCD Hong Kong, China).
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