Flower Spider Catches Stingless Bee in Macro

12th October 2015

Flower Spider & Stingless Bee in Macro
"Jarowair" Land for Wildlife Property, South-East Queensland, Australia




I haven't used my macro lens for some time, so with the reminder that it was "I heart Macro Monday", I went outside to the garden to see if I could spot any insects on some of the flowers.  I quickly came across a small green and yellow Flower Spider (Diaea Sp?) in the centre of a small daisy flower.  I watched a tiny native Stingless Bee come and land on the flower once and then take off, and as I was taking a photo of the spider, the bee returned and the spider pounced!  These are the other photos from the journey to get my favourite macro shot of the lot above.  

To put the size of these tiny insects into prospective for non Australian readers, Flower Spiders (the male always being smaller than the female) range from 3mm to 1.1mm in length.  Stingless Bees range from 4-5mm in length, so you can see that compared to the stingless bee, the spider is quite small in these photos, only a few millimeters long.

J.G.

Joining in with I Heart Macro & Macro Monday 2

Not very clear this photo, but it shows the spider launching onto the stingless bee. 

Dragging the bee underneath the flower petal

A super close-up of the top photo of the Flower Spider with it's Stingless Bee Prize at Jarowair, now under the flower petals.  12/10/15 

Comments

  1. Amazing shots. I had no idea there were stingless bees.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The last macro of the spider and bee is so clear, they strangely look like they are locked in an embrace. I have a lot of crab spiders in my garden hiding on my flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great series of shots - clear enough for me!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful macros, Judith! I love daisies.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for leaving a comment on Jarowair Our Patch - your feedback is much appreciated. Please Subscribe to us on youtube or follow the #jarowairourpatch tag on Instagram. Kind Regards, Judi & Brendon