14 DAY TRIAL // A study recently published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE sheds new light on the distribution of bat-eating spiders around the world. Not to beat about the bush, it appears that, apart from Antarctica, all other continents are currently inhabited by such arachnids.
Following their analyzing data collected over the course of one hundred years, the scientists who embarked on this research project have managed to document a total of 52 reports of bat-eating spiders.
As they explain, most of these arachnids (i.e. about 90%) are to be found in slightly warmer climates. However, this does not change the fact that the remainder 10% seem to experience no problems when it comes to their thriving in slightly colder parts of the world.
“Bat-catching spiders have been reported from virtually every continent with the exception of Antarctica (~90% of the incidences occurring in the warmer areas of the globe between latitude 30° N and 30° S),” the researchers write in their paper.
42% of these spiders allegedly live in the Neotropics, 28.8% can be found in Asia and 13.5% are believed to inhabit Australia and Papua New Guinea.
“This evidence suggests that spider predation on flying vertebrates is more widespread than previously assumed,” they go on to argue.
By the looks of it, bat-eating spiders display two different types of behavior when the time comes for them to feed, sources say.
Thus, whereas some go for the more run-off-the-mill approach and patiently wait for their future meal to get caught up in their web and later on die because of dehydration, starvation and other similar causes, others actively go hunting and do their best to track down and kill their victim.
“88% percent of the reported incidences of bat catches were attributable to web-building spiders and 12% to hunting spiders,” the researchers maintain.
In case anyone was wondering, it appears that spiders belonging to the Nephila and Eriophora genera are the most prolific when it comes to using webs whose diameter amounts to 1.5 meters (almost 5 feet) in order to trap and eat bats.