Non-birding question (RE wasps & spiders)

["Yarden Oren" <>]

While on a non birding trend, could someone confirm the following suspicion. A wasp has built tight mud cocoons stuck to the brick wall outside our door. I knocked down the first ones as we didn't want the wasps hanging around there and the cocoons were empty. A fed days later another set was built. When I demolished them, each contained about half a dozen spiders. The spiders were fresh and plump (paralysed I presume and intended to be fresh food to larvae already laid or about to be laid in them). Am I correct? Any more interesting local natural history regarding the phenomenon?

 

Thanks

 

Yarden

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Tuesday, 10 January 2006 11:07 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Non-birding question (RE caterpillar)

Memories of the Emperor Gum moths of one's childhood come flooding back.  Oddly, we found them mainly on the introduced Peppercorn Trees, now such a feature of the rural landscape.