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Flatworm caught hunting and killing spider on its own web

Flatworms are slow-moving predators with poor vision, but one of them managed to attack a spider as it guarded its egg sac

By Jake Buehler

26 October 2023

flatworm preying on spider

A flatworm preying on a spider, which is still trying to protect its egg sac

João C. F. Cardoso

A ravenous flatworm is such a dangerous predator that it can even attack and kill a spider perched on its web, a first-of-its-kind observation shows.

In February 2014, – now at the Federal University of Uberlândia in Brazil – was a master’s student spending 15 days in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest conducting research on spiders. One afternoon along the Mirante River, Cardoso came across the web of a comb-footed spider (Helvibis longicauda) underneath a leaf. There…

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