After buying garden furniture, a man finds a whole nest full of dead-looking different spiders. Experts explain how this came about.
Bremen – Anyone who buys new items usually receives them in packaging. Normally you remove these and use the newly purchased one. In rare cases, however, there is a rather unpleasant surprise when unpacking. Of course, you may be annoyed because the item you expected is not inside. But it is also possible that a truly disgusting discovery will emerge.
A customer recently found a cloth in a package of chips that definitely didn’t belong there. Another found one dead animal disgust addition in frozen food. Now a man also discovered an animal gift in the garden furniture he had delivered – or more precisely, an entire team.
Man finds spider grave in garden furniture and asks community for help
On one Facebook-Photo that appears on the website of the biologist Dr. Mark Benecke published several spiders that obviously do not belong to the same species. So it can’t be a family. This is how the man describes his case and asks the social network community for help: “Last summer, while unpacking garden furniture (probably made in Asia), I found a ‘stone’ in the box. When I took it off the cardboard, there was a hole on the other side… with lots of spider legs lurking out of it.” Another man was gardening when he came across a spider with a striking white abdomen.
“Stone” turns out to be the grave of many spiders
Reason enough to examine the suspected stone more closely. He goes on to describe how the spider discovery finally came about: “The spiders were not moving and, in my opinion, dead. I opened the clay or lime cocoon and many very different (in shape and color) spiders fell out.” Meanwhile, he found a woman a large spider with a cocoon recently in her kitchen.
In the opinion of the garden furniture buyer, the spiders “were not dead for long because they still looked fresh”. How did this constellation come about?
Users split between fascination and disgust: “Get the flamethrower”
Both Instagram– Users where the image was also published, the image full of spiders triggered different reactions. Many commented “Interesting” or “Unbelievable, how can that be?” However, one woman also stated with disgust: “That would officially be the last time I would have ordered something. Best austerity therapy!” Another added in horror; “Get the flamethrower!” People on Facebook also reacted similarly: “All I can say is that I probably would have torched the entire country after I woke up from my fear coma,” said one of the comments.
Experts clarify what it is – another animal is the culprit
But one person also has a theory for solving the spider hodgepodge. “A species of wasp was very busy buying food that was anesthetized for its brood,” said one man. On Instagram, an expert in the comments agrees with this theory: “This is a nest of the oriental mortar wasp. The spiders are paralyzed and serve as food for their offspring. Exciting but scary animal.” Another person continues: “In my research on them, I found out that on average they stun 16.2 spiders and put them in the cocoon for their offspring. This way they are supposed to stay fresh for a very long time – but the cocoons look different.”
Oriental mortar wasp harmless to humans
For example, the Zurich Environmental and Health Protection Office lists the oriental mortar wasp in the pest register. The description of the animal states: “The adult wasp is 15 to 20 mm long. The black-yellow to black-red-brown colored abdomen has long stalks and makes the species unmistakable. The female builds brood cells about three centimeters in size out of clay in groups and “brings in eight to 25 live, paralyzed spiders as food for the larvae. Then it lays an egg and closes the cell with a clay lid.”
The larvae would feed on the spiders until they hatched. The animal is harmless to humans and can easily be removed. How aktion-wespenschutz.de added, the animal is widespread in Germany and can be found almost exclusively in residential areas from May to September.
Since the spiders are only stunned and not dead, people in the comments under the photo are particularly interested in one thing: What happened to the paralyzed animals? The photographer explains: “They looked dead to me, so I made a hole in the flower bed with a shovel, put the spiders in and closed them up.” (jh)
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