Bizarre behaviour
 Bolas Spiders don't produce the typical round web that most spiders do.
They rely on a chemical trap, and a whirling glob of liquid silk (the Bolas).

Adult female bolas spiders sit on a stalk of grass all day, looking like a grass seed-head.
In the evenings they produce a blob of liquid silk, which they whirl around for a while.
At the same time they produce a scent which smells like a female moth. Male moths
arrive, wanting to mate, but instead are hit by the bolas, reeled in and eaten.

The egg cases are very distinctive, and are the best way of
finding these spiders when walking in grassland.
 

A close-up of the minute adult male next to the female.
This is as big as the males ever get. Since the spider's discovery in
the 1920's, less than 20 males of this species have been seen.
 

For more on Bolas spiders, try here.

Form 1 & 2 Programme

Compulsory Estate Activities program

• Information

Available Courses & Requirements

• Bird Identification

• Creepy Crawlies

• Mammals

• Signs of the Wild

• Tree Identification

• Survival Course

• Basic Guiding

• Alien Invaders

Progress in meeting Activity requirements

• Form 1 Individuals  |  Form 1 by Houses

• Form 2  |  Form 2 by Houses

Previous Features

Karkloof Stick insect
Calendar Competition
The Gozzlemonster
Do not eat the grasshoppers
Moths
Young Explorers
Hilton Daisy
Widow Spiders
Arbor Week
Bulb Rescue Operation
The 'Stinking Sock' Plant
Porcupines on the Estate
Cape Parrots in KZN
Killer Damselflies
Rare Spiders at Hilton
Meet John Roff