U-M biologists super-creepy photos of Amazon spiders making meals of frogs, lizards, furry mammals

A University of Michigan-led team of biologists has
documented 15 rare and disturbing predator-prey
interactions in the Amazon rainforest including
keep-you-up-at-night images of a dinner plate-size
tarantula dragging a young opossum across the forest
floor.

Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, details instances of
arthropod predators—mostly large spiders along with a
few centipedes and a giant water bug—preying on
vertebrates such as frogs and tadpoles, lizards, snakes,
and even a small opossum.

Where we do this research there are about 85 species of
amphibians—mostly frogs and toads—and about 90 species
of reptiles,” von May said. “And considering that there
are hundreds of invertebrates that potentially prey upon
vertebrates, the number of possible interactions between
species is huge, and we are highlighting that fact in this paper,”
von May said.

The field research was supported by a fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation to Daniel Rabosky, as well as the Amazon Conservation Association,
the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Rosemary Grant Award, the Edwin C. Hinsdale UMMZ Scholarship,
and the University of Michigan.
news.umich.edu...


nice place .
..to avoid

although the locals ride them !

Wonderfull creatures ,too bad their "looks" don't give them the credit they deserve.

Thanks for the nightmare fuel.

They are pretty cool, though.

a reply to: radarloveguy

Gross, imaging going the look only to look up and seeing that sitting the corner of your bathroom looking at you with it's beady eye's and ready to leap.

Though you know they apparently taste like unsalted crab.