Witnessed this amazing showdown this morning between an orb-weaving spider and a yellowjacket wasp. Didn’t take long for the spider to quickly get the upper hand, even though at one point it was actually dive bombed by another yellowjacket. My guess is the trapped yellowjacket gave off some kind of “help me” pheromone. At first the spider ran up its web a few inches, then returned and took an attack position when the second yellowjacket came back. The spider definitely kept the wasp at a distance and very quickly started wrapping it up in sheets of webbing as opposed to strands. It ended up leaving the still-struggling wasp hanging upside down, never coming back.
Trapped yellowjacket
Orb-weaving spider takes notice
Spider approaches slowly
Spider sizes up its trapped prey
Spider quickly draws out sheets of webbing
Wrapping from a distance
I swear it posed for the camera here
Almost done wrapping
Wrapped meal for later
