Too small to bite a human, this arachnid manages to get a taste of the red stuff elsewhere
VAMPIRE SPIDER
A spider that drinks human blood and is attracted to smelly socks might sound like the stuff of an overimaginative arachnophobe’s mind. Still, Evarcha culicivora is very much a real thing. It is called the vampire spider by some, and while it isn’t quite the blood-sucking fiend its name might suggest, the truth is even more bizarre and interesting.
As a member of the imminently likeable and charismatic jumping spider family (Salticidae), close up it has all the hallmarks of these popular spiders, except that it is a bit of a ‘little brown job’ (the informal term used by birders to describe brown birds that are difficult to distinguish) and is easily overlooked in favour of its larger or more extrovert cousins.
At first glance, the vampire spider is dull and seemingly unremarkable-looking. It is a drab brown-and-grey colour and relatively small in stature, growing to less than 5mm long. However, what it lacks in obvious
flourish and flamboyance it more than makes up for in its specialised life pursuits.
So, what’s the story behind its common name? The clue lies in its scientific one: culicivora means ‘mosquito eater’ and the species hunts these infamous insects with a single-minded focus. It is a mosquito specialist, but this is only the start of what makes this spider so unique.
Evarcha culicivora is found solely in the Lake Victoria region of Uganda and Kenya.
The lake is a perfect nursery for all flying insects, playing host to a vast diversity and abundance of lake flies (non-biting midges) and mosquitoes, including malaria-carrying species. Our spider, however, doesn’t just jump on any of these insects. Instead, it is highly selective to the point of being fussy.
Not only does it prefer mosquitoes to any other similar-sized insects, but it also specifically targets the females. This is because it is only the females that feed on the blood of humans and other mammals, and believe it or not, it is actually the blood meal that the spider is after. Being such a tiny creature, it doesn’t have the hardware to pierce human skin, so it uses the mosquitoes as go-betweens. It’s therefore not really a true vampire after all, but an indirect one – a vampire one stop removed.
This feeding strategy makes a lot of nutritional sense. Rather than s
