''Stenolemus bituberus'' is a species of thread-legged insect (

Emesinae The Emesinae, or thread-legged bugs, are a subfamily of the Reduviidae (i.e., assassin bugs). They are conspicuously different from the other reduviids by their very slender body form. They are stalking, predatory insects that can be collected on ...

) found across much of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. This species spends nearly its entire life (moulting, feeding, mating) in spider webs. It preys upon a variety of spiders, including webs and nests of spiders of ''

Achaearanea ''Achaearanea'' is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by Embrik Strand in 1929. It used to include the extremely abundant common house spider, which was transferred to genus '' Parasteatoda'' in 2006, together with many oth ...

'', ''

Badumna ''Badumna'' is a genus of intertidal spiders that was first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1890. They are harmless spiders that can be found around human structures and buildings. The most well-known species is '' B. insignis'', also known as ...

'', ''

Pholcus ''Pholcus'' is a genus of spiders in the family Pholcidae, with 361 described species as of October 2021. It includes the cellar spider '' P. phalangioides'', often called the "daddy longlegs". This may cause confusion because the name "daddy l ...

'', and '' Stiphidion'', and the families

Salticidae Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family Salticidae. As of 2019, this family contained over 600 described genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders at 13% of all species. Jumping spi ...

and

Uloboridae Uloboridae is a family of non-venomous spiders, known as cribellate orb weavers or hackled orb weavers. Their lack of venom glands is a secondarily evolved trait. Instead, they wrap their prey thoroughly in silk, cover it in regurgitated digestive ...

. This species is found in a broader diversity of spider webs than any other species in ''Stenolemus''.

Behavior

''S. bituberus'' has two attack methods: stalking and luring. Stalking involves the slow approach of ''S. bituberus'' to a prey, followed by a period of tapping the prey with antennae (usually for an extended period of 3 minutes), and then suddenly stabbing the spider with its

rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...

, or beak. "Luring" involves plucking of the strands of the spider web by ''S. bituberus''. The prey comes over to investigate and ''S. bituberus'' again taps with antennae before stabbing with the rostrum.

References

* Reduviidae Hemiptera of Australia Insects described in 1874 {{Cimicomorpha-stub