A large wasp attacks a spider and drags it back to its nest. Picture: Mark Brake. Source: The Advertiser
MOST insects would be paralysed with fear if they came across a wolf spider.
But not this female spider wasp, which made quick work of its eight-legged foe before dragging it off to her lair.
The Advertiser photographer Mark Brake captured this amazing sequence of photographs just before sunset at Ramco Lagoon near Waikerie.
Gallery - See the spider wasp attack the spider
The wasp pounced on the wolf spider with lightning speed, paralyzing it with its sting.
It then dragged it for about seven metres to its burrow.
Once inside she would have laid a single egg on the abdomen of the spider.
The larvae feed on the spider once the egg hatches.
While at the lagoon to take panoramic pictures at sunset, Brake said he could not miss the opportunity to photograph this remarkable scene.
"I nearly stepped on them," Brake said.
"I quickly turned my camera onto this amazing fight.
"The persistence of the wasp while it attacked the spider and dragged it all the way back to its nest was an incredible thing to see.
" I was a little hesitant to get close at first, but realised I couldn't miss this opportunity and the wasp had no interest in me at all."
Doctor Greg Baker, principal entomologist at the South Australian Research and Development Institute, said the scene was a case of the insect world getting one back on their arachnid counterparts.
He said it was rare to see such quality photographs of spider wasps at work.
Female spider wasps nest alone and search the ground and tree trunks for spiders.
Adult spider wasps, which are from the Pompilidae family, are actually nectar-feeding insects and feed on a variety of plants.
Wolf spiders are members of the Lycosidae family.
They live mostly solitarily and hunt alone.
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