Irish scientists publish first record of noble false widow spider feeding on pygmy shrew

A noble false widow spider. Picture: JP Dunbar

Scientists at the University of Galway have published the first record of a noble false widow spider feeding on a pygmy shrew, a species of tiny mammal protected in Ireland.

It is the first time a member of this family of spiders, called ‘Theridiidae,’ has been recorded preying on a shrew in Ireland or Britain, and shows how the spider "is perfectly adapted to take down large prey".