Arachnophagous

/ˌærəkˈnɒfəɡəs/ adjective

Definition

Feeding on spiders; describing an animal that hunts and eats spiders as food.

Etymology

From Greek 'arachne' (spider) and 'phagous' (eating). The suffix '-phagous' comes from 'phagein' (to eat), combining to describe spider-eating creatures, used in biological terminology since the 1800s.

Kelly Says

Many wasps are arachnophagous hunters that paralyze spiders to use as living food for their larvae—nature's own horror movie! Some birds, lizards, and even certain spiders are also spider-eaters, making spiders both predators and prey in complex food webs.

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