A vampire spider that drinks human blood and is attracted to smelly socks might sound like the stuff of an over imaginative 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.
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What is a vampire spider?
The vampire spider is 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.
What do vampire spiders look like?
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.
Where do vampire spiders live?
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.
What do vampire spiders eat?
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 simply getting a mosquito meal of chitin, legs and wings, by targeting the blood-filled females, the spider is getting the added benefit of the protein-rich crimson sauce within – it is the difference between a doughnut and a jam doughnut. The spider is so selective that when presented with a buffet of non-biting midges, other flies and even mosquitoes that haven’t recently fed on a mammal, the pernickety predator will choose the blood-engorged prey every time.
And what about the socks? Socks were used in a study to find out whether vampire spiders, which are often found in long grass near human homes, were attracted to human odours. The arachnids were treated to the scents of both dirty and clean socks, and categorically preferred the former.
It turns out that worn socks contain all the ingredient cues (sebaceous secretions) that signal food to a mosquito. Our anthropophilic arachnid can thus use its ‘spidey’ senses to not only locate its blood-loaded victims, but also the sites – human dwellings – where they are likely to hang out. It can, then, add being a potentially useful tool in the fight against malaria to its already long list of special qualities.
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Illustration by Peter David Scott/The Art Agency
