Redback spiders are living in rabbit holes in the Cromwell chafer beetle reserve and eating the threatened Cromwell chafer beetle.
Redback spider versus RNZ microphone
Redback spiders take up residence in empty rabbit burrows
Remains of beetles and other insects caught in a redback spider web outside a rabbit burrow
Jackie Spencer using long handled tongs to safely search a rabbit burrow for redback spiders
Large female redback spider
Darkling beetle - number 1 on redback spider menu
Cromwell chafer beetle remains in a redback spider web
Pericoptus frontalis - number 3 on redback spider menu
Redback spider egg sacs - each can contain up to 250 spiderlings
Redback spiders are venomous - the bite is excrutiatingly painful but not fatal
Cromwell chafer beetle reserve
Cromwell chafer beetle reserve information sign
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