Predator Perils, By Ambush

Ant in the clutches of a spider

A hungry spider waits in the heart of a sunflower.

Goldenrod Crab Spider, Misumena vatia

A well camouflaged spider waits ready to snap its arms around a passing insect.

Goldenrod Crab Spider with fly

It hunts effectively without having to spin a web.

Jumping Spider, Phiddipus sp. with prey

Jumping spiders catch their prey with well-developed leg muscles and remarkable quickness.

Jagged Ambush Bug, Phymata pennsylvanica

The forelegs of Ambush Bugs foretell their outsized grasping power.

Jagged Ambush Bug with captured fly

They catch, bite, and subdue their victim with an injection of venom and digestive juices.

Jagged Ambush Bug devouring Honeybee,
Freeloader, or Jackal, Flies in attendance

Insect ambushes can draw immediate attention from adventitious carnivores like Freeloader, or Jackal, Flies which dare share the dinner of spiders, mantids and other predatory insects much larger than themselves. They seem to follow the scents exuded by killed prey rather than trailing the predators themselves. (Wikipedia)

'Freeloader' Fly Milichiidae sipping bee fluids
(detail of photo above)

Some species of Michiliidae serve a function analogous to that of cleaner wrasse and cleaner shrimp; they literally scavenge around the chelicerae (jaws) and anal openings of large spiders that cooperatively spread their wet and sticky chelicerae thus allowing the flies to feed actively all over the bases, fangs and mouth. (Wikipedia)

Chinese Mantis Tenodera sinensis captures Bumblebee

A "praying" mantis is the apex ambushing insect at Halibut Point. It's name might aptly be spelled "preying."

Chinese Mantis devouring prey (detail)

Seen up close from a bee's perspective, the statuesque mantis is fiercely equipped and armored.

And so the jostling goes on in the insect's world of life and death. In the human realm civilization aspires with mixed outcomes to smooth the rough edges.